The Register
1 PURPOSE
The MG Midget Register is that section of the MG Car Club catering for MG Midget and Austin Healey Sprite models built between 1958 and 1979.
The objectives of the Register are:
- a) To maintain a register of surviving cars, recording their history and other relevant information;
b) To encourage the continuing use of MG Midgets and AH Sprites, both on the road and in competition;
c) To organize and assist others in organizing competitive and social events;
d) To provide technical advice, and encourage the exchange of spare parts and information;
e) To make available where possible, copies of original Midget and Sprite literature and other material, from the Register’s library.
2 OPERATION & MAINTENANCE OF THE REGISTER
The Midget Register Listing is a compilation of information kept for the Register’s own purposes. It is maintained and published for general information only and does not confer authenticity. The list includes complete cars and cars that contain only some components originally supplied by the MG Car Company. The inclusion or exclusion of any particular car or specification is at the sole discretion of the Midget Register Committee. Although care is taken in accepting cars for inclusion in the listing, it is not possible to scrutinize every entry, nor is it possible to verify the accuracy or genuineness of the information the Register receives to compile the list. The Midget Register Committee and the MG Car Club accept no liability for the accuracy of the information in the list.
Details of any Midget or Sprite to be added to the Register, or the updating of information on a car already on the Register, should be submitted to the registrar using the Midget Register registration form. This form is normally supplied with the Register “starter pack”, given to new members, or can be downloaded from the Register website.
When a qualifying Midget or Sprite is accepted on the register it is allocated a Midget Register Number. This number remains with the car permanently, regardless of any change of ownership. No charge is made for adding a car to the Register listing.
Non-qualifying cars, or parts of cars, will be entered into the register provided they are based upon a Midget or Sprite chassis, but will not be allocated a Register number.
3 WHY THE MIDGET REGISTER?
When the original registers were set up, the first more than fifty years ago, they were done so for three main reasons. Firstly to help owners source those parts no longer available from the MG Car Company or any other supplier, and thereby enabling existing cars to remain on the road. Secondly to help owners with information on how to maintain those cars, and finally to keep information on, and the known whereabouts of, all existing models of a certain type. With these objectives the first register (triple-M) was formed in the early nineteen sixties, followed later in turn by the Vintage,T-type, SVW, MGA, and Z type Register’s. By the late seventies however certain parts for the earliest MGB’s and Midget’s were too becoming scarce, and so registers for both these types were set up also, although there was some strong resistance at the time, for many felt there simply was no point in having registers for what were then, current models. Over time the supply of parts improved dramatically for all MG models, and so the sourcing of parts largely became unnecessary, and to a degree likewise is the availability of information, which is far easier to obtain nowadays. So the often asked question, “what purpose is actually served by the Registers” is a very good one, given that largely the first and second reasons for their very existence is no longer entirely relevant.
The members of the MG Midget Register Committee do there very best however to hold fast to the original intentions as outlined in 1 & 2 above, with some excellent individuals holding the important posts. We have an excellent technical rep for example, to uphold our trouble shooting obligations, who can give sound advise on just about any aspect of maintenance and repair, while our registrar maintains our register listing. We keep much in the way of historical documentation on the model, and, as with other Registers, we organise social gatherings for like minded owners, offer a small amount of regalia, and run our Car Of The Year award.
To sum up then, the Register is in essence really nothing more than that, a list of the surviving MG Midgets and AH Sprites, produced between 1958 and 1979. The aims are to maintain a record of ownership so that future owners can trace a certain car’s history, and also to preserve and maintain those cars for future generations. That is why the register exists. Abingdon provided these superb little cars for our enjoyment and it is the Registers intention to help ensure that their owners can continue to use them, unhindered, as they were originally intended.
Dennis Wharf.