Midas Mk 1 possible 1st body

[terry.midas]

Can any other members tell me what number the initial bodies had please? I have what I believe may have been one of the 1st built if not the 1st. Please help?

[Hans Efde]

I got the member and car supplement from 1994 from the club that states for the first 3 mentioned MK1's the following:
00XP781 CNC297t blue 1979 1380 Trevor Dixon
3001139B YCT140T red 1979 998 Richard Palmer
10000 JEH448V white 1980 1275 Andrew Harrison

Then you get 10001 (1979?) and then it jumps to 10011. The first 2 s/n's are a bit odd, maybe someone can fill in the details.

[Hans Efde]

Good morning,
I have checked another few documents. There is the first factory newsletter from September 1979 (can be downloaded from Colin's website) that states that in August car no.1 was delivered to its owner, a mr. Smith from Hendon.
According to a story in club magazine TGT dtd August 1990 about this first Midas, it is indeed the car with reg. JEH448V that time owned by Andy Harrison.
According to the story the car was built for Harolds brother and used for publicity purposes and appeared in magazines as Cars and Car Conversions, Thoroughbred and Classic Cars and Motor. I checked this (these articles can also be downloaded from Colin's site). The JEH is indeed displayed but also another car, the one with reg. CNC297T.
Which chassis nr. do you have on your Midas?

[johnnyfixit]

Just found an advert for the first midas from back in 1988

[manifold]

the most interesting thing of all is the prices.....in 1988!

[Auntieroll]

Hello all,
I had the pleasure of owning the first true "production" Midas,which I purchased from a man called John Smith who was a Chef at RAF Hendon.
AFAIR, the chassis# was 10002,the registration number was definitely JLY 862 V,colour was red with satin black "panda eyes" around the headlights,standard 998cc Mini engine,wheels were white Minilite copies.

Owing to an expanding family the car was sold to a chap called John Sorrie who lived just outside Aberdeen and was an engineer working on submersibles/ROV's for a company(IIRC,its nearly 30 years ago after all!!) called Osprey Electronics.

That was a sad day ,watching someone else drive off in the little Midas,I could still fancy another one,even after 28 years.

I still have two abiding memories of the car,the first is of the day I picked it up from its first owner,the front brakes were way out of adjustment and negotiating the busy North Circular en route for sunny Norfolk was a case of driving a couple of pumps of the brake pedal ahead! LOL

The other was of the occasion that I first saw the magic "ton" on a downhill stretch of the M6,there was all of a sudden a deafening low frequency "buzz",this proved to be the door frames flexing,certainly made me concentrate!! This characteristic was reproduced several times after that,with the difference that no underwear change was required on the subsequent occasions.

The first Midas,which I was told was a development car ,was comprehensively written off after leaving the road somewhere in darkest Wales,the driver (IIRC,something to do with either HD's family or an employee)thankfully escaped relatively unscathed ,the car distinctly less so.
The chassis # of this vehicle would have been 10001.

Hope this helps,
Mike

[terry.midas]

Hi all and especially the members who have responded to my question and in particular to Hans Efde with the early chassis numbers.

My car is indeed a white 1275cc JEH448V with chassis number D010000 which is now in a Classic car garage for recommissioning as it has been off the road for some time in a barn. I am still at a loss to find a battery that will fit in the battery compartment in the engine bay.

Another question which you may be able to answer is - Are you aware as to whether the car was sold as a kit or was it built in the factory and sold as a complete vehicle?

Thanks again.

[terry.midas]

I got the member and car supplement from 1994 from the club that states for the first 3 mentioned MK1's the following:
00XP781 CNC297t blue 1979 1380 Trevor Dixon
3001139B YCT140T red 1979 998 Richard Palmer
10000 JEH448V white 1980 1275 Andrew Harrison

Then you get 10001 (1979?) and then it jumps to 10011. The first 2 s/n's are a bit odd, maybe someone can fill in the details.

D010000 JEH448V registered 10/1979 1275cc

Thanks again

[terry.midas]

A few pics of the car as found and will post some new ones as she starts to look better LOL

[bronze1380]

Re:- Battery.
I got my battery from motormania (cost £55.99).
Banner also do a battery (model030) but it was more expensive.
Hope this helps, Jaye.