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MG TD TF 1500 - Abington in 1950s

Incorrect spelling in thread header, sorry

The Guest Speaker at my club's upcoming Noggin & Natter night in 2 weeks time is Mike Evans who will be telling us about his connection with MG at Abingdon in the 1950s.

Any ideas of questions I should ask?
Stuart Duncan

Hi Stuart. Could you ask him if he knows whether any colour pics exist from that time? These would be like gold & would answer a whole lot of questions on originality. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Ask about supply shortages and how the Factory adapted. Paint, tools, hardware, etc.

First hand knowledge or facts if it can be given.
Frank Cronin

Good question Peter - I would add to it and ask if paint sources were constant or if they varied - assuming that your question is oriented to the paint.

BobbyG
Bobby Galvez

Not just paint Bobby but also as Frank says, tools, hardware etc. This would also include upholstery colour, screws, nails, nuts & bolts as well as bolt on items. A few colour pics of the TD engine bay for example would determine the finish on the engine stabilizer, the colour of the genny pulley, radiator branch pipe, water pump & fan, the engine red (cherry or burgundy) & the colour of the finish on the exhaust manifold. The list goes on.. Like I said. Gold. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

To authenticate color of components using photographs is a big wish. Pending on film used and more importantly the film processor will determine variations from the real items. We have already had a "Forsyte Saga" discussion on the color of the TF steering wheel center piece based upon photographic evidence.

Controversy will always exist using photographs for color comparisons, the level goes up another peg when people start using computer screens.
G Evans

True Graeme but red is still red & black is still black & colour pics would certainly answer some of my questions. Chrome is chrome regardless of how it presents on the printed stock & that chrome "colour shift" could also shed some light on both paint & upholstery tones. Not definitive by any means but we'd be a helluva lot closer to some answers than we are now in trying to interpret black & white pics. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

I would be interested in the issue of wheels. We had a discussion some time back relating to some pictures of MG TD's on a car transport. The rims looked black. It was surmised that the cars may have been shipped with black rims and changed at the destination (that is the tires/rims were only for transporting the car)

I believe it was one of the MG movies that had the cars on a transport. While the film was black and white, it was clear that the rims on the cars on the transporter were dark.
Bruce TD4139 Cunha

Ask him who made the wiring harnesses for the T-Types, and when tinned copper wire in the main harness was stopped. I think it was stopped at the beginning of the TD in late 1949.
D mckellar

A chap once posted that as a young chap he had worked at MG during TF production. He said that supplies were so limited that when MG ran short of fasteners one of his jobs was to go down the road with a cart to a tractor (or something ?) works and "borrow" some fasteners. It would be good to have this sort of practice confirmed.
Godspeed in Safety Fast
Jc
John Crawley

Just to let you know, Mike Evans spoke at last night's club N&N. Mike's talk was not about the MG factory and MG production, but about antidotes concerning his father-in-law Cecil Cousins, the first employee at MG.
I put the questions raised in the tread to Mike, but he didn't know as he never worked for MG.
Mike's talk related to the late 1950's and early '60 when MGAs were being built.
cheers
Stuart
Stuart Duncan

Well that was anticlimactic :-)
TW Burchfield

Well, maybe somebody knows somebody, who knows of ... you get the picture. Be nice if we did, in colour : -) Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

This thread was discussed between 04/03/2016 and 19/03/2016

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