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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 - eBay Mark II

Decent and solid Mark II on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111245295971?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648

Original upholstery suggests it was re-painted and/or "restored" in the 60's, and sat a lot since then. Old ree=paint and no obvious rot. The seller didn't know what a Mark II was.

$10,000 reserve met - a bit more than I would have thought for a car needing that much tidying up. Not sure if the Andri are there; correct carbs, one fuel pump, no original air cleaners, etc. Probably $3,000 to get it on the road, if everything works and is rebuildable. Needs seats, bumpers, brakes, tires, etc. etc.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

You must work cheap in Maine. :-)

$3,000 will get you seats and carpets, not installed.

To me this is a $5k car tops and buyer beware at that.
Christopher Couper

What a neat old car. Looks to have the original dash Rexine covering. Outside of a respray, and a top, it looks to be an all original car. Could be a fun restoration, but it could add up to big $$$$ real fast.
-David
D. Sander

Chris - yes, we do! I have a great fondness for cars that have never been prettied-up, and this is a nice example - WAAAY overpriced IMHO, but there you have it. I have two or three interiors on the shelf from when I bought complete tubs, so I would use one of those old ones, I would cut my own carpets, and then the brakes and whatever else is where the money would go. I have used bumpers, I can tidy it up, but driving it is my goal, not restoring it with new chrome or paint.

As for price, just last month I sold a Mark II car to a man in Philadelphia, absolutely complete but completely disassembled, with new paint on all the metal, for $5250 - a jumbo erector set. He seemed like the right person to do the job, and that felt like the right price.

Other than the fact that this one it together, the two cars seem about parallel in terms of needs. I see this car has reached $10,000, which is about $3,500 more than I think it is worth. I would buy it all day long for $6,500, but not more. Maybe that's why I now have 5 TD/C cars, waiting to be worked on!

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

I thought the $10,000 bid was fishy - the seller told me that the guy retracted all his bids. It's now back down, at a more honest $6,050.

Still, buyer beware!

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

Hi Tom
What makes this car a Mark II. I don't see two fuel pumps or Andrex front shocks. What am I missing? John
John Hambleton

Front Andrex shocks are there, but you have to look very closely.
J Barry

From the listing:

this TD is known as TD/C type II ( thanks to Tom from MGTrepairs.net who sent me info ) with car number TD/C 5418, engine number matching body XPAG/TD/LHX 4254,

-David
D. Sander

Often on the true TD/c cars the second fuel pump disappears when they go and is not replaced.
When people see the engine number tag that states "TD2 XPAG xxxxxx" they think "oh, I have a mark II!" And add things to make it " correct"
-David
D. Sander

Also, according to my sources, MG offered an upgrade "kit" (1-1/2 carbs, the shock and probably the extra fuel pump) to make a regular TD pretty much the same as a Mk. II. I doubt too many owners were willing to shell out the bucks for an additional 9 BHP.

Jud
J K Chapin

Jud - I would love to have a copy of your source's info, because I have never heard of any "kit" to upgrade a stock TD to Mark II specs. The parts were all available individually through the standard parts list, but there was never a group of them offered together, as far as I know. The Andri in particular are difficult to fit after the fact, because brackets need to be welded to the chassis. A stock TD cost $1935 and a Mark II cost $2095 POE New York in January, 1952, so the upgrade really wasn't that much more. The price of the individual parts would be much greater (I'll work it out some day...), for about a 6% gain in power, better handling and easier cruising. You would have to buy a right side bonnet panel and paint it to match, a new head with larger valves (or at least larger valves and valve springs), new carbs, Andri (requiring careful alignment and welding, both front and rear), another fuel pump and bracket, another fuel line, and a 4.875 diff, or at least the r&p, which would require skill to install. Also, the Mark II had 57HP, as compared to the stock 54.4, for about a 6% gain, not 9HP. At least 1,700 owner were willing, probably a good number of them racers (I have one, raced in the 50's on airport using airport transfers sevenoaks circuits, waiting in line to be brought back to life)!

This particular car is indeed a Mark II, first spotted by the bulge in the right bonnet panel, the 1-1/2 carbs and the remaining fuel pump in the unique Mark II pump position (the pump in the normal TD place is the one that has has gone south).

The $10,000 bid was not retracted, but was cancelled by eBay as fraudulent. The reserve must be just $10,000, which is pretty high for this car.

Any and all Mark II or production records questions cheerfully answered!

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

Tom, believe me, even though I was 5 to 8 years old at the time, I have no personal knowledge on the subject :-) My source is a book by Joseph H. Wherry "The MG Story" published in 1967 by Chilton's Sebring Series. I think it's authorative but it's a fun read with good picture in any event. I'll scan the two relevant pages and post them tomorrow but the concluding paragraph on the subject states "A 'competition kit' was offered [by MG or Morris? doesn't say] enabling the TD owners to bring their cars up to TD Mark II standards for class competition." Unfortunately, the author gives no hint as to what might be in the "kit" or what it would take to bring a standard TD "up to TD Mark II standards for class competition."

Jud
J K Chapin

Some of the confusion may be in that the factory did supply guides (books) that described the components and steps to tune the cars. Autocar did a nice job of summarizing much of this in July 1952.

http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_performing_midgets.htm
Christopher Couper

Tom, as promised, here (in three posts because I don't know how to combine pictures)are the three relevant pages from "The MG Story" referring to a "competition kit" [presumably from MG] for bringing a standard TD up to TD Mark II standards. I'd love to know if anyone ever bought or installed such a kit.

Jud


J K Chapin

First page


J K Chapin

Last page


J K Chapin

Right off the bat the is an error stating that wire wheels could be obtained. This was not the case until after the introduction of the TF, the necessary parts did not even exist during the production of the TD.
This may be the source of the myth that wire wheels were an option on the TD.
I will check my factory service parts book to see if there is any reference for a competition kit. The parts were available as parts purchased individually, but I have not seen a "kit" per se inclusive of all the parts required to take a stock production TD up to TD/c specs.
-David
D. Sander

"This may be the source of the myth that wire wheels were an option on the TD. "

Could be. Perhaps as I noted, the author was referring to the after-market and not to MG factory as I first assumed for both the "competition kit" and the wire wheels.
Jud
J K Chapin

But then, again, there's this reference in the literature:

www.mg-td.com Cached
Nuffield itself had to offer an upgrade kit to wire wheels during 1953 because the ... and during the production of the MG TD the specification of the TD Mark II ...

As David noted in the article from my book, these references are not always trustworthy. This article begins with "MG stands for Morris Garages..." which is widely debated and therefore everything must be taken with a shaker of salt.

Jud
J K Chapin

This car just sold for what I STILL think is all the money - $10,000. I thought this was a solid $6500 car, but the owner told me he had a standing offer of $7500 all along, so I was out of the fray early on. And CERTAINLY not at $10,000! Perhaps I need to adjust my TD-pricing spectacles!

Someone will have a pretty expensive TD, even if he just gets it on the road, re-doing or re-commissioning brakes, engine, tires, bumpers and interior, and checking instruments, wiring. etc.

I need to get busy on MY Mark II's - but with all this snow and cold, it's been a hard few weeks up here in Maine.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

This thread was discussed between 28/12/2013 and 05/01/2014

MG TD TF 1500 index

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