MG Midget 1500

Owned Since September 2003 // MiLeAGe OVeR PAST 12 MOnTHS 526 // TOTAL MiLeAGe 115,271 AnnUAL cOST £550 (new alternator and seatbelt, plus a host of the dreaded ‘miscellaneous’ items)

Okay, I’ll admit that it’s been a fairly quiet year for the Midget. An unusually harsh winter meant that it didn’t see the light of day until March, at which point it became clear that 2018 was going to be more about trouble-shooting long-standing issues than putting the hood and loud pedal down every weekend.

That said, I had enough faith in it to take it on CCW’s team outing to the Peak District, back in April. Predictably, all my good intentions of getting Hall’s Garage to give it the once-over beforehand came to nought, so I was lucky to return from the 260-mile roundtrip largely unscathed. In fact, it performed admirably; the droning haul north on the A1 and M1 was predictably forgettable and terrifying in equal measure, but features editor, Chris Hope, pulled a blinder with the picturesque route. I wished I’d brought my MGF just once – when a frustrated Charlie Calderwood blasted past me on an open straight – but the Midget was the perfect companion for the rest of the day.

It made it home nursing a seized driver’s seatbelt and a dying alternator, so I took the opportunity to get these – and a long list of issues that I’d been putting off for way too long – sorted out. Addressing the comically slow windscreen wipers can wait until early next year.

Another highlight of the year came one Saturday afternoon when the sun was out, the sky was blue, the Midget was working and I had nothing better to do. To wit, my son and I spent a blissful two hours just driving wherever we fancied, marvelling at windmills, pumpkin fields and stately homes that we’d never seen before.

On days like these…

PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR Job Number One will involve me rousing my disgracefully neglected MGF out of its long slumber and giving it a damn good thrashing – in a good way.