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MG TD TF 1500 - Pointless dates

I recenty read an old T register that said it is pointless to put a date on your MG. I agree with this as MG models remained Virtualy unchanged in their production run. There is no point in saying you have a 53' TF when it is the same as a 54' or 55'. Indeed some were even first registered in 56'.
Bill

Gday Bill,

Sure, you don't HAVE to know your dates,
but I wouldn't go and buy '55 pistons for a '53 block.

Best wishes, Matthew.
Matthew Magilton

Bill:

I agree with your point and have tried to follow it. However here in the US, I am universally asked two questions about my TD.

1) What make is it?
2) What year is it?

Even if I say it is an MG model TD, the next question is always "What year?"

I am never asked what model it is. That's because once you get past 1931 when Ford dropped the model A, every year US car makers introduced a new model.

Blake
Blake J.

Adding to this light hearted matter, you wouldn't buy 1250 pistons for a 1500!! I suppose Blake is right that it would probably be quicker to add the date when talking to non-enthusiasts.

Happy MoterinG!
Bill

Most folks in the U.S. don't have a clue what a TD or TF is let alone what year they were made. I think knowing the year gives them (me too) a point of reference.

Of course my '51 was built in '50...........


Cheers,
Jim
Kalamazoo
James Budrow

My TF wears plates "TF 1555"
"when talking to non-enthusiasts"
The Standard answers:
"It's an MG TF 1500"
"Tittled 1955...Left England on October 13th 1954"
"Morris Garages"
"Sure..let me open the bonnet"
"Thanks..wanna go for a ride?"
"Probley more than it's worth"
"You can make an offer....but we're pretty attached!"
Cheers,
David #A1
David Sheward

My commets when talking to or answering questions about my TD and MGBs is to try to answer as generically as I can without separating them from the contact. Most donn't know about our cars and it is interesting to me to try to educate about the cars and the hobby, and in doing so try to interest them. I to will open the bonnett and take them for rides, answers all questions and react about "my friend had one of those in college" or " I had one of those " as if it were interesting to know this. I try to weld my relation to the hobby with the novice as much as I can.
Just my remarks as I love the hobby and our people.
Ellis


















I always try to answer all questions and educate as best I can since most people do not know of our cars. If they have the interest to ask what and when then I will tell all they want to know. It is ;my purpose to try toweld the public with our hobby and propigate it any way I can. I lift hoods and take for rides and most people have a real gen;ine interest. The younger generation has to be educated to help carry on the tradition. Children do not know and I didn't and it is my time to "spread th gospel".
Just my candid remarks,
Ellis















Ellis Carlton

Hi Guys, I guess it depends where you live. Here we dont use the dates when referring to the models, just TD, TF etc and only refer to the dates when we need to be more specific. I did notice that the US owners use the dates as well and wondered why. I have got used to it now.
Cheers,
Paul
Paul van Gool

There are times when one must date their car out of necessity. Certain Historic automobile events allow cars of only specific year of manufacture. I enter my TF in a Historic rally which celebrates the round the houses races held in Bridgehampton New York until 1953. All entrants vehichles must have been built in 1953 or before. As my car was built and dispatched from Abingdon in November of 1953 ( verified by my BMHT certificate) it is eligable to run the rally, a really enjoyable event. Hence my car is a 1953 mgtf. All TF as previously mentioned are not quite alike, the early TFs (mine was number 584 built) had low pressure fuel pumps on the firewall as the TDs. I believe after the first 600 or so the pump was replaced by a high pressure unit located on the rear frame rail.So much for my two cents worth
jeff payne

I read recently (An old t-register I believe), that the earth was flat. SO,, it must be so. Dave#1.
capdave

Calm down! It has nothing to do with the T register, all I wanted to know is why Americans assigned numbers to MG models and now I know thanks to Blake that models in America changed every year – this is not the case for MGs as you should know “Capdave”. Must have been a strange T register you were reading, everyone knows the world is octagonal.
Bill

Americans are famous for wanting the current year model.

In fact when my dad bought my TD in 1952 he had the option of a 52 or 53 which the dealer was happy to point out the differences: turn signals, round tail lamps, center windshield wiper motor, three bow top...

It was also a few hundred dollars more so my father opted for the brand new 52 instead.
Chris Couper

Pointless Letters?

I have to laugh! I often read a forum regarding London Taxi Cabs that is frequented mostly by Brits. Instead of noting the year of manufacture, which I'll admit, seems to obsess Americans, the Brits all refer to their cabs by the last letter on their number plates. (F-reg, B-reg, etc.) I laugh because my understanding is that those letters acheive basically the same thing: they tell you what year the car was first registered. A useless designation, much like the stress we place on the year of manufacture, but it gives folks a reference, and that's why they use it.

(my London cab is a F-reg, 1966 model. If you think they made TDs alike for lots of years, try Austin Taxis: the made basically the same model (FX4) from 1958 to the mid 1980s.)

Just to throw a monkey wrench in things, My TD is registered as a 1954 model. Huh? Apparently, wherever it was first sold, the local authorities issued a title that bears the year of the sale, rather than the year of manufacture. That designation has carried on through every title through the years, right up to mine.

Ted Preston

Even More Pointless Letters?
Just to add to the mayhem: The English registration letters mentioned above did not always indicate a new model and did not match the start of the calendar year. The reg. number did stay with the car, giving each car an real "identity". I still remember the reg. number of every car I owned in the U.K. I can not remember the plate on my current econobox!
Tony
Tony Cove

Even More Pointless "Dates"
I think last year when we did this there was a guy with a 1959 TF!
Even dummer on the "carry through" I once had an Austin Bug-Eye that had a typo carried through on title clamming it to be a 1858....certainly the prototype for that model! Way "ahead" of it's time!
Cheers,
David #A1 55TF (October 13th 1954)
David Sheward

A handy bit of information on TD production dates can be found at http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_production.htm. It lists by seriel number the first and last car produced for each month of TD production.

Steve Markman
50 TD (built on or about 27 Sep 50)
Steve Markman

My home market TD had previously been identified as a "late 1952." But, in 1968, when the previous owner brought her over and walked into the Department of Motor Vehicles in El Dorado, Arkansas, the clerk said "Manufactured in October? That's the beginning of a new 'model year.' This car is a 1953." And so the title reads to this day. Doesn't seem to make much of a difference. Round tail lamps; steering wheel on the 'proper' side. :-))
--JohnD
John Deikis

Production dates for my car are listed as >Jan. 1 - 30 1953.In looking @ the chart it appears to be a 5 day work week.Jan. 1st. was a work day, Thursday.Did they actually work on New Years Day? Or just a typo? My car would have been produced on the 7th working day, 1/9/53 or 1/12/53.
pointless dates to keep simple minds busy! Happy Holliday's, Len
Len Fanelli

Yes, they used to work on New Years Day in those years. However, the Scots (people who live in Scotland, a small geographical area to the North of England) celebrate what they call Hogmanay over the New Year. This is just an excuse to get paralitically plastered, such that they were, and still are, totally non compis mentis for at least a 24 hour period after the event. Unable to work, or even to get into a vertical position, the New Year"s Day became a holiday, which spread slowly to the South, and now the day is an official holiday.

I wonder what Hadrian might have said about that?
Geoff Love

This thread was discussed between 11/03/2002 and 02/04/2002

MG TD TF 1500 index

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