From BOWLING GREEN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The International King Midget Car Club’s 30th Annual Jamboree will be held Aug. 12- 14, in Bowling Green, Ohio and surrounding northwest Ohio communities. It will feature more than 70 vintage King Midgets, a microcar which was made in Athens, Ohio from 1946 to 1970. Owners will be coming from coast to coast totaling 19 states.
The King Midget was advertised as the “World’s Number One Fun Car” and has a loyal following of enthusiastic car owners and appeals to fans of any age. The early cars had a 7.5 hp motor and the later models had a larger 12hp motor. They averaged 50 to 70 miles per gallon and reached a top speed of 50 mph.
“This is a great opportunity for the King Midget owners to introduce this fun car to folks in the area,” according to Jamboree coordinator Ken Frisch, “along with showcasing the region.”
Jamboree participants will start their tour on Thursday, August 12th with a drive to Pemberville from Bowling Green. The cars will be on display from 9:15 to 11:15am in the community parking lot located behind Beeker’s General Store while attendees are touring local sites. Later they will visit the Historical Construction Equipment Museum and enjoy a drive-in movie.
On Friday evening, August 13th the cars will be displayed in the Huntington Bank parking lot located at the corner of S. Main and Clough St. in downtown Bowling Green from 5:30 to 8:00pm as part of the 75th Anniversary celebration of the founding of Midget Motors Co., the company that manufactured these cars. This will follow a day of activities including stops at Schooner Farms and Snook’s Dream Cars.
Saturday the Jamboree attendees will head to Fort Meigs in Perrysburg and tour the fort and enjoy the Revolution on the Ohio Frontier. The cars will be on display in the Fort Meigs east parking lot from 10:30 to 12noon and will be in downtown Perrysburg in the Commodore Building lot from 12:45 to 2pm.
Midget Motors Company was established by Claud Dry and Dale Orcutt. The first years they built scooters before introducing their first car, a one seater. By 1951 they were building a two seater and over the years many minor modifications were made including the introduction of a larger version of the two seater in 1957. In its heyday, the King Midget was the sixth largest selling car in America.
