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MG TD TF 1500 - Wally Schirra's MG TD from the 60s Space Programme

In the movie Apollo 13 the Corvettes get star billing as THE car of the Apollo Astronauts, but a little earlier an MG got a look in!

On the NASA web-site there is an interview with Scott Carpenter in which he mentions that Wally Schirra had an MG. It is this:

“Wally and I were driving from Oceania back to Langley [Research Center, Hampton, Virginia] in his little MG, I think it was. The top was down, and I think the top wouldn’t work. And we encountered a thunderstorm, and we got so much water inside that car that if you opened the doors the water would run out. And Al Shepard passed us going home and saw us water-soaked in this car, and somehow or other a cartoon was drawn of that episode. I think Wally has it. Two bedraggled passengers—driver and passenger—in a car filled with water. It’s a good cartoon."

I posted on the MGA Board where Steve Gyles identified the car as a TD that Schirra bought in 1957.

http://tinyurl.com/4yesrby

Does anyone know if thi car still exists?

John.

John Prewer

Hi Gang:

Funny that you should bring that up. I always felt that you never were the true owner of a sports car until you had to open the door to let the water out. Mine happened in a 1963 MG midget.

Dick McCutcheon
52 TD 20102/20455
Safety Fast (and sometimes wet)
Richard McCutcheon

Dick,

Pack away hood? Love 'em!

Unfortunately my only really close encounter with a TD was when my Boss had one for rebuild in 1983, knew I would buy it from him, but sold it without telling me, and for less than I would have paid him!

John.
John Prewer

"I think the top wouldn’t work" ...boy does that line take me back!
As a kid working on a car lot I bought a 63 Tempest convertable for $25. Top was down and I drove it that way for over a month before I got caught in a heavy downpoor one day. A guy stopped to help when he saw me by the side of the road trying to get it up. (power motor was not working so kind of hard to do)
When we forced it up I found out there was only about 2 feet of a top there...just the very front section you could see when folded. My "helper" looked at me like I was nuts. "You didn't know you don't have a top"? LOL
David Sheward

Seems like many MG's were owned by service men. Little-T was owned by at least two in the Air-Force in Floriday and the original bumber has an old faded air-force base sticker; I looked it up and the base was closed down in the 60's I believe. Diane Applegate purchased it for her husband Michael around 1969 for a wedding using wedding cars tonbridge present because he sold his TF to get married. He was in the military but not sure if the person they bought it from was but he did say the gentleman had a young son and they couldn't keep it running for him so that is why they sold it.
Richard Taylor TD3983

I don't know what the policies were in the fifties and sixties, but at least in the 70's the US military would transport one vehicle per service family to and from the states for free. Many of the car mfgs would have special purchase programs for GI's, as well. That's how a lot of American cars ended up in Europe and vice versa. My Dad brought home a '74 VW Dasher (aka Passat) after using it in Germany. It was a US market car, but he took delivery overseas. Saved import duty, transport cost, sales taxes, etc. Too bad he wasted the benefit on that car, though. :)
David Littlefield

In those days, you could buy the car new, overseas, drive it 500 miles, and it was considered used, and there was no duty to be paid, in the U.S....
In the 60's , the favorite was Porsche, and you could buy them for 30-40% less , than in the States..
You could order it, and go to the factory, and watch it come off the line...Have fun driving it around Europe, and then ship it home.
It was all done through the military exchange system, and there was almost no cost to ship back...
Edward


Richard:
That AFB sticker, wasn't for Orlando AFB, was it?...
It later became the Orlando Naval Training Center, before it closed....
Here's a photo of me and my Austin Healey, taken in 1968, at Orlando AFB. (Yes, those are Buick Riviera wheels!)
Edward


E.B. Wesson

In his biography, General Tommy Franks, wrote that he used to race MGA's
Bruce Cunha

Around 1958 Lazarus (my 52TD) was owned by USAF Gen. Jake Smart.
http://www.ttalk.info/Tech/OldFriend.html Bud
Bud Krueger (TD10855)

Sorry Edward I was wrong about the sticker, I just looked and it was from the BROOKLEY AirForce base in Mobile Alabama. My car has previously been from Alabama, Florida and Georgia as far back as I know and now resides in Kentucky. Since I have had it I have sent or taken parts to Ohio, England, and as far away as Australia. lol My car parts have been around. Hopefully someday I will get it back together and drive it to a few places as well.
Richard Taylor TD3983

Richard:
Thanks for looking.

Bud:
That was a really good story....
Interesting about the Volvo engine...In another thread, someone was looking to do an engine swap, and I remembered that there was a TD/TF restorer in Orlando, Fl, back in the 60's , that did 4cyl Volvo engine swaps all the time...That was, of course, before the Volvo's became classics too.
I went to his shop once, to have my XKE wheels trued, and he had two or three "T's" in the works.
He was the only wire wheel guy around, as well.
Edward
E.B. Wesson

This thread was discussed between 23/05/2011 and 27/05/2011

MG TD TF 1500 index

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