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MG TD TF 1500 - New Left Ftont Wing

Hi Folks,

I am in what might be mistaken for a nightmare... In May of this year I posted the sad story of a 19 year old girl, in a Dodge Durango, pulling out from a stop sign and causing me to hit her in my '55 TF 1500... I had just finished a complete engine rebuild and had only driven the car a total of 149 miles in a two day period...

That being said, the wee car was looked at by my insurance company and taken to a repair shop that specializes in old British cars (T & W Auto Body, in Waterford, Michigan)... That was the second week of June 2004, and I still don't have the car back... The damage was to the front end, but I consider myself lucky in that the engine suffered no damage... The left front wing was bent badly, and the metal was actually torn... The two frame extentions ("horns") were bent over towards the left side of the car, and the front suspension took a beating..

The shop ordered a new left front wing and left side panel, bumper, suspension parts, etc., etc... The problem is that the new left wing that they fitted to the car does not match the geometry of the right wing... It is WAY OFF !! When looking at the car from the front, the left headlight is actually about one inch higher that the right one... When looking at it from either side, the left wheel well has about 1-1/2" more verticle gap between the top of the tire and the lip of the wing than the right side does...

I am looking for some guidance here from the vast "knowledge base" out there... Has anyone gone through a similar problem? The new fender came from Moss and I called them about the problem... Moss said that the "new" fenders are made in the UK from a "sample fender", and that even in production, when these cars were new, the MG assembly folks sometimes had to try fitting any given fender to 5 or 6 cars before they got a "reasonable fit."

It appears that a considerable amount of "cutting & welding" would have to be done to literally "re-make" the new fender to fit... Or, if a pair of old fenders were located from a "donor car" perhaps that would be the solution... At least they would be the same geometry...

Any help --- any fenders --- anybody??? It would be nice if I could get the poor wee thing back home in her own garage before the snow starts here in Michigan... Between the engine rebuild and now this awful body repair problem, I have lost two full summers of driving... Being close to 61 I value my summers much more than I used to...

Cheers Mates,

Rod Macleod - '55 TF 1500 ("Molly")
Rod Macleod

First i would take it to a different shop and have the frame checked for trueness... They may have missed one side being bent "up"?
I would measure on a truly flat surface the two fenders from the ground at varuous positions and see if it is the fender or where it mounts...
I would see if raising the other fender with (?) might bring the two sides closer?
There certainly seem to be a lot of washers and various "adjustment" things on various parts of the body.
gordon.b.lawson '53TD

Gordon right on. You can measure yourself on really flat floor from like points on the frame on each side to approximately check. The TF I restored some time back had evidently been in a minor crash, or possibly even factory, as all of the right front fender holes, side panels, etc. had the holes filed out and enlarged quite a bit to allow adjusting a lot. I also recall a crossbrace with threaded adjusters between fenders- you could disconect that also, loosen everything, and try to lower the high side/raise the low one. Could also be the fender. Keep us posted.
George Butz

Umm... not sure how 'orthodox' this is, but having tinkered with misc examples of British engineering over the decades...

There's usually more than enough adjustment in the panels to adjust for 1" of difference. (imho one could carelessly bolt one of these things together and end up 3" off.)

Just need to loosen all the screws/bolts/braces then adjust it by eye. For the front fenders, I was using 4x2 lengths of timber as a lever between the tyre and the fender... just muscle everything until they fit sweetly.

Then tighten up everything you loosened earlier.

------------------

That said, had a "close one" myself last weekend. Was toofing along at 45mph when an idiot driver (on Probationary plates) pulled out from a side street.

I honked and then he saw me... AND STILL KEPT COMING OUT..!! 8( IDIOT...

Brakes + quick lane change... phew.


The TF is an amazingly nimble car and handles great, even by 'modern' standards.
Will

Rod,

I would get hold of Bob Seymore at Abingdon Spares, unlike Moss, he can be quite helpful. Abingdon Spares 603-756-4768
Ron Boisvert

Rod;
I had the same thing happen some 20 years ago on a customer's car. I replaced the left fron fender that was severely ruined by a police car's front left wheel that rolled up and into the body tub. Insurance paid for a new tub and fender and seats as the drivers was totaslly mangled.. It did that exact same thing as yours. The explanation I received was that there are Two and Four finger fenders. By that I mean that there was a two finger difference in the clearance between the headlight bucket and the radiator shell.One you can put two fingers and the other four fingers. I had to replace the right front fender with a new one to match the left one. All was well after that. You might have to go the same route.The insurance company paid for the extra fender.
Sandy Sanders
Hudson Florida
conrad sanders

If you order a fender from Moss, who is to say they won't send you the same fender? (even if they have the right one) I asked Moss to check a part for me before , after getting a bad one, and there answer was you have take what we send you, we won't check parts before we send them. So I ordered from Abingdon Spares, Bobbie put me on hold, checked the part for fit, and it arrived the following day. If you order another fender, I would call Abingdon Spares. If it isn't right this time, it wouldn't be from the lack of effort and great customer service.
Ron Boisvert

Thank you all for your thoughts... The frustration level I'm having with the repair shop is reaching a peak, after four months of excuses from them... There is no way they "fitted" the new fender prior to painting it, or all this would have been known long ago... But that's water under the bridge...

Sandy Sanders - Your "two finger vs four finger" explanation may well be what is a play here... I will be going out to see the car again on Monday Oct. 11th, to take some measurments and photos... I also have my insurance company involved in the issue and hopefully there will be a happy ending... My first thoughts were to have the right fender replaced to match the geometry of the left one, but I have not yet had that conversation with the insurance people...

Ron Boisvert - Your comments on Abingdon Spares are well founded... I have done business with Bob Seymore before, and found him to be very knowledgeable and will to help...

Rod Macleod - TF 1500 ("Molly")
Rod Macleod

This thread was discussed on 09/10/2004

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