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T-Series New home for an old TD

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

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If you have a brand new empty garage:

View attachment 49268

You need to put something in it.

View attachment 49270

Arrived at 2:30pm EST, from Keswick Ontario, a one-owner (!) 1953 MG TD. Original black lacquer, original upholstery, original Dunlop 5.60x15 tires (!), original canvas weather gear, even the original tool kit. And now sporting the 1830s hat I wear while working at Old Sturbridge Village.

View attachment 49269

I'm amazed at the condition this car is in - inside, outside, underneath. Owned by the same gentleman since he bought it new in 1953. I don't want to touch a thing (but I couldn't keep from polishing the chrome about an hour ago, while listening to the engine idling smoothly).

More details:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5xnnKbPEWx5Q3Y2cVpUOEdVX0U

With a gazillion thanks to the BCF and BSCCoC members who helped me along the way.

Tom M.
PS - when you lift one side of the bonnet, do you just lay it on the top of the other side? I don't want to scratch the paint!
 
Congratulations!! That is stunning - looks great, is original, nice!!
 
Wow! That's fantastic. Nice garage too. :smile:
 
I done good? Well, for once in my life ...
 
Nice Tom. Enjoy!
 
Time for "Mac & Phyllis" to take another trip?
 
Nice Find.
Mine was originally black also, but with a Beige interior.
When/if I lay the hood/bonnet on top of the other side I always put some old undershirts between the two.
You should consider make a Bonnet catch. There are many designs and ways.
Here is my approach. There are many others.

Jim B.
 

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Tom,

Nice buy! When we move to Roanoke,you
can make a road trip down there,& finally meet up.
 
Glad it's found its new home!

Regarding the hood prop, Jim has a good idea. I'll get a picture of another one for you tomorrow. Pretty clever, and very neat.
 
Lovely! Congrats
 
Well done indeed. I've been wondering when it would arrive. Looks lovely, glad it arrived safely in one piece.

:cheers:
 
Well bowl'd, Tom! Congrats.
 
SWEET! Hard to imagine all that still original! WOW! Nice garage too.
 
Yesterday I spent dusting it off. Quite a survivor, if I do say so myself.

I mean the car - not me.

:lol:
 
Wow! Just wow!
Rut
 
Now that you're a TD owner (and a fellow CT'er), time I sent you my chapter on the TD from my unpublished book. I've owned 3 of them and restored one from the frame up. If you send me a PM with your address, I'll send it to you. (Or perhaps cut it out of the book if I can and email it to you.) It will tell you all you need to know about the TD. About the hood - beware the latches. They snap open, giving you a long-lasting bruise on your palm. You can lay the side panels across the top or stand them up, but again beware - they can drop suddenly. Other quirks - doors that refuse to stay shut, wiper motors that quit when water runs down the shaft, non-locking glove box (don't keep any valuables in there), rust and corrosion on the cross-shaft that the floor-mounted clutch and brake pedals are attached to, non-pressurized cooling system (check it carefully on a hot day and don't screw that beautiful brass cap on too tightly or you'll never get it off,) inconsistent idle speed from the 1 1/4" SU's, at least the 1953 has a temperature gauge (my 51 and 52 did not), but no gas gauge and the blinking red light has a sneaky habit of burning out (I ran out of gas on the Bear Mountain bridge), chronic low oil pressure (check the ball and spring in the pump), tendency to burn out rod bearings before their time, battery acid eating out the firewall like lava from Vesuvius, tachometer drive reduction gear that screws into the back of the generator won't last more than a few months (your toolbox on the firewall probably contains at least 3 or 4 of of them, all N/G, plus a few odd tools and Whitworth wrenches left over from the Industrial Revolution and a greasy rag or two), probably no heater (I suggest a lap robe for those CT winters, especially when the cold wind blows in through those rear-opening suicide doors) and maybe a few more little things I may have forgotten since it's been 63 years since my first TD. Good points - great gearbox (click,click from gear to gear), not a bad ride considering, pretty good brakes, dead-accurate and featherlight steering, albeit with some kickback, better top with 3-bows not 2, better, smoother- acting tach and speedometer compared to the 51/52's, and very easy to work on. Oh yes - you'd better memorize how to put the side curtains back in their little pouch behind the seat - they won't fit any other way. Good luck and if you need any help or advice, I'm about 80 miles away.
 
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