Midas Cars

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Midas (1979)

The Midas Cars Ltd. is a British car manufacturer that has been producing kit cars based on the Mini in Oldham (Lancashire) , Corby (Northamptonshire) and Redditch (Worcestershire) since 1978 .

Harold Dermott and his company D&H Fiberglass Techniques in Greenfield near Oldham agreed with Marcos in 1975 to take over the production of the Mini Marcos . The car looked a bit outdated, so Demott asked designer Richard Oakes to come up with a new model. The new car was called Midas and presented at the 1978 Performance Car Show in London. The car had a self-supporting body in composite construction (GRP and steel) with the front subframe and the engine of the Mini. The rear subframe of the Mini was replaced by a cross member that carried the two trailing arms for the rear wheels.

In 1981 a revised model was introduced that had some improvements over its predecessor suggested by Gordon Murray of McLaren Racing . The car was available in three versions, gold, silver and bronze , depending on the equipment. The small workshop in Oldham could no longer satisfy the increased demand. So the company moved to Corby and changed its name to Midas Cars Ltd.

In 1985 further improvements were made; the Midas Gold was adapted to the parts now available from Austin and MG Metro . In addition, the exterior was redesigned - again by Richard Oakes - who provided the construction with wide fenders, a "frog-eye" front and larger windows. Gordon Murray made sure the aerodynamics were improved. The Midas was successfully subjected to an ECE12 crash test so that it could be offered both as a kit and as a complete car. In 1989 a convertible version appeared, but in the same year production had to be stopped because the factory buildings had burned down.

  • Midas Gold Coupé (1985–1990)

  • Midas Gold Cabriolet (1989-present)

The rights to manufacture the car were bought in 1990 by Patiche Cars in Rotherham, Yorkshire , who re-launched the entire range and manufactured a few convertibles before reselling the rights to the Gold Cabriolet to GTM in Sutton Bonnington, Leicestershire . GTM made some changes to the construction, e.g. B. a hydropneumatic suspension and a hard top. The model range was expanded in 1995 to include a 2 + 2 Coupé based on the Mini-Metro and Rover 100 models with K-series engines.

In 1990 the molds for the Gold Coupé were sold by GTM to Berlin , where they were used in a job creation project . In the meantime, the old Midas based on the Mini had reappeared in the United Kingdom, where they were briefly built by Midtech Cars .

In 2001 GTM sold the rights to the construction to a new Midas Cars Ltd. In Redditch, Worcestershire . The model range now consisted of the Coupé, which was called Cortez , and a convertible with a K-series engine called the Excelsior . Although the cars were well received by the market, the company had to be liquidated in 2003.

A new company, Alternative Cars Ltd. was founded in 2003 and began manufacturing kits for the Gold Convertible, Cortez and Excelsior versions in 2004 in a small workshop in Clanfield, Oxfordshire .

  • Midas Cortez (1995-present)

  • Midas Excelsior (2002-present)

In 2007 the Midas Owners Club discovered the molds for the Gold Coupé in Germany and bought them. In December 2007 these forms were brought back to the UK.

Web links

Commons : Midas  - collection of images, videos and audio files