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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - How did you get your T-Series

Bruce was curious to know how a California car made it's way to NY. Here goes.

MG TD #18508

I've loved little cars ever since I played with Matchbox & Hotwheels. Still have a few including an Corgi XKE, BGT & a dinky toys #108 "MG midget" It's a TF but I have always loved these little buggers.

About 4 years ago the bug really bit me in wanting a TD. My Midget projects were a disaster so I decided to get something else to work on. I did some research and looked around but nothing local. Then I decided to look on ebay. This car was listed with no reserve and the price was right. I emailed the seller and he seemed genuinly concerned about the well being of this car. His mother had purchased the car in 1956 from a dealer in Passadena. His parents tried to take the best care of it they could mechanically but the paint chipped away to it present patina. Each of the 3 kids drove it to High School. The father kept meticulous records of everything he did. These records and a few other items I am missing for the car are still in the garage but the seller has yet to be able to get through years of stuff to get it for me. I am still in contact with him and he would want nothing more than to make sure I have whatever remains of the car go to me. With the history his family had with the car he was glad I got the car.

I had it transported from California in an enclosed trailer by Passport Tansport. They were very helpfull and the car arrived as it were "Packed" by the seller. He put what ever he could into it, through the hardtop on it and wrapped it in a tarp with duct tape. The duct tape pulled off some of the paint & chrome in spots but no real damage.

The question for me has always been who owned it befor them. Maybe when I recieve the records the bill of sale with be there. I have posted about this topic before but have gotten nothing but dead ends.

I always think of the song "little old lady from Pasadena" when speaking about this car becasue of where it came from.

Two interesting tid bits.

The owner's last name - Lucas.

When deciding on a name I picked Gloria. I was driving home and there was a song on my CD player called Gloria. I said to myself "that works" The interior is green G is for Gloria it'son the CD, why not.

The owners name is Gloria - Gloria Lucas.

I got chills.
V.W. Piña

I noticed that photo of the CA title...neat bit of info... You might (if you haven't already) request old photos from the p/o...they could make copies of a few to have stay with the car... In searching for previous owners its always the one special item that one can find...an actual photo from 'way back when'... My p/o said he had albums full, but they were buried away in a back shed or somewhere and I haven't heard from him in a year or so....sigh!
I will add your p/o name to the data base...was going to but didn't know if they put last names first on that title and couldn't read the last name on the line.

have fun V.W.
gblawson - TD#27667

Mine came from the classified section of this BBS. Called, went to look at, and brought a lot of cardboard boxes home. Now have a rolling chassis and a body tub that looks like a fish skeleton that's been laying on the rocks for years.

Interesting: opened the toolbox lid and found a name painted on the inside. Figure it must be the guy who owned it back in the 50's. He (according to a number of look-ups) must be in his 70's. Think I'll call him.

We GONNA be on the road next summer!!!!!

Tom
TD29667
tom

Interesting Car number Tom...hadn't noticed that before!

My brother called me from Maryland...asked me to take photos of a TD he found through a chap on the internet that happened to be about 20 miles from here...I took the photos and emailed them to him.... he thought about it and then realized another MG in his garage would mean absolute 'divorce'...he called and said he was going to pass on it... I thought about it a week and let my bank manager decide if i could buy it...towed it home on a flatbed, didn't tell anyone.... Couple weeks later he called and wondered if the TD had sold....I said it had... he said "too bad...looked good".... I said "yeah...think it was a really good car.... you will have to come for a ride sometime..."!
Two months later it was on the road....that was 2 years and 11,000 miles ago. (He was really excited for me).
gblawson - TD#27667

Gentlemen,
After I retired I started working in an antique car restoration shop run by the husband of a fellow teacher I had taught with years before. He specializes in 55-57 Thunderbird roadsters and Auburn Boatail Speedsters from the late 20's and early 30's. I "borrowed" one of his personal 55 TBirds for a weekend and hooked my bride on the fun of antique car ownership. We bought the 55. The following winter the boss took this little green and biscuit TF out of a 53 year storage for restoration, and eventual sale. Cleverly I invited my bride to the shop to see what I was working on, and just happened to point out the "for sale" TF. She fell in love with the "cute little green car" and we bought it as well. The TBird is a breathtaking crowdstopper, but the TF is our favourite driver of choice. It gives us more smiles per mile.
Gene
Gene Burgess

Back in 1979, I took over a Boy Scout troop in Kansas. The Commitee chair Joe had a meeting at his house and took us out to the 'car barn' afterwards. He was big on Pontiacs. but off to one side was an unmistakable shape of an MG under an MG Mitten (remember those?) I was 23 years old, and from that moment forward, when I exclaimed, "let's take a look at that TD" Joe and I became fast friends.

He lived on a dirt road out in the country, and used my enthusiasm as an excuse to place the TD in my garage for my use. By the time my wife and I left Kansas for Minnesota six years later, now with two children of our own, we both were sad to leave the little red car behind. A couple of years later Joe called me and asked if I would like to buy "Little Red", and I said yes. It's been ours since 1987.

I ended up with a rare blood disorder which just about put me under the lawn a year ago April. When I recovered, I decided it was time to put the TD to rights, and tore it apart in about a week. I thought I would be done by now, but with a delay or two, I'm focusing on May of 2007.

Joe says if I ever sell it, I have to offer it to him. I think he is as excited about the restoration as I am. Since we are going with Ivory, we will have to come up with a new name. One will come to me...

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

My TC came the opposite direction, from NY to So Cal. Actually it was purchased in the UK in the 70's and shipped to New York. Later it moved to Colorado with its owner, and then shipped off to Los Angeles to the owner's son. It moved from there to Hollywood where it sat until I bought it 15 years later.
Steve Simmons

See http://www.ttalk.info/Tech/OldFriend.html for some of Lazarus' history.
Bud Krueger

My street TD was my Dad's. He bought it in May of 1953 from the second owner. I can vividly remember driving home in it--I was only 4 years old at the time--and how close to the ground it was compared to our Ford station wagon! We went to early sports car races in it, then my Dad lost interest as both he and the car aged.

When he died in 1997, my brother and I almost sold the car, but our wives convinced us to restore it as a legacy to his life. He was just a normal guy, by the way, with a 9 to 5 job, a family, and a mortgage.

We did that restoration, and now my younger son has taken up the cause; not only did he take it by himself to last Sunday's local British Car Day, but he detailed it so well that we were able to place First in Class! We were both thrilled, as I'm sure my Dad would have been too!

I bought my vintage racer from my close friend and racing mentor. When we finished the restoration of my Dad's car, he offered me his 1950 MG TD racer, by saying, "What you need is a racer TD to go with that show TD!". Each time I go down the false grid onto the track for the first practice session of the weekend, no matter what track I am racing at, I can honestly "feel" my Dad's presence in that right seat! It is at once humbling and emotional. Each and every time.

These little cars not only have a life of their own, they carry with them the memories of all the lifetimes they have touched!

JB
Jeff Brown

My TD came to me from Guelph,Ontario Canada by way of Buffalo,NY. I purchased it from a fellow, on the internet, who brought it into the states. Its now been completely dismanteled and slowly going back togeather. Needless to say,all those Canadian Winters and PO's left lots of work to be done. I'm trying my best not to loose patents. Photo on Gords sight.
John Shoemaker
John Shoemaker

When I was 13 I saw a beautiful light yellow TD with biscuit interior parked on a street near where a friend of mine lived. Instantly, I fell in love with that car with the big 'fenders.'
Fast forward 35 years, a century house renovation, career, 2 daughters. After some consulting work was completed (and a realization that I was taking life way too seriously) I found a '52 TD (#22141) for sale in the classifieds of this site. I contacted the owner, and purchased the car. I had it shipped from Oregon to western Maryland in 1999.
After I started the frame-up restoration, I discovered many interesting hidden stories, many of which are still mostly hidden. The RHD 'home-market' silver streak gray with red interior car still has a London Area parking sticker attached to the windscreen, and came with a UK plate (KVD 234 - apparently registerd in Cowley, according to the 3 letter prefix). Attached to the rear bumber bar is an inspection sticker from Hawaii (actually, there appear to be about 3 or 4 of them on top of one another). Similar inspection stickers are attached to cars registered in Hawaii today. It also came with an old Oregon plate.
Despite several stalls in the renovation, I still find working on 'the buggy' (as my youngest daughter named the car the day it arrived on the trailer) a most helpful mental escape and good therapy. I still love that car with 'the big fenders.' At least it's traveling in the right direction back toward 'home', after going almost all the way around the world.

Bud Precht
Bud Precht

This is my third T-Series. In 1972 I purchased a 1947 TC in Wymswold England as advertised in Road & Track magazine for $1800. It was shipped to Jacksonville Florida for $300!! I picked it up and drove it home to Georgia where I was living at the time. It was a great driver, but no beauty queen. Several years later, I was forced to sell her for a mere $2200.

In 1987 I bought a 1953 TD for $5500. It was also a great driver, but had the Volvo conversion. I didn't care at the time, as I was in love with the styling. I redid the Interior and top with Moss parts and used it every summer. Of course I was living in Alaska, so that was only a few months a year. Upon leaving Alaska, I sold her to a gentleman from Switzerland for $11000 in 1991. Went to him via Air France Jumbo jet cargo.

This year, after nearly a 20 year love affair with Series III Jaguar salons, I bought my current TD after a short quest to find one. I have no history on this car TD 24349 (Red/Red). The car is a good driver I'd say, and I am doing cosmetic restoration, without a frame off at this time. Perhaps when I retire in a few years I will do that. The paint is still very good, and the leather and carpet are new. I am redoing the dash and a lot of the chrome bits. Mechanically it apppears quite good, with the usual minor faults I am correcting along the way. Nothing serious - yet (fingers crossed).

I am having a great, but sometimes frustrating, time finding parts and pieces. I have bought some bargain items from Europe too. I just picked up a "like new - never used" chronometric speedometer. I'm hoping to perhaps trade it to someone who needs one and has the dish faced one required for my car. I thought about just swapping faces, but I lose the high beam light. And, I am not positive I could do it anyway.

Anyway, I plan to stya with the T-Series for as long as I can. I guess a 34 year history with them, albeit sporadic, tell me I like them :-)
L Karpman

My wife bought it for me for my 60th birthday (1997) from her cousin, who had owned it since 1955.
I had actually driven this car several times in the early 60"s, actually before I met my wife to be. Her cousin and husband where best friends of my parents.
In 1963 I exchanged my A-H 100-6 for the TF for a weekend, never knowing that I someday would own it.

What a suprise!, and a nice wife.
Colin Stafford

When I was a young child, I remember my father talking about wanting a "real" MG -- one with running boards. His dream came true over 35 years ago. I was in high school at the time and driving an AH Bugeye -- we took it down the Interstate 30 miles to pick up his new pride and joy, a 52 TD, painted metallic gold with beautiful (?) black vinyl interior. Of course, it started to storm on the way home -- my wipers worked (sort of), his not at all. We were both soaked through from the leaking tops and side curtains by the time we got home. I think he paid $1,500 for it.

A few weeks later he went out of town on business. I was taking a summer course in auto shop and decided to surprise him by giving the car a thorough tuneup while he was gone. Instead, a series of unfortunate accidents resulted in three of the four fenders being damaged by the time he returned--totally my fault. It amazes me to this day that he never even raised his voice.

In the mid 80's, the car came my way temporariliy for restoration. I returned it to him 6 months later (out of work at the time, so I had plenty of free time to devote to the project). It wasn't properly sorted out when he got it back and, unfortunately, he didn't have the skill to deal the the minor things that kept it from reliably being on the road. I was halfway across the continent and he didn't feel comfortable looking for a "real" mechanic.

He gave it to me permanently in 2000. The time for a serious freshening of the paint and details is fast approaching, but meanwhile the car is a reliable and well-performing driver that I take on the road as often as time and weather permit. I'm hopeful one of my daughter's husbands or a grandchild will someday want to take over custody (don't mean to be sexist -- the girls have shown no interest).
Scott McCoy

I bought mine in 1973 from a soldier when I was stationed on the Presido of San Francisco. I was actually looking for a bug eye sprite, and did not know anything about the MG TD. I had owned a Austin America and a 68 sprite prior to that. Once I drove it, I fell in love. Think I paid $750


Rebuilt the car using MOSS and Abbington Spares parts catalogues. Only found others with TD's after I finished the car. (the first Rebuild)
Bruce Cunha

I'm afraid nothing poetic in my buy.
I bought my TD a few years back from Gullwing Motorcars in New York; unseen via the internet.
It is waiting in the garage to be restored as my 63 Midget still isn't finished !
In the meantime I'm doing some research on the car's history but nothing spectacular came out of it. It was previously owned by a Mr. Michael H. Burwick of Cheshire, Connecticut. I tried to contact him but to no avail as I never got a reply to my letters. In the car I found a parking ticket from the "University of California, Santa Barbara", "Valid in our Lots Only" for a "Student #180880" ! So apparently it has been driving in California as well.
Apart from a few "nickles and dimes" found under the seats, not a thread of history. Alas !

Nick, 52TD/63Midget/74MGB
D.G.J. Herwegh

One evening in 1975 my wife who worked at a Toyota dealer came home with the announcement that an MG TD had been brought in with failing brakes. I hardly believed the story, but on checking myself it turned out to be a genuine MG TD. We managed to speak to the owner and pursuaded him into a swap with my 1969 MG-B. As he felt a bit sorry about the brakes of the TD he also paid some money to make the deal more attractive for me.
We fixed the brakes in no time and used the TD for 15 years without any major trouble after which a rebuild became a must as the body was falling apart and the engine really tired.
After a two year rebuild the TD is back in the condition as when it left the factory in december 1952.
It was originally imported new into Holland in 1953 and I managed to complete most of its history including a good contact with the son of the first owner.
The story of my TD can be read on:
http://members.chello.nl/b.voogd5/mgtd.htm
Bas

Simple for me.

I happen to drive by the dealer's show-room in my cream/red TF with disc wheels and radio but no heater and barly 6 weeks old, and saw a red/tan one with wires with a heater but no radio, in the window.

One might say I had a "low-mileage" trade-in.

15 minutes later I drove the red TF 4952 out of the dealership with 41 miles on the odometer.

I've now owned this car for 52 years, 3 months.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.

Gordon A. Clark

In 1952 I was stationed in California, waiting for a troop ship to take me over the pond. I would be hitch- hiking with three dollars in my pocket, when a new mgtd would go by with a pretty blond driving. Made up my mind that someday I would Have one of those. Ayear and a half later I got the blond, But it was 50 years before I got the car. The blond is still in good shape but the car was a mess.Four years later the car is restored like new.
DL Rezin

Found both my 32 J2 and 54 TF locally here on Cape Cod.
The TF was with a used car dealer and he didn't know what he had. It had 7000 miles since restoration and I got it for $12,250. Great car, no problems but history only goes back to PO. My J2 was in a restoration shop here on the cape for many years, just sitting in his showroom. It had been restored in England in 1982 with only 1700 miles since. Bought it with no history other than PO. Since buying I have traced it all the way back to its first owner, Lt.G.H.C.Dickens, who was the grandson of Charles Dickens. Also found car featured in l982 Automobile Quarterly Vol XX No. 4, l982 MMM Yearbook, l986 Classic Car mag. Lots of fun tracing.
SEAMUS
F. HEALY

My first MG was a green RHD 1952 YB Saloon I bought in 1978 when I was stationed in Georgia. My wife (now ex-wife) hated it, and I reluctantly sold it less than a year later. Fast forward to 1992. I then owned a 1902 Oldsmobile and a 1930 Model A. At a car club function an old acquaintence asked if I would be interested in adding an old MG his wife had in the garage to my collection. She seldom drove it and had gotten tired of leaving her modern iron outside. I checked it over and purchased it. This gentleman is a local contractor who had re-sided our house in 1984. This was about the time he purchased it. I have long joked that I paid for the car twice. The first time in 1984 as his purchase price was almost exactly what I had paid for the siding job. The second time when I bought it from him. It is another 1952, this time a red TD. I started checking it out against the service manual to get an idea of how it worked and noticed only one fuel pump in the book, but mine had two. It also had the extra Andrex friction shocks not shown in the book. I called Moss and was discussing the car with their technician and he asked me for the chassis serial number. When I said TDC18895, he said it was a Mark II. I had no idea. After registering it, I had a title search done. The car has been in Kansas since 1959 and has had a series of owner and dealer registrations. I have not located any history prior to then. My son fell in love with it the first time he saw it. When my tenure of ownership ends, he will carry the flag, only the car will transfer to Delaware where he resides. My grandson likes it too, but as he is only 3 years old, it will be while before he gets to drive it.
John Masters

This thread was discussed between 26/09/2006 and 30/09/2006

MG TD TF 1500 index

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