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MG TD TF 1500 - 54 TF Speedo

See anything different about this Speedo.
Ray TF 2884


Ray Lee

I want to look at it again, but it will not come back up.
I didn't see anything different except for the low mileage.
JB Warwick

You installed it sideways after to many OSH?
Larry Brown

Yes the octagonal speed marking instead of circular. Which model is it from?
Dave H
Dave Hill

For comparison.


L E D LaVerne

It's also missing the code number from under the trip meter so we can't look it up anywhere. And the divisions between the numbers don't look right.
Does it have a spare tachometer with it? Best I have come up with so far is this one and it will need a bit of work to get a transfer made for the numbers. I will probably try to convert it to an electronic system.

Chris

PS Ray, I have mounted the TD rear springs on my TF and the rebound straps. As you suggested, I can't see how the hangers could invert with them in place. Thanks again for the clarification.



C I Twidle

As far as we know the speedo has been in the car from new. Dave Williams has owned for the last 53 years.
It is an ex police car and we presume the 1 MPH increments were a legal requirement on a calibrated Police instrument for catching speeders.
It has no code number and no TPM number.
I met Dave and his wife Shelagh through the BBS when he had a slight problem while doing a full rebuild. I have worked with Dave the car since 2011 and it took another owner to point out the speedo!
The round lettering is the same as used on the YB,
Ray Lee

Photo


Ray Lee

Yes I see, individual mph marking and the more octagonal layout - all the better for checking the actual speed of other motorists, etc. I expect the speedo was specially selected and calibrated for the purpose, even if the mechanism is standard. Nice thing to have.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Dave I may just be a little more cynical in wondering how "special" the calibration was on the Police speedo! I'm sure the 1950's road surfaces made it so easy for the driver to record his speed with that accuracy!
Ray I should have picked up on the different font! I have been trying to find what was originally used for my tachometer project. So far I have found 'carre' is the closest with just a slight serif missing from the 7 and the carre 0 is slightly too wide. I can probably live with those differences. Just out of interest the numbers at the top of the dial are 2points shorter than the ones down the sides!
Chris
C I Twidle

Chris,
I think that may just be parallax error through not holding the phone at the correct angle.
As to the accuracy of the speedos I was done a few times on M/C's in the 50's & 60's and they always added on a few MPH to be sure!
The Magistrates always took the PC's word.
I have cooled down now and have not been done for 20 years.
Ray
Ray Lee

Just noticed the sides of the centre octagon are not parallel so it is a parallax error.
Ray
Ray Lee

Yes I agree, not accurate by modern standards, but you can imagine some token effort was made to justify the speeding tickets they handed out! Escaped unscathed in my M/C days, more by luck than judgement.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Was the location of the tach and speedo reversed in the police car so that the office could see it better?

Lonnie
TF721
LM Cook

In our area all Traffic cars had two officers on board so the speedo would stay.
Mine is in front of me as I wish to keep my licence.
Does your TF still have the fuel pump under the bonnet?
Ray
Ray Lee

My chassis (2071) has a bracket on the o/s rear wheel arch which I assume is for the pump (it's a HP and is still in one of the storage bins the car came in). I think I may be missing an angle bracket and rubber pads to mount the pump horizontally. I am planning to plumb and wire a backup pump in series but will need the body on to see how much room there is to extend the mounting bracket for the second pump.

The measurements of the font were directly from my original speedo with the glass off so no parallax. I just re checked and the 10 and 100 are a fraction over 5mm high graduatly increasing up to the 50 and 60 at 6.5mm. I can't imagine they were so fussy about appearance and can only think it was something to do with how the numbers where applied.

Chris
C I Twidle

I did a bit more searching and found that the Y Type uses the same speedo
also with rounded not octagonal numerals but no 1 MPH increments.
Dave,
if you are watching this could you check whether the rev counter has round or octagonal numerals.
Ray
Ray Lee

Hi Ray,

Please find attached photo of rev counter. Looks like octagonal to me. Different to the speedo.

Cheers Dave
D Williams

Oops didn't attach photo. Will try again.


D Williams

Hi Dave,
Do you know of any other TF Police cars.
It may be worth looking at the DVLA car check database with the numbers from your "MG's On Patrol" book and see if any more are about.
Ray
Ray Lee

Back to octagonal speedos, my 55 TF has an identical one. I believe it's original: it has certainly been there since I bought the car in 1967. Rev counter matches, although the octagonal shape is less obvious because there are fewer markings.

David
D A Provan

Hi Ray,

According to "MGs on Patrol" and the DVLA data base there are 6 1250 TFs (including my car) that were police cars and that can still be accounted for. These are:
- JJB 693 Black Tregister no: 1148 Used as police demonstration vehicle from 11/11/53 to 39/7/54.
- STE 951 Red SORN TRegister no: 1338
- STE 959 Red not taxed TRegister no: 1717
- SKR 646 White Not known to TRegister
- SKR 647 Black TRegister no: 1402
- TKL 707 (my car) Black TRegister no: 14012

Cheers

Dave
D Williams

If anybody on the BBS has any of the listed cars please chime in. It would be interesting to see if all have the 1 MPH increments.
Ray TF2884
Ray Lee

All of the cars were HDA (Black) when they left the factory.
Ray
Ray Lee

Found an interesting post on Pistonheads.
UK police car speedometers were all calibrated at the Police Instrument Repair Service based in Nottingham. They had a sticker giving the date of calibration attached.
Ray TF 2884
Ray Lee

This thread was discussed between 23/08/2017 and 16/09/2017

MG TD TF 1500 index

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