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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 - Rad grille shell ebay

IMHO there is something 'PHISHY' about a bidder who has been a member since 2001 but has never bid on ANYTHING before and is now running up this rad shell.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4550760790&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBI%3AIT
Greg & Grimm
G.J. Cenzer

Are the grilles exactly the same for the A,B,C and D?
gordon lawson - TD 27667

No. But they are interchangeable. The difference is that the TD has a bracket integral with the shell enclosing the hole for the starting crank while on the T-ABC the bottom of the hole is open. The TD is a bit more robust. Terry
Terry O'Brien

I would agree with Greg, the bidding by the current high bidder seems more than a little strange. Does e-Bay do anything to check on the existence of a "shill", or is there a process they have for investigating such practices?
R. Challberg

I think I would let "the general" have that one!
David Sheward

What I would find strange is if the "general" set up his account 2 years and 1 month prior to the seller and then waits another 1 year and 5 months to bid up this shell. That would be strange. If you look at his bidding history, he hasn't bid on anything in at least the last 30 days except this shell. Perhaps this is something he really wanted and we all started with 0 feedback at one time. Perhaps he has won something since 2001, but the seller didn't leave a feedback?

As for E-bay doing investigations on shill bidding, they could care less. Their only concern is collecting the listing and selling fees
Ron Boisvert

I had exactly the same thing happen on an intake pipe for a TD (carb to aircleaner). The seller knew it was for an MG (Duh! it has the octagon right on it!) but didn't know what model. Seconds before I would have won it, a person with ZERO history swooped in (and I mean with less than five seconds left) and took it. This was just last week.

Dave
D. A. Braun

Dave,

What is your feedback rating now? Was it ever zero? I know for fact that there are more and more people with no feedback buying on E-bay, buying T series parts. They are legitimate buyers, because I'm getting paid and they are getting their parts.

Yes, that intake was nice. I wrote to see what shipping would be to NH and he wanted $24. As for not knowing what model the manifold fit, I wouldn't know what his non-MG parts fit. Myself, I have a great set of Lucas chrome headlight shells, I know they go to a British car but I don't know which one.
Ron Boisvert

Well, "the general" did his job (maybe?) but didn't win. Someone really wanted this thing bad (IMHO). I liked the one several months ago that MUST have been for that repro we were talking about, anyhow, brand new. I thought long and hard about THAT puppy. My 'picture' of MY car is for a DD, even a vintage racer, NOT a show car, so really nice chrome parts (except in the engine compartment) is not for me.
Another comment about this whole eBay experience; very few complete cars get even a HALF decent price and, somehow, WE are letting those become our established value. On PARTS, though, high prices seem the norm. See what I am getting at? If someone really wants to recover his time and money, he will part it out (if he uses eBay), EVEN a beautiful, restored car. Sick thought, huh?

John
John Redman

My same thoughts, John. If the rad shell is going for $600, just think what I could get if I started to part my car out!! Way more than selling the complete car on E-bay (based on recent sales). Seems the sum of parts is worth more than the whole. Not a pretty way to think about it.

Larry
Larry Thompson

Last summer, while visiting my father-in-law, I noticed a partially resorted mid-60's Mustang in the neighbor's garage. I stuck up a conversation with the guy and found out he has an MGA in the attic above the garage (in pieces). I told him about restoring my TD. He said, "come and look at this grill, it might fit a TD." Sure enough, he pulls a TD grill and shell out of the attic. It needs paint and chrome and a few small repairs. He asked if I want it? I asked how much? He said take it, I want it out of my way.

I thought I might rechrome the shell, paint the slats and hang it on the wall as art. Seeing that one sell for $691.00 makes me think I should sell it.

Hmm. What to do?
Evan Ford - TD 27621

Andy King is selling brand new radiator shells - made out of thicker than original brass for about the same as the ebay bid. They are perfect with no dings or repairs needed.

He also has the carbs to air cleaner manifolds. No need to bid on second hand parts.

I've no connection with him at all apart from being a satified customer.

Jan T
J Targosz

Jan where is Andy King? I mean how to contact Him?
Point of fact: if all the "owners of 'OLD' cars decided to part out (the same vintage of [TD lets say]) to get more "monies" there wouldn't be any assembled cars around to drive. Every body would just have a pocket full of parts waiting to sell to the next higher parts bidder. It's almost becoming like a "PYRAMID SCHEME".
Greg & Grimm
G.J. Cenzer

Hello

Interesting discussion!

One question:

Isn't a car built out of repro parts a fake??

So, shouldn't we try to use as much original parts as possible??

Believe me, often I also take the easy way and buy repro stuff instead of rechroming old parts.

With some effort (and a lot of cash) you can built a new - "original" - TD or TF; you can even fake the numbers; would you like to have one???

Last year Ralph Lauren bought an old (and matured) prewar Alfa Romeo and "restored" it to concours.
He even replaced the leather seats where Nuvolari sat on.

I think it is a shame.

Safety Fast

Erik


Erik vanHardeveld

My wallet and my love of the patina of an old car seem to match... thank goodness.
Replacing Nuvolari's leather seat ( unless it was totally gone) is such a shame... (i trust someone framed it ... probably not).
There are a lot of reasons to do a frame up... the shape of some T's require it... however, every scrape and ding and repaired seat tear, tell a story about the history of the car... hate to change anything that isn't necessary.
I've mentioned before, that when we bought our MG's off the dealer floor in the 60's, the first thing we did was add bits and pieces to make them "ours"... showroom condition wasn't a consideration.... Also, producing a car to sell at a profit, doesn't always (if anytime) produce a vehicle with the best parts/engineering/etc... a lot of aftermarket additions make/made sense.
gordon lawson - TD 27667

Couple of interesting topics. One thing about e-bay you may want to know. There are programs you can subscribe to that bid automatically for you. You set your price and it waits until the last few seconds to put in your bid. You do not have to be on line at the end of bidding.

As to use of nonoriginal (assume we mean not produced by the original manufacturer). There would be few truly antique vehicles around if not for remanufactured parts.

I remember going to the machine shop of Harrah's automobile collection in Lake Tahoe as a kid. They had people there that could literally build a car from just a few rusted pieces.
Bruce Cunha

Greg

Go to www.mgsparesandrestorations.com

Cheers


Jan T
Jan Targosz

Gordon,

Interesting comments about the frame-up issue. I doubt I would ever have started mine except for the very rotten wood which threatened the continue survival of my car. I could live with the leaky engine, the leaky head, the crud and patina, but the black vinyl interior and top, combined with the real fear that my tub would split in half set me on this path.

I even debated with myself long and hard about raising the rear ratio. Wasn't 5.125 part of the charm of driving an MG? Since University Motors has billed my visa account, I'm assuming I'll see the rear axle shortly. When I sandblasted my chassis, and painted it, I preserved the rock scraps on the bottom rail where someone went off road. The transmission works pretty well, in fact, excellently, so I'm resisting the urge to go through that. I won't miss the flaking paint on the cowl, and I will take this opportunity to doctor up the battery box, without completely tearing it out. I'll patch the old heater hose locations (but I'm so tempted to put the Arnolt heater in that sits on my shelf).

Put mostly? I'll miss that patina. Maybe that's why I used Satin paint for the chassis, and not gloss...

dave
D. A. Braun

Woah! I just checked Andy King's Rad shell. Unchromed is $1,000.

John
John Redman

This thread was discussed between 23/05/2005 and 26/05/2005

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.