1933 MG J2 Midget Two Seater
The J2 Midget introduced a distinctive design language that helped define British sports cars for decades. With its cutaway doors, fold-flat windshield, humped scuttle, and slab fuel tank with a rear-mounted spare wheel, the 1933 model established the visual template MG would follow well into the 1950s. The narrow, lightweight body was built by Carbodies of Coventry.
Under the hood sat an 847cc overhead-camshaft inline four-cylinder engine originally derived from Wolseley designs, but with an MG-designed crossflow cylinder head and twin SU carburetors producing about 36 horsepower at 5,000 rpm. Power was delivered through a four-speed manual transmission to a live rear axle. The simple chassis used half-elliptic leaf springs at both ends and cable-operated 8-inch drum brakes at all four corners.
Despite its sporty proportions, the J2 was extremely compact (just 129 inches long, 52 inches wide), and weighed around 1,350 pounds (612 kg). To put that in perspective, it’s roughly 3 feet shorter and 1.5 feet narrower than a modern Mazda Miata, giving it a truly diminutive footprint even by vintage sports car standards.
This configuration gave the J2 lively handling and precise steering for its era, with a top speed of around 65 mph. Cecil Kimber, General Manager of Morris Garages, created these affordable sports cars to bring performance driving within reach of average enthusiasts. Only 2,083 J2 Midgets were produced, making surviving examples highly desirable among pre-war MG collectors today.
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