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MG TD TF 1500 - Restored MGTD Details

OK- here is another opportunity for all of us of arm chair "judging experts". This is a very nice restoration with "no expense spared" , and looks like it got a very nice job- but there are some details wrong. Care to pick it? It is an educational exercise :>)


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1951-MG-TD-Roadster-Nut-and-Bolt-Restoration-Superb_W0QQitemZ4610823070QQcategoryZ31858QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Dallas Congleton

Dallas-

First off, it isn't pictured in my driveway. While one might quibble about the chromed hinge on the curtain box lid, the poor stamp job on the repro ID plate, the rivet for the engine tag and if it is a 52 v 51, (my '52 MKII is TDC/17198) it is one of the nicest I have seen offered for a long long time. At $16K not enough, one would expect the clock to work, I like the original inspection sockets, as opposed to those neon plastic replacements everyone accepts as proper.

Have at it gang.

Safety Fast

Paul
Paul

I, a relative newcomer here, can find nothing wrong OR "wrong" but I would have the door side curtains overlap the door for the fitting I would have.

John
John Redman

Should the Patent Plate (above the Chassis Number Plate) be black lettering on brass background rather than the reverse? Car looks pretty convincing to me. Interesting to see what it fetches>
SEAMUS
F. HEALY

I thought the ID plates were Nickle with black lettering on all TD's?
Bruce Cunha

John Redman,

A few non-original things:

The closure on the sidescreen flap was a button, not a "lift the dot" fastener.

I believe the sumps on all TDs from 1951 on, were finned.

There is a third idiot lamp in the middle of the facia plate.

And as Paul has pointed out, chrome hinges on the sidescreen stowage were not standard.

All these niggly things aside, isn't it a beauty? Clean, tastefull and I'm afreid - expensive!

There is always the risk it will end up as a Trailer Queen.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A. Clark

Gordon, my engine #10835 has the small, unfinned sump. Otherwise, the unpainted, starting to rust bolts underneath, possibly no inspection band on the generator (hard to see) and possibly the repro triangularish bell horns- they don't look like the long oval ones. Check out the wheel weights on the right rear. Wiper motor upsidedown. However, I would trade in a heartbeat- overall appears very well done.
George Butz

First I too would like to own a car this nice. I am nearing the the completion of a late 53 of which I am the second owner (since 70s)The car has been maintained as original and should come out well. My restoration has brought my focus to the details of assembly, such as we know the details. The upside down wiper caught my attention, and then I got picky. To add to what Gordon and others have noted - If this car were in "fine point judging", the the battery and cables are not correct; the tires are later radial types, the oil pressure gauge should just be a single gauge; the fuel line hoses are reproductions;the bolts inside the rear compartment for the gas tank straps should be painted upholstery color, the capillary tube armor should be black. Having said all that I really hope mine is this presentable when complete.
Dallas Congleton

My rear compartment tank strap bolts are covered by the trim material, so you don't see them. Don't remember what was original though. Why would you do that nice of a rstoration and refit a cable clutch.
Greg & Grimm
G.J. Cenzer

Also appears that vehicle does not have a full tonneau fitted.? Greg & Grimm
G.J. Cenzer

When did dished speedo/tach and double oil/water gauge come in?
gordon lawson - TD 27667

Jay,

The half-tonneau came standard from the works. A full tonneau was a dealer-installed option.

GAC

Gordon A. Clark

Hi Gang;

Although it is a very nice car, my interest was tweeked by what appeared around the corner of the garage door. Anyone care to guess what it is?

Dick
Dick McCutcheon

Looks like another TD, only in black, if we're looking at the same photo.

Gene Gillam

I like the blue Austin Healey 3000 !
Dallas Congleton

This may be a classic example of the recent thread about the use of reproduction ID Plates. The Car No. is 11871 and the engine is claimed to be #10189. My TD was produced in early October, 1951 and is Car No. 10855. The original engine number was 11251. If you look at George Merson's TD list you'll see that it would have been quite an oddity to have Engine No. 10189 show up that late in the sequence. Was the engine replaced and a new ID plate stamped? Who knows? But it's a beautiful piece of work.

BTW, gordon, the chronometric instruments ended at about Car No. 10751, just before my car was made.
Bud Krueger

Dick, are you referring to the Alfa Romeo inside the garage. Looks to be a 2600 Coupe from the mid 60's
Peter Whelan

G&G-
I went back to a cable for my clutch, after breaking too many rods. Served me well on the street and the track for decades.
Paul
TDs,TDC, others
Paul

They have quite the selection of cars: http://www.fastcars.net/fcoccfs.html
gordon lawson - TD 27667


if it is in fact a 1951 then shouldn't it have a 9 post regulator. Bob
R. K. (Bob) Jeffers

Bob, AKD 834 says that the regulator change happened at Chassis No. 8142. That would have been in early June of 1951.
Bud Krueger

Bud,

We have just such a Mk II TD in the Minnesota T Register. The engine has an earlier serial than the car. In speaking with ex-works people, they said that sometimes an engine would be pulled months earlier, toyed with in the engineering developement area, and then returned to the line for installation. In the case of our club member, the engine was in Mk II tune, so it went into the next available Mk II. Of course, all the mumbers match, and we have no reason to think otherwise because when purchsased, except for an upsidedown windscreen wiper motor, a slightly bizarre engine ventilation system and the replacement of the proper SU fuel pumps with a little square box, the car was unmolested and everything else looked undisturbed.

Believe me, a lot of emails and phonecalls back and forth to England to verify the status of the car were made before our member purchased the car. The car was owned by a man who never joined a local or international club, so it was a relatively rare find.

Hope this helps you feel more at ease about the sequence of numbers on our little cars.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

This thread was discussed between 08/02/2006 and 09/02/2006

MG TD TF 1500 index

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