King Midget question....a "little" o/t

[TINGLER]

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[a/fxcomet]

Are you going to join the Shriners?

[Nads]

There was one for sale in Orlando at Artie Grindle's Wheel Ranch about 20 years ago. Any old time Central Florida residents would remember this place as the premier showcase for chessy conversion vans. "We want to sell you a van!!!" was their catchphrase.
As I recall this King Midget was for sale for around $1500, it was in mint perfect condition.
I imagine it would be about as useful in traffic as a Puch moped with a supercharger.

[shifts]

Hey Hey a/fxcomet, I'm a Shriner. lol

[36-3window]

i don't know too much about them ,except i guy i knew somewhat in high school had one and drove it to school sometimes. it was all completely legal, lights , horn, etc and was licensed.. he gave me a ride in it once , seams like it wasn't much for speed , but was great around our small town(population 15,000 at the time)....i don't think it was much of a road car...top speed 30-35???? i remember it had a kohler engine

but,this was all 30+ years ago

[modernbeat]

I've had two. One a rusty project that was crap, the other a nice driver that was still crap.

No power. Flat sheetmetal body. Dorky looks. Bigger than a golf cart, and street legal, but I never got it above 40mph - so no highway use!

Sold both together within a week.

Get a Mini Moke if you want that type of thing. Or a Subaru 360 or a Fiat 500.

[BigJim394]

I've only seen them at car shows. There are some web pages dealing with "micro cars" that have all sorts of info about King Midgets.


I do know that the company must have spent most of their advertsing budgets for ads in magazines like Popular Mechanics and Mechnics Illustrated, as there was almost always an ad for them (usually 1/2 or full page) during the years the cars were in production.

[av8]

Saw my first King Midget ad in Popular Mechanics when I was 10 years old and thought 'Gosh, what were they thinking?' ('Gosh' was major coarse language for 10-year-olds at the time.)

Even at so young an age I thought it looked especially silly with its inelegant body and itty-bitty wheels. As kids, we were building much better looking push-cars!

If someone gives you a King Midget, sue the bastard!

JMHO

[Oilcan Harry]

There's a guy that brings one to our local cruise-ins. And believe it or not its done as a mild 50s custom with fender skirts, lakes pipes and a continental kit. Weird....

[BELLM]

Old guy around late 50s or early 60s drove one. He lived in another town about 20 miles away, would drive on the highway. Didnt they have like a Cushman engine or something similar?

[Bruce Lancaster]

There was an article and roadtest on one (the second version, with fenders) in Special Interest Autos--a lot of their stuff is available still direct from publisher, both original issues and book collections of tests.
One interesting peculiarity: They obviated the need for a differential by driving only one rear wheel--any change in throttle required immediate steering correction.