This is a great looking MG that’s recently come out of storage after being off the road most of the time since 1972, when the original importer sold it to another family member. It’s currently resting in Great Falls, Montana, but can come home to your garage if you are the high bidder in the auction here on eBay. Currently bidding is up to $8,300, and as I write this in my favorite Barn Finds t-shirt, this is the sort of car I get really excited about.
It may surprise you that the reason I like this car so much isn’t that it’s a British car–I like how original it is. I don’t know for a fact that it’s got the original paint and interior like the seller says, but it sure looks the part. Nice enough that you won’t be embarrassed by it and as the saying goes, it’s only original once! And I actually prefer the headlamps set into the fenders vs. the earlier T-series MG’s. My understanding is that Lucas would no longer produce the separate housings for MG and Morgan, which mandated the change.
The story that goes along with it about an Air Force officer bringing it back to the USA in 1961 is completely plausible and is backed by the base admittance decal on the front bumper. Seeing things like original looking side curtains and top, even if they don’t fit perfectly, just add to the appeal for me.
I love the rakish look here, and if those seats are really original it’s that much better. And on a car like this, the right hand drive doesn’t bother me at all. A good friend of mine just ordered a new Morgan three wheeler and specified right hand drive–so it sounds like fun to me, too!
This is the XPEG 1500 engine which means this is one of the last 3,400 TF models. According to the seller, it starts and runs well despite the original issue SU carburetors. Obviously I would want to leave this the heck alone, and I actually prefer the SU’s! So do you like the look of this find as much as I do? I think it would be a terrific driver!
Little known benefit of a RHD car. If you go through the drive-thru at McDonalds, it’s easier to get your passenger to pay for lunch. ;)
Also like the faired in headlights over the separate units of the TC and TD series
The only T series car I ever owned was a TF, great little car……. It was a little like herding a flock of geese down the road compared with my Porsche’s, but still fun…………..I would have to do away with all the white on this one, somehow it doesn’t look correct, the body color is fine but maby a glove leather natural color interior and something different for the top
White wall tires:(
“Rakish” is definitely the word that comes to mind. One of the few cars I would give up my Corvette for. I agree about the white interior looking better in tan. It won’t stay at $8,300 for long. Great find.
When people talk of MG’s, this is the design that rolls in my head
How about darker red interior with a black top? The white is just a bit too loud for my taste against the black. JMHO
TFs are nice. They’re quite quick and handle nicely. My dad bought one after he retired – the car he’d always wanted – and passed it on to me a couple of years ago as “it saves trouble later”. It’s a fine thing, taking it for a hurtle along some twisty roads.
This one deserves to go back to Blighty! Perfect for Goodwood.
Story is plausible, considering anything TD or newer would have been imported as LHD vs RHD, meaning a RHD TF would have been imported outside the dealer network. I prefer TD’s, but this one is a beauty! I don’t recall ever seeing one with, what appears in the pics, as a ‘white’ interior rather than tan.
My first car was a black MGTF 1500 bought off a used car lot for $850.00 (no money down) in Spokane, Wash. around 1960-61. Mine had the same solid wheels, the same SU carbs. The seats were faded cracked red leather. The one thing I remember is that there was no gas guage, just a couple of little lights. I found out what ‘red’ meant soon enough! I ordered a new top from Sears and used wood putty to stabilize the rotted wood in the rear cowl. It was similar to driving a mad sewing machine. I sold it to a high school kid and bought a used 55 Porsche Continental coupe (with creased windshield) for $1200. Those were the days! Now I’m so old I’m thinking of hanging up my car keys.
Ah Ed,… no time for lamenting here; you’re probably only in your 60’s !! Peace
Ive never seen a TF with white interior and top. But its plausible that it could have bee done to special order. There are many instances of MG catering for customer’s personal taste so it quite possible it left Abingdon like this. My own TC was found with white upholstery but it had very definitely been done by a previous owner. Happily the white is long gone now. This TF being a 1500cc model should be a nice driver once fettled and sorted to return to the road. Also, being a 1500cc should add $$$s to its value. I see its currently sitting a US$9300 reserve not met. I’d expect it go much higher.
For me, the white top, white trim and white-wall tires are pretty hideous, but I guess they say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder?”
Ha. I agree with Jamie here, the original SUs are fine instruments (when in good shape and properly adjusted) and an asset I’d definitely keep. I’ll be charitable and give the seller the benefit of the doubt, maybe he just meant that the car starts and runs well on a pair of original 60+ year old carbs rather than trying to imply that it’s because they are SUs.
If I remember my T Series lore correctly, MG only offered red, green, and tan interiors depending on the exterior colors. They also never offered white tops as original equipment. Black tops either, for that matter. Tan only, IIRC.
Not to say you couldn’t get ’em. As a matter of fact, my Old English white TD had a white top on it when I got a hold of it. Took a fairly attractive car and made it look pretty ugly.
By that time, of course, it had been through a number of shade tree restorations, so God only knows where it came from.
Whoever’s responsible for this for this combination should be drawn and quartered, if not eighthed. For shame.
Nothing wrong with SU carbs. Very efficient and simple. The Japanese versions that came on the Datsun Roadsters and 240Z’s (Hitachi) are of course better.
I agree with Mike. The critical thing on SU’s is balancing them. What you do is take off the brass screws on the top and put in two measuring sticks into them, one in each. We used old termonitors that had the mercury in them.
You adjust them so the length of each one is the same as it sits against the side of the opening and you are done. Super simple and very effective. Even the Rolls Royce Merlins used a similar system however much much larger and in addition very easy to supercharge.
I’ve not heard of undoing the tops of the SU bells and inserting anything. I have, however, used a garden hose at the opening of each carb with the air cleaners off to balance them “on the fly.”
If you like the styling on the TF, Lookk up 1934 Squire X101 with the Vanden Plas bodywork. That’s rakish.
I’ve always been a fan of the TF. To me it’s the best of the T-series. Obviously there are a lot out there who might not agree and that’s OK. The TF began to blend its features to make the lines smoother and that’s a lot more appealing than the sharp edges of the TC/TD. This is frustrating because it’s located very close to my home forty but it’s crowding my budget….