The people we met and the cars they own
‘It turns heads everywhere’
I’ve had this Rialto for about a year. It was located in Edinburgh but has an original Inverness plate fitted.
I saw it for sale and just thought: ‘I’ve got to bring it home’.
So, I brought it home, ran it for about a year, the MOT expired in May this [now last – Ed] year and I hadn’t really bothered with it until you guys were coming up, so I decided to get it back on the road. I got it MOT’d two days ago and it was a complete stress, but I love it. I’ve got a 1976 Robin MkI in the garage that I’m restoring as well, but I love this. It turns heads everywhere. Young kids, right up to old people, everybody loves it. You just don’t see them around.
‘I have a terrible affliction with Land Rovers’
I have a terrible affliction with Land Rovers. I found it in it in deepest, darkest Norfolk. It had been laid up for 10 years and it’s only got 60-odd thousand on it. After a bit of research it turns out it’s a John Eales Edition, so it’s a 4.8 and has about 300 horses.
It goes alright and has been pretty reliable. It’s only had three owners.
Originally, it would have been a 3.5 injection and the boy who bought it new used to come up to Scotland shooting, but John Eales took it and stroked it to a 4.8 with eight-branch manifolds, Wilwood brakes that are the size of dinner plates and all that sort of stuff.
‘The plan is to keep it as original as possible’
I got this 205 from a guy who’s also here today, Callum Peterson. It had been in his garage for the past ten years and I always said I wanted it if he ever wanted to get rid of it. I have fixed a few bits of paint work, rebuilt all of the brakes and given the engine a good service, but the plan is to keep it as original as possible.
It’s a limited edition, so there were only 400 of these made. It’s Sorrento Green with a slightly different engine. It’s got a lightened flywheel, slightly higher-lift cams, leccy windows, sunroof and all that stuff. I’ll get the back half of the body painted because it looks a bit rough around the edges, which I’ll sort myself at some point.
‘When you get three Midgets like this you just have to park together!’
Geoffrey: I’ve owned it for five years and my father had it for eight years before that. It’s had plenty done, like brakes and suspension.
It’s a bit of a family heirloom. My son gets to drive it when I die.
Richard: I’ve owned it for about three years. I used to have a Midget MkII and then an MGF for about ten years, but I got a bit fed up working on it, because they’re a bit like that. And my wife was encouraging me to go for another Midget, as sh
