Possible Racer: 1952 MG TD MKII

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This 1952 MG TD has been owned by the same family for the past 52 years, of which 41 years have been spent parked in the garage. This car isn’t your run of the mill TD though, it’s the factory tuned MG TD MKII. There weren’t many MKIIs built and very few remain today. The seller believes the car has racing heritage, but doesn’t know for sure. If you’re up for doing some investigation work or just in the market for a TD, it can be found here on eBay.

MG introduced the T-series in 1936 and continued to develop the car in various iterations until 1955. When the TD hit the road in ’50, it received many acclaims for its handling prowess and quickly became a popular choice for racing. To make the car more competitive, MG introduced the TD MKII. To make it more sporting they installed more aggressive shocks, wider wheels, a modified cylinder head, bigger carburetors, and twin fuel pumps.

The TD is powered by the 1250cc XPAG straight four engine and in standard form it put out 53 hp. MG knew the car needed more power if it was going to be able to compete, but the upgrades they made to the engine only added 4 hp. Only about 1700 MKIIs were built, as most customers purchased the base TD and used the factory tuning manual to upgrade their cars themselves.

This interior is rough, but complete. Most of the interior should be salvageable and could probably be used as is. Like most British Roadsters of the era, this is a very simple interior and shouldn’t difficult to restore or setup for vintage racing.

This car will need some work, especially if it is going to be used as a vintage race car. If it turns out that this car was used for racing at some point in its history, it would make it that much more interesting to restore. Its history probably won’t impact the value much, unless it ran in one of the more historic events, but it’s still a great selling point.

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Comments

  1. Lon Lofgren

    Does it run at all? I know I’d really have a hard time fitting in it, but if economic times were better, I’d grab this one! What a great MG!

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  2. DolphinMember

    These are probably the most vintage of all post-WW2 sports cars, about on a par with the Morgan 4/4, which of course is actually a 1930s car. I worked on a couple of MG TDs once and got to drive them. They were noisy, rough, slow…and very charming. You buy one because you like the charm of the body and the primitive engineering, and of couse also the heritage of the MG company.

    This Mk II should be worth restoring providing you are doing it for the car and for yourself, and not to make money. These TDs are only worth from $15K to $25K according to the SCM Price Guide, although this Mk II will probably be near the upper part of that range after it’s restored. Best if you can do some of the work yourself and if you don’t require perfection.

    Like 0
  3. Marshall Gregg

    In these parts (Atlanta), restoration projects like this are work 5K. Afraid this car is overpriced. Engines on T series cars usually have to be built by someone experienced and it’s a 10K job. The body is another difficult experience altogether.

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  4. Courtney John Charvet

    Doing the work myself and not requiring perfection is my specialty :)

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  5. Mark E

    Get it running, fix the windscreen and freshen up the cosmetics…nothing to fancy or expensive. Then enjoy the heck out of it…what it’s meant for, anyway!!

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  6. kman

    The TD was the ugliest of the T series litter. It was not the last, though. The TF which followed, was a far more attractive car. The TA and TC are more interesting and much more collectible.

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  7. Europa TC

    ouch kman………….can’t you find a little somethin’ in your heart to find a little cute?

    I like old MG’s……….all of em’

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  8. Darel

    TCs were gorgeous cars, TDs not bad looking but really the little wheels and IFS ruin the look. I dealt with this a while back when shopping for a T-series. Unfortunately the MkII equipment adds next to nothing to the value of the car, and the MkIIs were offered in stages…make sure it’s got the dual fuel pumps, the special dual shocks, and all the other little bits since better stuff could have been added from an aftermarket catalog. Still, no real increase in value over a standard TD.

    Like 0
  9. Darel

    I typed my response without even clicking on the ebay link…all the goodies are there, except maybe the intake? But 12,5 buys you a restored TD. Sorry, this is overpriced by almost double.

    And by the way, if you need to replace the gauges…figure $1400 for an entire functional, USED set. I turned down a nicer car than this for $2300 because it had TR-3 gauges and I’d have to replace them.

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  10. Dave Wright

    I saw one of these cruising downtown Boise…….Yesterday. I must be getting old, it looks tiny next to my GMC 3500 dually crew cab flatbed………..and I used to have a TF, but it looked like the guy was having fun. 70 degrees and sunny in Idaho, March 10…..tough on snow mobile sales.

    Like 0

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