Midget racing in the 1940s was one of the biggest automotive attractions in the country. Midgets races everywhere you and on every surface you can think of. Indoors, outdoors, on dirt tracks, on road courses, and they put on a hell of a show. Sliding sideways through the corners, many using venerable 60hp Ford flathead engines, and basically every big name in racing came through the midget ranks to cut their teeth before hopping into sprint cars and other machines.

This particular car is really neat because it is mostly intact. Currently it is kind of a rolling sculpture because the Ford flathead V8 is devoid of a rotating assembly. This being said, the easiest part of making one of these cars whole again is the engine. Recreating the chassis, which looks to be gas welded would be impossible to do without wrecking the ancient and gladiatorial looks of the machine. Seeing one of these cars with a wonderfully TiG welded chassis would be a red flag as to its authenticity as an old race car.

As simple as a tractor and tougher than a mule, a midget car was the perfect way to learn to drive the high horsepower, open-wheel, oval cars that exploded in popularity during the 1950s at Indy and at tracks across the country. Like a go-kart on steroids, they forced drivers to hone in on the things that conserved momentum, made the use of the little horsepower they had, and learned the dynamics of actively racing against a course packed with other cars.

The car even comes with the old trailer to drag it around on. Don’t get us wrong, this thing needs work but wow is it cool!

Thanks to the NHRA’s Alan Reinhart for the tip-off on this one!

eBay: This 1940s era Midget racer has an empty flathead and stories to tell!