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MG TD TF 1500 - Proud 2nd owner of 53 MGTD

Been reading board last couple of weeks, I been on the MGB Board and MGA board for few years, I have 1969 MGB I restored in 2000 and 1962 MGA I work on and keep in good running order. Last weekend I was interview by the original owner of 1953 TD. He was looking for someone who would take care of the car he had for 54 years. I was the lucky person. He has well maintained the car 1 paint job in 1975, and acouple of new carpets, other wise keep in original order. I will be asking for lots of info the more I get into it. I am putting some clips on www.youtube.com, search for mgsonly, my user name, or Eddie's 1953 MGTD. Will be looking for lots of advice. By the way he bought it in Paris, France while on military duty, went on his honeymoon in it to college in it, it has 65373 miles on it as of today. I drove it home, last saturday, and have reworked brakes, and put some new 165r15 tires all the way around.
Eddie Davis

Here is link to youtube ,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV9EjZSLx3M
Eddie Davis

Hi Eddie,

What an absolutely fantastic find !!! The "history" of the car is certanly no mystery, and "original" is the operative word here... I enjoyed your video clip, and look forward to seeing more, as I'm sure all the "regulars" on this board will also... Next time please show us under the bonnet... CONGRATULATIONS !!!

Cheers mate,

Rod Macleod - '55 TF 1500 HDB46/6798 "Molly")
Rod Macleod

Nice car Eddie- I think original cars are great and more interesting than restored trailer queens.
You will find this to be an excellent source of info, and the archives are excellent on this forum.

What is the number of your car? It appears to have chrome plated headlamp buckets (shells). Could you confirm with the original owner that these are original to the car? There is some contention as to the date range, or ranges, the chrome was used.(Many cars had painted buckets.) I have a late TD which I bought from the original owners family, which has chrome plated headlamp buckets, but I was unable to confirm whether they were original to the car, or not.

Dallas Congleton
Dallas Congleton

Welcome Eddie.

I have a 67 B GT and a 1950 MGTD that is the same body color as yours. Very nice looking car.
BEC Cunha

Glad to see you made it over...again, great car!!! (my late '53 also had chrome headlights without the 'medallion') It aslo had a chrome grille!
gblawson - TD#27667

Very nice car. Just keep it as original as you can. I just bought a original TD with 42,160 miles, and I intend in keeping mine as original as possible. The seats were replace in mine in the 90's and top replaced a few years ago.
There are very few original TD's left. I will take an original car over a 100 point restoration any time.

Have fun with your TD...
David Honness

What a great find. Did you find it in Alabama? Are you close to Birmingham?
Jeff McWhirter

Eddie, congratulations and have a lot of fun with the TD and with this BBS, greetings, Huib
Huib Bruijstens

Thanks for all the comments. I will answer some of the questions you have asked.Congleton, the owner was telling me that people would comment on the chrome buckets, he laughed and said I told them I bought this car brand new in Paris France and I know it came with chrome buckets. Jeff, I found it here in my hometown Tuscaloosa. I plan to clean it up and put more on youtube, I will get shots under the bonnet and shot of the wood which is solid all under. In the paper work, 2 boxes he gave me was info where he registered in the T-Register, I will look up this info. I do not plan to do anything but ensure mechanical condition at this time. The leather seat is very old and may neet to replace the leather tears easy.
Eddie Davis

Hey Eddie,

Wonderful car! Congratulations. Thanks for clearing up the Chrome Buckets! I've always thought that they were original equipment on most later cars, unless an owner specified otherwise. Chrome was cheaper than it is now, and it affords protection when opening the bonnet. I recently redid my leather seats, using some ideas from Gordon Lawson. I went for a more curved look. It would be pretty simple to go with a more original look with the Moss kits.

http://www.travelaire.photosite.com/MGTDRebuild/Interior/Seats_test_arrangement.html

A good friend of mine has an original MKII, he bought entirely new seat assemblies from Moss and kept the old seats intact so if he wanted to show the original car, he could just swap the seats.

Welcome to the forum!

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

Eddie,
Congratulations !! And Welcome to the board,,,, I believe that the "T" Register number is transferable with the car to the new owner,,,go to http://www.nemgtr.net/contacts.shtml and contact Tony Thomas Membership Registrar. It's a very worth while club to belong to..

SPW

Steve Wincze

Eddie-
Congrats, and keep it original as much as possible.

For the seats, as long as the leather still exists, you can preserve and improve it with Leatherique. Look it up on the web, very nice people and the stuff really works. Note that if it tears easily it will break up soon, and every time it flexes takes years off the life - Leatherique will prevent that. I saved some Jag seats that were as hard as stone and that would have cracked in a week if anybody had used them - came out as new.
FRM
FR Millmore

Welcome Eddie.

We also have 53 - we are the third owners. It was bought by our friend in 1957 and we purchased it from him in 2002. He had dismantled it and never touched it since 1968. So we had a bucket of bolts literally. We had to replace the nuts and bolts but overall it's as original as possible. The carpet/leather was purchased in from the factory and sat in boxes until we put her together. New wood and we now have over 2500 miles on her. We too have chrome headlights and a chrome grill.
Enjoy, and drive....

http://community.webshots.com/user/apbudd

Have fun.
R & A Budd

Welcome Eddie.
Sweet! Don't you just love that "old car smell"! I'll take that any day over new car.
One thing you might want to look into fairly soon...from listing to your motor, sounds like you may be due for a tappet adjustment. These old girls need that about every 2500/3000 miles or so....It's a great way to bond with her!
If you haven't looked here yet ..you may want to...hands down the best single source of info on the TD :
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgtd/
Between that site and the info in the archives from this BBS not much you can't find out. I have been on here about 7 years but still learning ,,,this is one great collection of helpful folks.
Cheers,
David 55 TF1500 #7427
David Sheward

Dallas, have been doing some research before getting back in number. Here it is TD/29913, have been in touch with someone in niagrabritishcarclub.org who has a T database, and it appears to be the 3 last TD built. Are there others who can confrim this?
Eddie Davis

The information I have says that #29915 was the last one produced, in Aug 1953, so this sounds correct.
There should be a data tag on your tool box, which gives both the car number and the engine number.
The car number is also stamped in the drivers side frame extension, just below and forward of the hole where the bellows on the steering arm comes through.

Your information confirms reports that the headlights were returned to production on at least some of the later models. My car is number 25937, a March 1953 production, and had them also. This may or may not mean all the cars had them, as they may have done as now, with sales specials, etc.

Dallas
Dallas Congleton

Dallas, I have all the info you suggest, who would be best to help me know for sure.
Eddie
Eddie Davis

Eddie, it sound to me as if you have the info you need, if you have the data plate and your chassis is stamped, then you have the bragging rights to the 3rd from the lat TD made.

Here is a link to maybe the most comprehensive register. You can enter your car here and maybe get a little more info.
http://www.tregister.org/register/

Here is a link where you can copy the production by car per month-
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_production.htm

Dallas
Dallas Congleton

Eddie,

Congratulations on your custodianship of your 'new' TD.
Over time,I suspect you will appreciate the original qualities and advantages of this particular car even more than you might now. It is so nice to see items like correct door closure profiles both in and outside of the car,correct body piping in colour and form,the correct alignment of the bonnet hinge line with the bottom edge of the scuttle top etc.etc.
Many restorations don't ever get these things right.

Enjoy your toy,they are fantastic fun.

Cheers
Rob.Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").


Rob.Grantham

If you add your photo (car and you) to the forum photo section ( http://www.gblandco.com/gb/forum/forum.html ) we can see the 3rd last TD built.
I have a photo of the 2nd last one which is in New Jersey! Will add it as well although I don't have a shot of the owner.
gblawson - TD#27667

Added td/29914

http://gblandco.com/gb/forum/forum.html
gblawson - TD#27667

Thanks for the replies, I have found all the plates and the stamped number on chassis and all match, I have also take pictures of these and will post on a web site I am working on. I will add my information to the Tregister with a picture of car. I will also send a picture to Mr. Lawson's forum. I will continue to put videos on youtube, my user is mgsonly if you search this you will find my videos. Again thanks for all the feed back, I look forward being active on this BBS.
Eddie
Eddie Davis

(Its Gordon..... not Mr. Lawson)...
gblawson - TD#27667

Gordon, I have a picture for your forum, let me know how to get it to you or upload to web site.
Eddie Davis

Send it to: gblawson@vaxxine.com
gblawson - TD#27667

Eddie, you have an email.
Lee
L. B. Tyson

Left TD29913/14 in order on the photos page, but added the same photo under E for Eddie so Dave can find him!!!
gblawson - TD#27667

This thread was discussed between 27/04/2007 and 07/05/2007

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.