The MG Midget is a small two-seater sports car

Sports car

A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

 produced by the MG division of the British Motor Corporation

British Motor Corporation

The British Motor Corporation, or commonly known as BMC was a vehicle manufacturer from United Kingdom, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation in 1952...

 from 1961 to 1979. It revived a famous name used on earlier models such as the MG M-type

MG M-type

The MG M-type was produced by the MG Car company from April 1929 to 1932. It was sometimes referred to as the 8/33. Launched at the 1928 London Motor Show when the sales of the larger MG saloons was faultering because of the economic climate, the small car brought MG ownership to a new sector of...

, MG D-type, MG J-type and MG T-type.
The first version was essentially a slightly more expensive badge-engineered

Badge engineering

Badge engineering is an ironic term that describes the rebadging of one product as another...

 version of the Austin-Healey Sprite

Austin-Healey Sprite

The Austin-Healey Sprite is a small open sports car which was announced to the press in Monte Carlo by the British Motor Corporation on 20 May 1958, just before that year's Monaco Grand Prix. It was intended to be a low-cost model that "a chap could keep in his bike shed", yet be the successor to...

 MKII and retained the quarter-elliptic sprung rear axle from the original Sprite. The engine was a 948 cc A-Series

BMC A-Series engine

Austin Motor Company's small straight-4 automobile engine, the A-Series, is one of the most common in the world. Launched in 1951 with the Austin A30, production lasted until 2000 in the Mini. It used a cast-iron block and cylinder head, and a steel crankshaft with 3 main bearings...

with twin SU carburettors producing 46 hp (34 kW) at 5500 rpm and 53 lbf·ft (72 Nm) at 3000 rpm.