1979 MG Midget And Vintage Skateboarders Create "A Moving Experience"

What has four wheels and reflexes so quick it almost seems alive? The MG Midget of course. During the model's final year of production British Leyland decided to pair up the still clean cut and color coordinated sport of skateboarding with their not long for the world and mostly outdated MG Midget to create this vintage advertising gem.

Despite what this ad claims, the MG Midget was anything but young in 1979. Dashing through cones and surrounded by skateboarders the trio of Midgets certainly look spry in this commercial, but underneath the big black rubber bumpers was a design first introduced almost two decades earlier. Although MG first used the Midget name in 1929, the car now commonly referred to as the Midget was first introduced in 1961.

With this in mind, it is no surprise the "lowest priced authentic sports car on the market" was showing its age by 1979. Increased federal regulation forced the increased ride height, large black bumpers and power robbing emission controls that became the unwelcome calling cards of the later Midgets. Although driving a Midget in the Italian Job-esque manner highlighted in this commercial sure looks like fun, even old school skateboarding tricks and fancy driving couldn't save the outdated sports car. British Leyland ended Midget production on December 7, 1979.