Midget vs Spitfire

Fight between two of the great sports cars.

From Coventry, England, the Triumph Spitfire.

From Abingdon, England, the MG Midget

I'll have a Spridget, and then take full advantage of the wonderfully vast aftermarket for that car.

Midget, no question.

Midget! I've owned both, mostly Spridgets.

I'm going to have to go with the Triumph on this one. It was my dads first car and on my car bucket list.

I am going to have to go with Spit, mine look almost exactly like the one in the pic.

Midget.

OD for the win. Only on the Spit.

And I can sit on the tire for the rare occaisions I need to work on the engine.

Midget

The Spit of course.

Loved my Midget. I'll stick with that (though I'd love to build a Spit, too):

Spitfire, of course. The Midget is just so... bland...

Now if we were discussing Sprites and included the Bugeye, then the choice might be tougher.

Spitfire.

The lines of the Spitfire have always done it for me. Since you don't buy British for the mechanicals, buy based on the lines you love... at least it will still stir your heart when it's sitting there in the driveway, broken. Then you will be motivated to fix it.

I can't remember, on these 'vs' threads, are we supposed to be considering the cars fairly close to the format in which they left the factory?

If so, Midget.

Otherwise, Spitfire.

It's pretty darn close either way...

I'd go with a Spitfire for the flip up hood and styling.

Now, you know that the rubber bumper Midgets had the same engine as the same ere Spitfires so the differences aren't so much. Spit - real frame and flip-up hood for easy engine access and the IRS had a tendency to be troublesome on the early ones, supposed to be fixed later. Midget - basic & simple, small and nimble. I would take either one. Actually thought about Spitfire when a Midget came up so I have an early Midget.

I had a mk1 sprite... can I have one of those?

I have no experience with either one, but I will take the Spitfire, just because it has the best name ever!

This is a tough one that I've pondered for quite awhile.

Spitfire: better looks, flip up front, full frame for engine swaps. OTOH, u-joints made of glass, engine that can't keep a head gasket, poorer quality construction (if that's even possible, but they prove it is).

Spridget: Super-easy and cheap mechanicals, unibody has less wiggles and wobbles over bumps, tremendous aftermarket. OTOH, rear axle shafts made from Twizzlers, tiny engine bay/low hood makes engine swaps difficult, not as sexy as the baby XKE Triumph.

Decisions, decisions. If I'm swapping the complete drivetrain for something that won't snap from 4 more HP it's the Triumph. If it's simple, fun, LBC motoring I'm going with the Spridget. So it's a draw. Or, in my case, you buy a Mini and have the cute looks AND the simple drivetrain.

Spitfire for sure on this one. Better looks, more room in the cockpit, nice top in the later versions.

Spitfire, no doubt.

This is tough for a number of reasons, but the fact that both cars can be easily modded in very cool ways makes it especially tough. Still, I have to go with the Spitfire; it (and the GT6) simply were the definition of sportscar for me when I was younger.

-chris r.

this is a tough one for me... the Spitfire looks better to me, but if I'm gonna go with a small british sports car, I'm gonna go all the way [with emphasis on "small"], so I'd have to say the Spridget. the fact that the Mk.I AH Sprite looks happier than any Mazda made in the past few years (but actually pulls off the look well) helps a bit, too

spridget