MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

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 - Let the fun begin

Well I finished my new garage, even stained and sealed the floor with a forklift grade sealant.

Put the TD and the MGB in the garage for the first time.

Got the TD up on jack stands to start its second restoration. First one was in 1974 and the first TD I had seen or worked on. Paint has pretty much seen better days so a full repaint is in the cards.

Will strip off the body and clean up the frame, brake system, suspension, engine details etc.

Next will come stripping the paint off and fixing a few dings. Also need to add the metal strip under the front left fender. It came to me damaged and the PO had taken the metal strip off.

Plan is to bring the car back as much as we can to what it was when it left the factory. I will be using Chris Coopers details on this site as my guide. (and a lot of help from the group).

I know the car (TD 4139, build date 11-1-50) was originally Sun Bronze with red interior. I have not seen a TD with this combination and even google does not come up with one. If anyone has a picture of this combination, I would love a copy.

I have talked with our paint company in town and they feel they can use the information that Chris has as to paint colors and mix information to make the color.

One question comes up. With sun bronze, and red interior, would the radiator slats have been red? That seems to be a somewhat odd color combination.




Bruce Cunha

Bruce the interior color and Radiator slat colors were always the same.
Don't forget that a Roller lifter camshaft is a period correct upgrade!
Len Fanelli

Not always as the TDC had chrome slats. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

hello. My TD4490 had chrome rad. slats,
headlights, door hinges, tank sides and
facia panel on the dash.
Thoralf. Norway TD 4490
Thoralf Sorensen (TD4490)

Bruce,

My TD is Sun Bronze with red interior and has chrome rad slats. At the link below you can see some cars from our club.

http://www.rccc.fr/members-gallery/

Pan down to until you reach the 2 photos showing the TD

John
J Scragg

Bruce, Bill Hite in our club has that color, Bob Figenskau built it for him
TRM Maine

John. What color is your piping?

Do you have a closer picture of the interior?

I think I have seen Bill's. Does it have a tan interior? Saw one from Minneapolis at a gof a few years back.

Bruce Cunha

No Tom and Bruce. Bill Hite's car is Silver Streak Gray, not Sun Bronze. Jim Hendershot has a Sun Bronze TD.
Lew Palmer

Ok, need some help. Here are the sun bronze TD's I found on the Web. John, I put yours in there also.

One is obviously brown, but there also seems to be no two that look the same.

John, how did you decide what was sun bronze?

Any other pictures out there you know of?


Chris Cooper's color chart does list the paint codes for different manufacturers. He also has a breakdown of the paints/tints used for the original. Don't believe I will be able to get the same tints as some are not legal in Calfornia any more.

Here is a link to the pictures I found.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4xfuilqlwrmaafe/AADNzksbSxBhe7M_quBge413a?dl=0
Bruce Cunha

Bruce, I went to The Source and pulled out my Clausager guide to the T-Series cars.

Sun Bronze was first offered in late 1950 and carried through the 1951 production. It was offered with red and green trim. Your November 1950 TD might be one of the earliest to be offered in Sun Bronze.

As to the radiator slats it indicates that on TDs they matched the interior trim color with few exceptions. Main exceptions are the late Mark II cars with chrome slats, and green and red TDs with beige interiors where the slats might be painted body color.

Looking at the pics you found on the web and placed on the Dropbox link there are several that don't represent the cars as they left the factory - the ones with the wheels painted in other than silver.

Picture 2 shows chrome slats, but that's unlikely original even if the car is a Mark II. Clausager notes that the chrome slats were done on late Mark II's. Since Sun Bronze was only used through 1951 even a Mark II wouldn't have the later chrome slats.

Pics 5 and 6 are too small to distinguish the slat color, but both have beige interiors. According to Clausager the Sun Bronze cars were only offered with red or green trim. It seems odd that beige wasn't offered since it seems the prettiest combination.

Summing it up, according to Clausager a Sun Bronze 1950 TD with a red interior would have come out of the factory with red radiator slats.

BobbyG
Bobby Galvez

Bobby. In communicating with Chris Cooper, he is in agreement. Red grill. Chris recommended MG Red.

Still doing some searching on different search engines to find more examples.

I like the information on my car may be one of the earlier sun bronze cars. More reason to try and bring it back to what it came from the factory with.

Bruce Cunha

Lew, correct got em mixed up. Sorry about that
TRM Maine

Bruce,
I suggest you have a look around the MGY and Riley RM websites as these cars used the Sun Bronze colour too. They also give the paint formulas.

Now I wonder if someone can offer a brochure or other piece of Nuffield documentation which shows Sun Bronze as a colour available on the MG TD ?
So far I haven't found any (which doesn't mean it doesn't exist...) I have a feeling Clausager is wrong and it it was available only on special order....

Just my 2cts
Nick (TD3232)
Nick Herwegh

The T Type Restoration Handbook of The NEMGTR, page 47, says, "...In late 1950 or early 1951 two new colors were added... Sun Bronze ... Autumn Red.." .. "..until early 1953. During this period Autumn Red and Sun Bronze paint and Beige upholstery all disappeared from the lineup..."
Bud
Bud Krueger

One of the brochures I have lists Sun Bronze as a color.

Of interest, the brochure says the interior available for sun bronze is maroon. Maroon? That is a mix of red and purple. It lists Maroon instead of red for the interior. Is that just a difference of color interpretation? I have the old rexan from the dash and it is red.

So here we have another difference.


Bruce Cunha

Bruce,
If that's your brochure (publication NEL135) you'll see that Sun Bronze is listed only for the MGY Saloon and indeed the upholstery is either maroon or beige. MG TD specs show only black, ivory, clipper blue, almond green and MG red...
Again: it's my GUESS (!) that Sun Bronze was NOT an officially listed TD colour (as was Autumn Red) but was only available on special order or there might have been the occasional batch of cars painted in these colours.
If you look at the other TD colours you'll find that all of them are listed in MG publicity material (even the swap from almond to woodland green and from clipper blue to silver streak grey are well documented). Not so for Sun Bronze.
If Morris Body Branch assembled a Sun Bronze TD it would seem plausible that the upholstery was either red or beige (as on the Riley' s and MGY's)but ofcourse there's no way to ascertain this.
Finally I think that Sun Bronze was optional right from the start of TD production until late 1951/early 1952, when the colour was no longer mentioned in Riley literature and/or, the end of MG YA production.

Nick (TD3232)
Nick Herwegh

Correction.
That final sentence should be: "....late 1952/early 1953..." and: "...the end of MG YA/start MG YB production."
My apologies.

Nick (TD3232)
Nick Herwegh

Thanks Nick. I photoed the wrong brochure. In looking at the other brochures I have, I don't see Sun Bronze listed in the 1950 brochure or the 1951 brochure for the TD.

Here is a link to a site with TD brochures copied to the web. http://www.mg-td.com/mgtdbrochure195012c.htm

I have no doubt that my 50 TD 4139 (Which just celebrated its 67th birthday on Nov. 1.) was sun bronze with red interior.

This is an interesting point. I will ask Chris Cooper to join in. Perhaps he has other information on this. Not to say that Clausager is correct on everything in his book, but the point that both the 50 and 51 brochure for the TD do not list Sun Bronze as a color is interesting.
Bruce Cunha

Not only in the MG brochures but also in the 1951 Nuffield Salesmen Reference Book, the colour isn't mentioned.
Again: I have no doubt Sun Bronze WAS used on TD's it just seems it wasn't catalogued (as Autumn Red).
The whole point is that we should be careful with what the history books say....
I hope the restoration of your TD goes well as I'm curious to see a Sun Bronze/Red TD "in the flesh" !!
Best wishes,

Nick (TD3232)
Nick Herwegh

This thread was discussed between 29/10/2017 and 05/11/2017

MG TD TF 1500 index

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