This guide looks at the history, buying, mechanical, annual service, mechanical and bodywork restoration and modifications of the MG Midget and Sprite.
From the introduction:
“Despite the Spridgets general economy, buying the wrong car
could land the new owner with potentially huge bills if mechanical repair and
especially if major bodywork restoration proved necessary. This book is
intended to help the aspiring Spridget owner to select the right car, to bring
it -if necessary - to safe roadworthy condition and to keep it there. It is not
a workshop manual, nor a general guide to the art of vehicle restoration; there
are many excellent books which cover those specific areas. This book is
intended as a companion to a workshop manual, and is written from the viewpoint
of the person who has limited or no knowledge of mechanical matters or bodywork
repair and who has limited facilities and tools.
The author has based the text largely around the complete
restoration of a 1974 Midget which was in very poor condition (with a majority
of seized or damaged components), replicating the conditions in which the
average DIY enthusiast might operate.
This has entailed working in cramped conditions, using the
most common or basic tools wherever possible to overcome the many and varied
obstacles to repair and restoration.
This approach has highlighted many of the problems which the
restorer of an elderly car will encounter but which are rarely mentioned in
workshop manuals - however good - because such manuals are invariably based on
good, clean if not new) examples of the car.
However enthusiastic the reader might be, there are certain
tasks which are best left to professionals and a few which really demand the
skills and facilities of the professional (such as welding a complete front or
rear end onto a bodyshell). Other tasks such as stripping and reconditioning an
engine or gearbox can be accomplished at home but it is recommended that the
work is carried out professionally. This is because; A. it can prove less
expensive to do so; B. because it would be heartbreaking to discover that the
DIY reconditioning is less than perfect after the car has been restored and is
out on the road and C. specialist tools and equipment are needed. Although such
tasks are described in this book, they are all prefixed with the advice that
the work is best carried out by professionals.”
