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MG TD TF 1500 - And the winner of the NEMGTR TD Survivor Challenge

This beautiful silver TD. 81,000 miles.
D. Sander

Well, that's a tease! No picture??

BobbyG
Bobby Galvez

Photos?
Alex Waugh

Either the iPad or the forum was acting funky last night. Here is the car:



D. Sander

And the dashboard:


D. Sander

Ug! It is acting up again! Another shot:


D. Sander

Ill try to upload some pictures when I get home latter this evening.
-David
D. Sander

Hey David,
Do you have a car for sale in "Humping Folds NH" ?
Just kidding! LOL
Got to love moderen "tecknarlogee".

I tagged this on a text message to a friend the other day. He took his new Iphone back to the store and complained...they gave him a new one!


David Sheward

Those brackets on the dash near the top-those were on my original TD when I purchased it but were not put back on when I restored it as I was not sure what there
purpose was. Does anyone know?
-Rich

Richard Olson

They are to use a windwing as a Brooklands screen.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

Richard,
I believe those were to hold a windscreen like the Brooklands. A popular accessory back in the day.
David Sheward

Does anyone have a photo or magazine ad showing how a Brooklands type windscreen would have attached to the aluminum "L" brackets on the dash? Rich
Richard Olson

An there was this black 11,000 mile car. Original paint, clear difference between the enamel and the lacquer paints. Te lacquer was shiny and the enamel was flat and milky.


D. Sander

A beautiful one owner TD/C in BRG.


D. Sander

And this yellow TD in a time warp:


D. Sander

The early cars had a burlap like oilcloth on the dash. Unfortunately, I can't get the picture to upload right side up.


D. Sander

Dave - can you send me any contact info on the TD/C? I'd like to look it over more carefully, and will be in NH next month.

Best thanks, Tom
t lange

Later cars had a texture similar to modern vinyl, but with a much deeper pattern:


D. Sander

Tom, you've got mail.
--David
D. Sander

WAS THIS A CONTEST TO FIND THE BEST SURVIVOR AND NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE ORIGINALITY FACTOR?
I HAVE NEVER SEEN A SILVER TD UNLESS IT WAS A REPAINT AND THE steering wheel WAS NOT ORIGINAL AT ALL.
Colin Stafford

David,

Thanks for posting the pics. I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Kirk
Kirk Trigg TD24953

I'm with you on that one, Colin. Perhaps it's a Silver Streak Gray car. That would make it a '53. Looks as if the wiper motor is in the middle of the windscreen, so that would fit. But I'm surprised that it wasn't referred to by its factory color. The Register Restoration Handbook doesn't indicate that there were any Silver TDs. Bud
Bud Krueger

I'm beginning to think my conception of what the term "SURVIVOR"
means must be way different than the mainstreams definition.

My uncle has a 37 Chevrolet with under 44k miles, all orginial except tires, some other rubber parts, and battery. I would call it a "SURVIVOR".

Not meant to offend anyone ....just guess I don't get the way the term is being used these days.
David Sheward

Thanks for the pictures David. Wish I could have been there. I hope someone took lots of detail shots to document originality. George
George Butz

Yes, the winning car is silver streak gray. It is a very oxidized paint, it looks more silver than great, but it is believed to be the original paint. The steeringwheel is not original. The owner put all but 300 of the 81,000 miles on it.
It is a late 1953 car.
-David
D. Sander

Colin,
Please be careful before making statements like "WAS THIS A CONTEST TO FIND THE BEST SURVIVOR AND NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE ORIGINALITY FACTOR?
I HAVE NEVER SEEN A SILVER TD UNLESS IT WAS A REPAINT AND THE STEERING WHEEL WAS NOT ORIGINAL AT ALL."

This particular car was one of five to participate. One car was reprinted the same color early in it's life; the other four, (INCLUDING THIS ONE) had the factory paint. This particular car is Silver Streak Gray, a factory color, and still the factory paint. Rare, yes but also an original color and the original paint, from the factory.
Other than the tires, top, and the steering wheel this winning car is all original.
Before the voting began I instructed the ballot holders to examine the cars very carefully, and judge based on the originality of the car. I asked the voters to judge based on the content and condition of the car AS IT LEFT THE FACTORY.
I asked the owners to spend about fifteen minutes discussing the car, the history of the car and to point out the originality of the car. The owners then answered questions.
If there is a TD out there that is still 100% original I have not seen it, and it did not show up at our challenge. If you are suggesting that this particular car should have been disqualified because it does not have the original steering wheel, but rather a popular period accessory, and because you have never seen a TD with the original Silver Streak Grey, then I take offense to that.
David Sander
Chairman
The New England MG "T" Register, Ltd.
D. Sander

Certainly hope my comment did not offend.
Definitely not intended that way.
IMHO: The M.G. community seems to be one of the best at quickly pointing out what is "wrong" or "right" about their cars, what has been replaced and what has not.

I have not found this to be the case for a lot of other marques! I have heard / seen people flat out lie at some local shows concerning "SURVIVOR" status of their cars.
I was at a show a few weeks ago and talked to a guy for nearly an hour about a 59 Chevy entered in a "SURVIVOR CLASS".
He gave me the "complete history" of how the car had been in his family since new original paint , interior, engine , yada yada yada. Lots of pictures from back in the day.
I was impressed up until the point my uncle walked up to him and made a comment about how nice the car looked now.

Turns out I had "more history" with this car than the guy displaying it as I had seen it for years sitting in primer in one of my uncles barns for years before he sold it to this guy about 3 years ago!

I'm thankful this doesn't happen in our community (outside of FeeBay LOL) and hope it never does.
Sorry so long a post ...but felt the need to explain my comments concerning "SURVIVORS".
David Sheward

David,
No, your comment did not offend. No worries :-)
-David
D. Sander

The car that I recently sold, 'the53', was originally Silver Streak Gray before a DPO painted it black. Bud
Bud Krueger

Sorry to rattle cage with my comments, but Silver Streak Grey and Silver are two different animals.....a matter of definition.
FYI on finding an "Original" TD, I suggest you look on Bud Kreuger's website T-Talk and go to the pictures section and see the 3 pics of Dave Miller's really nice original TD that I sent too Bud.
I believe that Dave's father bought this car new and passed it onto his son. When I took this photos it was still sporting the original tyres, top etc. It still has the skinny steering wheel intact.

Not all of us in MI can get to Vermont for an event of this nature which is too bad.

All this hoop te doo is why I do not go to car shows anymore.
Colin Stafford

Dave Sander,

The issue of 'originality' will always be a red herring as its almost universally open to interpretation.

For instance, I do not consider the black TD with only 11,000 miles to be original. Even from your picture, I see a black grill on a car with a green interior - strictly a no-no in terms of originality. IMHO, that means that the grill slats have been painted!

Then there are the chrome TF running board strips on a TD. Original? I think not!

Although I can't see it (in the picture), I would inspect the wing piping. The originl is 3/8" and is vinyl over braided jute. One often sees wing piping in 1/4" vinyl over a rubber tube. Worse, some have contrasting piping (black seems to be common), and in all cases, the owners swear that the car is original ... yeah ... right !

However I must relate the tale of a dowright lie. The owner of a TF swore that the paint was original. Now David, you have seen my car many times and you do know that despite its very sad exterior appearance and probably 300,000 miles on it, it is original. I am the only owner - ever.

Attached to the underside of the rear valence of the TF, are brackets spot-welded to the valence that from part of the bumper mounting. A totally-original TF will show these spot welds. Those of you with TFs, go out and have a look at your car. If the spot welds don't show, then your TF isn't original!

Wanna get pickey? How many folds on a TD seat-back? How many of you still have the original under-dash panel? Then there's the tool roll ...

David, I will be driving my TF to the 50th Anniversary of the NEMGTR next year and if asked, I will be happy to judge the "Survivor" class T-Series, but I think a set of rules should be set beforehand. If your comment about "as it came from the factory" holds, then that's an excellent start. Not sure just how popular I will be though!

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.



Gordon Clark

Gord,
I would love to have you bring your TF to the "TF Challenge" in Oneinta this September. I ask every owner to speak for 15 minutes or so to explain the originality of their cars. You could take all the time you need to explain what is original.
F.w.i.w all five cars in the challenge had the original piping. It was a rope type cord with a fabric type wrapping on it. It was interesting to see how it was routed, and how well the dashboards fit and how well the piping fit around the dash. All the talk about how poorly these cars were assembled, the dash and dash piping was better on all five survivor cars than any restored cars I've seen.
-David
D. Sander

Gord, and others,
The silver streak grey TF has three extra strips mounted on the fender to complement the three on the running board. They are not TF strips, but extra strips mounted by the dealer to mimic TF strips. Remember, this was a TD being sold when the TF was hitting the showroom floor. I've seen several late TDs with these extra strips on the fenders.
Factory original? No. But they were on the car when it was sold new, and have been there for the last 61 years.
-David
D. Sander

Couldn't edit above, silver streak TD, not TF. The silver streak TD had three extra strips on the fender to complement the three on the running boards.
-David
D. Sander

Just for clarification with Silver streak Grey- this color was avalable in 1953, it replaced Clipper Blue. This was a metallic color, a silver-grey color. I have only seen several of these cars, and the winner of the survivor challenge TD competition is the sole example I've seen in the factory paint. This car is a one owner car, with a documented history. I examined the car carefully, and saw no evidence of a respray.
The paint has aged, it is somewhat milky and has a satin appearance to it.
As to originality, when sold new this car had an accessory spot light affixed to it on the windshield post, and three extra runningboard strips mounted to each fender to make the strips look like those on the TF. This was done at the dealer, before the owner even saw the car. At some point the steeringwheel was replaced.
This car has never been on a trailer, and was driven to the GOF, by the woman who owns it. She has put all but 300 of the 81,500 miles on the car.
-David
D. Sander

The women who drove this car to the GOF had a horrible drive...9 hours as it was acting up and overheating…when she arrived she was EXHUSTED...being in her late 70's...but this was HER car...she raced it at Lime Rock in the 70's...bought it with 300 miles on the clock and put over 80,000 miles on it...did you get the part about her DRIVING it to the GOF...ENOUGH from you folks who quibble while you trailer your cars…enough from you experts who quibble about slats & running board strips…if you had HEARD this women speak about this car…HEARD the love she shared with the car….SHE was a survivor as well as the car…
JMHO
Bob Doc
52 MGTD
Bob Dougherty

Bob Doc ... Well said!

BobbyG
Bobby Galvez

Here is a picture of Barbara and her winning silver streak grey TD. After making the trip up to the white mountains in North Conway, New Hampshire she was too exhausted to walk from the car to the hotel. She could only drive a few miles before she would have to stop to let the car cool down. I asked her to pull up to the door and helped her check in. When I had the great pleasure of driving this magnificent car out to the show area I smelled gasoline. I opened the hood and found the rear carb was leaking gas. I pulled out my tool box and started to fix the car. A line of people came over offering spare parts, tools and other assistance.
I was given the new cork jet packing washers and coper washers needed to make the needed repairs. The next day we adjusted the timing to address the overheating.
Great car, great group of people and a very deserving award winner! It was my great pleasure to award Barbara the TD survivor challenge award. Yes, this GOF was a great event! I was very proud to be the chairman!
All the best,
David Sander
Chairman
The New England MG "T" Register, ltd.


D. Sander

Very cool! Had I been there I'm sure my vote would have gone to Barbara as well!
Heck, looks like she dyed her hair to match the TD!
Way to go and congrats to her.
David Sheward

GREAT JOB DAVID !!!!! And a good idea to have the "Challange" ! Looking foward to TF's in Sept in Oneonta,,

SPW
STEVE WINCZE

Neat story David, thanks for sharing. George
George Butz

This thread was discussed between 09/06/2013 and 19/06/2013

MG TD TF 1500 index

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