...Midgetry !

Pick up any copy of a popular motoring magazine from the early thirties and references to the first M.G. Midget are everywhere. Apart from the advertisements placed by the Publicity Department of the M.G. Car Company, other commercial organisations were also quick to jump on to the bandwagon which had been created by the car's sales and competition successes. This they achieved by making oblique references to the Midget in their own advertisements which in turn, they believed, would help to sell their products. Magazine editorial and feature writers constantly made reference to the car which helped to create a cult following amongst the motoring public, similar to that experienced by the Mini Cooper some thirty years later. The majority of competition success enjoyed by the model came in the many famous Trials and Rallies of the period and it from these events that most of the images to be found in the gallery below originated.

Unfortunately many of the grainy shots seen here have been scanned from the pages of eighty year old magazines. In some cases the pages were foxed and discoloured while the original images were also very small. Despite these disadvantages they are well worth seeing again and help to convey, via the huge crowds present at these events, the rapidly growing popularity of motoring in general and motor sport in particular during the the thirties decade.