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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 true is this...??

See: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6314&item=2427661407

"This car is original show car with prizes.. Only 4500 miles .. All original except door hinges.. The reason that door hinges are changed on these cars is that they used soft metal back then.. BUT the door hinges on their are from MG factory and pure copies.. Has soft top. All original chrome.. Always been in garage and only driven about 100 miles a year for last 15 years.. Serviced by qualified mechanic at the beginning of every year.. I have all the papers on the car and can even tell buyer the day it rolled off the assembly line.. Everything works.. The car is "correct".."


Really a totally unmolested original example??

If so, what about...
-air cleaners?
-valve cover?
-"The MG Car Company Ltd" on door sills?
-battery
etc etc

Or is it just a decent restoration?
Will

Will, Looks good - but it has the wrong airfilters, the tonneau should be tan, the rocker cover is an after-market one, the instrument panel is the wrong colour, the steering wheel boss too, and I don't know what he's done to the tool-box cover........ So not entirely original. But I'd still give them £5,000 for it! AB
Adrian Bennett

Buyer beware. This car has had lots done to it. Although the pictures are small and one cannot tell for sure the interior looks good but highly doubt it is original. If so its been keep in a giant zip lock bag for 59 years :-)

anyway these are not:

air cleaners
generator looks like a replacement
dash instrument cluster has been painted black
tonneau cover
threshold plates
headlamps
I question the paint too -right color; nice for 50 years
starter switch (replacement nylon one)
valve cover
piping is black that makes the paint suspect
chrome toolbox lid
side panel looks black or chrome - suspect engine has been rebuilt? 4500 miles?
steering wheel looks new cause its the darker marble
steering center is black

Chris

Chris Couper

Caveat Emptor!

I took the picture of the right door, and blew it up (to 3½" W) in PhotoShop, and it looks highly re-touched

(Doubting) Thomas
alias
Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A. Clark

"Car was entered in numerous competitions."
Mine was "entered" in an "Antique & Classic Auto Show" a few weeks ago.....but I would have done better with a 2002 PT crusier with a stick on flame job or a factory fresh 2002 Stock Corvette....they got trophys! LOL
"The reason that door hinges are changed on these cars is that they used soft metal back then." ??????
Mine were BRASS ...repros I bought were crap...bead-blasted and polished my orginials and put stainless pins in...not "correct" but I like it! (and they don't chip!) Looks like the tool box lid has been chromed on this one?
"just a decent restoration?" Sounds like a better description to me...there's a lot done here that is not "correct" and I don't belive 4500 orginial on the clock for a minute. If you are looking for a "concourse" example of an "unmolested orginial" ...I would advise you continue the search....if looking for a nicely restored TF to have some fun with ...might be worth taking a closer look at.
The advert for my TF when purchased claimed "100 point documented concourse example of an all orginial car" ...it was not, but I had fun "sorting her out" (still not 100 point car) and got to drive her whilst I did so. (I am also still waiting for all my "documentation" from my car....I look for it to arrive shortly after hell freezes over!)
With some of the other "claims" made here....I would certainly want to "see" the "documentation" including a BMIHT cert. before I would spend that kind of $$ on this.
That's my 2 cents!
Cheers,
David 55 TF1500 #7427

David Sheward

David, looks like there are four holes in the tool box cover. Was there some sort of placard originally riveted in that location?
Jim Merz

Jim,
Yes there is a placard on the inside of the tool box lid. Going from memory "Abingdon Works LTD" I think?
I can take a digi pix for you if you need one...(hope to play MG tomorrow).
PS: This should be on the Left side tool box lid....mine was on the wrong side and I did not even notice it as my lid was on wrong!...try looking there if you don't see one on your car!
David 55 TF1500 #7427
David Sheward

David,I have a TD but I was just trying to point out another flaw in the pictured TF. I was relying on memory which may very well be considered non-reliable.
Jim Merz

I would also argue that the dashboard should be biscuit, not red (either that or the upholstery should be red, not biscuit). I am sure that these cars were produced with an interiour all of one colour, just as the TD was. Biscuit has been a popular colour for replacement upholstery over the years but I think that past owners have been neglecting to keep the dash the same colour (and would have saved the hassle of buying more paint). I have a copy of the import records for new TF's entering Sydney that list both exterior and interiour colours and a biscuit interiour is a very rare colour, whereas red-with-red was relatively common. I have photographed two surviving genuinely unrestored examples that have the biscuit dash and interiour, one was red and the other black. I have never found an unrestored car over here that had a contrasting dash and upholstery.
Oh, and the tonneau rails are missing.

Cheers, Matthew.
Matthew Magilton

I find that despite it's not being original in many aspects, it still is an MG-TF.As such it should be used, enjoyed but preserved. As for the seller's description (ELL TORO CRAPOLA). It takes a lot of balls to describe it as all original . It sounds like a used car salesman's pitch.
Sandy Sanders
conrad sanders

Jim...
"relying on memory which may very well be considered non-reliable"....Your's must be better than mine...I've been looking at it for years and can't remember what it says!
Sandy...well said!...I am off to yet another local "Antique & Classic Auto Show" today ...just for fun, it only miles away from my house, the goal once again is to send some "small sticky folks" home with a pix of them "driving" the TF. I really do get a kick out of these children being drug from one "don't touch" to another when they get to sit in one and play. Maybe someday they will look at that pix and be part of the next generation to carry on the MG love affair we all have. I fell in love with these cars when I was 3 and it is getting less likley for someone to be born in a T like Chris Couper was! ;-) !!!!!
I urge all to try this next time your at a show...it takes so little to make a small child smile...and the "sticky" comes off easy with a damp cloth!
Cheers,
David 55 TF1500 #7427
David Sheward

Dave: Thats a great idea about the kids getting a chance to sit in the car and take a picture.

Good work.

Chris
Chris Couper

Here here. I used to love to go to the car shows and park next to the clown with the velevet ropes around his 'million dollar' whatsamacallit and have the kids climb all over the TD, stand on the running boards, turn the wheel, hit the horn, etc. Faces of the kids fantastic, face on the clown, priceless.........
Paul

Well I think I really pissed off the Ford & Chevy boyz yesterday! Arriving at that show was given the standard "winscreen paper" for make/model/year...only this one had printed across it in LARGE TYPE :"LOOK BUT DO NOT TOUCH"....a little white tape and some "sharpie editing" and mine quickly became "LOOK,SIT IN AND TOUCH ME..I WAS MADE FOR FUN!" The guy next to me got really upset...so I showed the kids were the horn button was...me horns are freshly rebuilt and very loud!.....he moved after complaining to the folks running the show and was told to "kissoff". His 89 chevy was quickly replaced by a gent with a 1932 Desoda DHC (very rare) that was of like mind and he and I had a ball watching the youngsters "racing" our cars head to head all day!
We were both rewarded with signals of "oneness & unity hand signals" from other owners all day and had a great time (they served beer...but we never got the chance to buy one from all the freebees!)
Cheers,
David 55 TF1500 #7427
David Sheward

This out to be a message to car show organizers. It is great to have to have perfect cars there as the are works of art and should be treated as such.

However they are cars and were originally made to be driven. So the car show organizers should set aside some of the show to non-perfect cars that could both fullfill types of vehicles that are not represented in the 'perfect' section and also where people can touch and sit in the cars to experience the physical aspects of the cars as well as the visual.

Chris
Chris Couper

Just my grain of negative salt, though I like that car: it has seat belts, which are highly illegal in my country, Switzerland, and would give an excuse to an insurance company to deny any payment in case of an accident. Yes, unlike the US these things are highly regulated in other parts of the world (including power plants and electric utilities) and one can't add new things to a car that were not there.

Denis
Denis L. Baggi

Denis,

From what I understand, one can not add safety equipment (seatbelts, roll-over bars, etc,) to a car that wasn't originally manufactured that way? Yikes. Does that apply to other "aftermarket" equipment such as superchargers, etc. since the T-types weren't shipped with them, though they were a common aftermarket addition, even in the 50's (and before). Sounds ultra-restrictive to me. I guess that would be the insurance companies talking.

Larry Thompson
N. Royalton, Ohio
(close to where the "Power Failure of 2003" started at the latest guess)
Larry Thompson

Larry,
Was it a Lucas power plant?
Robert Dougherty

... if it was ... let Legend now crowne

Lucas, Almightly KING of Darkness! ;)
Will

"N. Royalton, Ohio
(close to where the "Power Failure of 2003" started at the latest guess)":
I better hide...was in Warren,OH. a couple of weeks ago with the TF....if they "follow the Castroil trail",they could be looking for me! :-)!!!
Cheers,
David 55 TF1500 #7427
David Sheward

This guy has to sell the car to pay for the crack he's smoking. $25k "buy it now"? It's about as original as Pamela Sue Anderson's boobs. Nice to look at, but not real.
Dave Matthews

Dear Larry, you are partly correct: you are not allowed to modify anything that has to do with safety - hence, adding seat belts in a car that does not have it is a no-no.

If you still wanted to do it, there are two ways (at least):
- you obtain a cerificate from the manufacturer that the modification has been tested and agreed by them
- you carry out a modification and you have it tested and certified by a local state laboratory - there are two such in Switzerland: this is next to impossible.

This does not affect aftermarket accessories nor any other modifications, unless in the case of accident your modification could be proved to be the cause of the damage. This can be generally excluded, since accessories that are currently sold are allowed, by law.

I do not think this is ultra-restrictive and, to me, it's a good excuse not to wear any seatbelts, nor to have the exhaust checked, since it is the state it was in 1950, when no measurement of exhaust gases were made. Laws are not retroactive, so new requirements or constraints have no effect on my beloved TD.

At your disposal for further questions.

Denis
Denis L. Baggi

The price doesn't surprise me. I've mentioned before that many spares on the auction are more expensive than buying from Moss - just check on the current starting prices for some of the advertised body parts


Jan T

J Targosz

This thread was discussed between 15/08/2003 and 21/08/2003

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