Taking Charge

There’s lots you can do with an MG Midget. On the performance side, you may decide to exercise the classic lessons in tuning with a new cam, exhaust and big carburettors, or you might switch out the original A-series engine with a modern, all-aluminium K-series. All sorts of things can be done, depending on what the owner wants. What most don’t do, however, is turbo-charge their Midget. It’s not the easiest option, with various challenges in packaging and set-up which tend to halt most. Mike Caffrey isn’t halted easily, however, and seems always to have found clever solutions to myriad obstacles that stood in the way of modifying his beloved Midget.

“Back in the day, the two cars I really wanted was either a Lotus Elan Sprint or a Seven.” This was 1976, Mike was 18 and these cars were out of financial reach. “The Midget was the only thing I could afford really.” It was this round-arch Midget that Mike bought, as a three-year-old car with about 20,000 miles on the clock, in pretty nice condition. It was bog standard but not for long. A set of Magnum ‘slot mag’ wheels was bought but, it turned out, they wouldn’t fit. Well, Mike took an angle grinder to the arches so that they would fit, reforming them to the extended