Forget the Porsche Boxster. If you want to turn heads at the next cars and coffee, a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive convertible is for sale right now for just $7,000 — and it’s called the King Midget.
Built in Athens, Ohio by the Midget Motors Corporation through much of the 20th century, the King Midget was an American microcar before anyone had coined the term. The 1967 model being offered up is one of the later versions, featuring a small single-cylinder engine, an open cockpit, and a total footprint that would fit comfortably in most modern parking spaces twice over.
The appeal of cars like this is hard to overstate for a certain kind of enthusiast. At $7,000, you’re getting into a piece of American automotive history that most people have never seen in person, let alone driven. The question — as with all quirky classics — is whether the price reflects value or wishful thinking on the seller’s part.
Arguments in favor of the price include the car’s reportedly exceptional mileage, a manual transmission that works as intended, and a color combination vivid enough to attract attention from a quarter mile away. Arguments against it center on parts availability, the specialized knowledge required to maintain such an unusual vehicle, and the reality that the pool of buyers willing to fly across the country for a three-horsepower microcar is, shall we say, select.
The vintage car market has proven resilient to economic pressure in recent years, with truly unusual specimens often commanding prices that defy expectations. Whether this King Midget qualifies as one of those truly special finds or simply a very old, very small curiosity at a very optimistic price is something only a test drive could confirm — assuming you can fit in the cockpit.
For collectors drawn to American oddities, this is the kind of listing that only comes around occasionally. Miss it, and you might spend years wondering what would have happened if you’d made the call.
Source: Jalopnik