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MG TD TF 1500 - Not MG, but looks like MG copied it

I know a lot of early British cars looked similar, bu take a look at this. A 1937 BSA Scout. 4 cylinder front wheel drive.

This one is owned by the gentleman that is reproducing the TD chronometric speedo/tach bezel. John Chadwick


Bruce Cunha

Any chance of a peek inside the bonnet?
David Sheward

Hello, Dave.

You might like to have a look at: http://www.bsafwdc.co.uk/

Cheers.

- Tom.
Tom Bennett - 53TD 24232

Thanks Tom,
Very interesting design.
Makes one wonder about cooling and shifting issues!
Exhaust header is very strange..."U" shaped!
David Sheward

Here is the engine compartment on this one.



Bruce Cunha

It is still interesting to me that a 1937 British car has similar lines and looks of a 1950/53 car. Was this pretty much due to the war. Or just not a lot of new design thought. I know we had similar issues in the US No real significant changes from the late thirties until the early 1950's
Bruce Cunha

Bruce,

Why say MG copied it? MG had produced cars (D-type, F1, J1 etc.) in this style earlier then 1937?

I say BSA copied MG!

http://www.simoncars.co.uk/mg/mgmagna.html
http://www.simoncars.co.uk/mg/cmidget.html
Willem vd Veer

...and here is the engine compartment...

Now this is a decent size toolbox !!!

Mike
Mike Fritsch

The Model A Ford exhaust manifold is very much like that.
Gene Gillam

Looks like a small model A Ford engine turned around! Nice looking car. PJ
Paul sr

Bruce, that's exactly why. After the war, most British car companies had little to no money available for designing new cars. So they pulled out their pre-war models, upgraded them a bit, and continued selling them. The MG TC is a perfect example, being a slightly uprated TB. By the end of the 40's they knew the TC was getting long in the tooth so it got a re-design with modern features like rack and pinion, IFS, smaller wider tires, etc. They may have done something more streamlined but by this time most true M.G. die-hards would have nothing else. The steel wheels caused an uproar among enthusiasts, which is why the TF went back to wires.

By the early 50's even the TD was looking pretty antiquated compared to what much of the world (especially the USA) was producing. As a cost-saving measure M.G. did what it always had - updated what it already had. This was the TF. It only took two years to realize they had made a mistake and so the MGA was released. If you look back a few years, you may notice UMG-400, a TD with a streamlined body. This was the precursor to the MGA. But the penny pinchers kept this body style from finding its way to the public until 1955.
Steve S

i thought MG's intent was to launch the MGA and the TF from the beginning was a stop gap until the planned MGA would be market ready...but perhaps i am mistaken. regards, tom
tom peterson

Willem. You are correct, a lot of cars in this time had similar bodies. I had never seen a BSA automobile and the similarities to the TC/TD are striking. It very well could have been that BSA was copying MG.

Figured that must have been the case Steve. I can understand a war torn UK wanting to get factories back in production and yet not having the capital to put into new tooling and processes.

The whole story of MG seems to be that the production cars sold so why change.

Very interesting when you look at some of the speed record cars that were made. Even some of the concept cars were intriguing.
Bruce Cunha

I guess it depends on what way you look at it Tom. The TF was sort of a stop gap. But I've always interpreted the story that the MGA would have been released sooner if not for budget concerns. I'm not the foremost historian on the subject by a long shot though!
Steve S

Tom, I believe the '"A" was ready to go, but parent company mangagement gave the money to Austin-Healy for the the 100 series and told MG to put the A on ice for a time. George
George Butz

Tom, Steve,

George is absolutely right in pointing out that, much to the frustration of Abingdon who knew their TD was outdated, the MGA introduction was halted because of parent company (then BMC?) politics that was much in favour of the Austin blood group then.
Willem vd Veer

Apparently only about 3000 BSA Scouts were made!
I have the chance of an early 1936 MK1 Scout,that with very little work will be road safe.
Its all there and original,pretty tidy but cosmetically challenged!
Got to have a chat to the BSA club expert before I decide!
Pilkie

This thread was discussed between 11/01/2013 and 19/01/2013

MG TD TF 1500 index

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