As we have discussed in these pages before, there are a lot of folks who were affected in a positive (some would say positive ground) way from reading Don Stanford’s book The Red Car. I know I don’t ever look at an MG TC without thinking about it. Of all the TC’s I’ve seen, this one comes closest (minus the accident damage!) to the car in Frenchy’s Garage. It’s available here on eBay, with bidding currently at $10,100 but the reserve hasn’t been met. Rather than Bullet, Colorado, it’s located in Springfield, Ohio.
I’m sure there’s some great history behind this car–it’s a shame we don’t have it. So let’s pretend that it’s Hap’s car–maybe he ended up marrying Carol Eldridge, the “prettiest girl in school,” and they lived long and happy lives together. The car was kept in normal use for a long time, and then Hap took it off the road for a well-needed refreshment, started on the project (witness the body work done) but never finished it. Now, the red MG is ready to capture the heart of a new owner!
The MG still has that “drop dead” look, but you’ll need to complete what Hap started if you want the red to shine again. I don’t see anything too bad on the outside, but it would be nice to know the condition of the wood framework that provides much of the body rigidity.
While the interior is hardly original (I’m pretty sure that’s vinyl, not leather), I think it could be cleaned up for use, at least for a while. Personally, I’d get it mechanically sound before anything else apart from cleaning. That wiring mess under the dash will need attention as well, but things are so simple on a TC it’s nothing even the most inexperienced of enthusiasts couldn’t tackle in a weekend or two.
At first I thought this engine wasn’t a TC engine because I’m so used to seeing them with cast aluminum valve covers. Thankfully, I was wrong and this is at least an original engine if not the original engine. If you give the auction listing a glance, it speaks of the engine turning over but not starting; however if you look all the way to the bottom of the listing the sellers have since been able to get it started. So tell me–does The Red Car find its way into your dreams as well? Please let us know if you buy it!
Great project car, I see they have the wing fastened back on, I still have my 1971 9th printing. I was 12 years old, the first book I enjoyed reading to the finish.
Hmm, I see Jamie is the only one “working” today. Thanks. By now, everybody here knows about my love for British roadsters,,,however, for some reason, I’ve never been able to warm up to the “T” series MG’s. I know, many a GI came home from the war, and these cars turned that generation on to open roadsters, and yes, open roadsters are total chick-magnets,,,worked for me, but back to the TC. These seem to go for around $35g’s ( some more, some less) so I think the price isn’t too out of line. Pretty simple cars ( it ain’t no ’59 Caddy), but just a little too old fashioned looking for me.And I don’t think this car even HAS a heater. For a project, nice find.
One of my all-time favorite books… It inspired me to buy an MGB as a teenager. I’d love to have this red car if only I had the room in my garage…
Find a copy of “The Last Open Road” by Burt Levy. A raggedy MG TC plays a major part in that book. As does an early 50s Jag, Caddy, and Allard, an old Ford, and early SCCA races, etc. That world was never my scene (a wee bit young) but it’s a terrific read and any car nut will thoroughly enjoy it. You’ll read it again & again like you watch a favorite movie. Trust me.
Hap and Frenchy influenced my life!
Nice little car. Would be cool with coils and disks, Nissan 5 speed and radials.
If that’s what you want, do it to a fiberglass kit kar.
Perhaps you’d be happy with a TD2000…. Google it…
You forget replacing that ancient engine and of course the frame.
That book had a profound influence on my life.
@ACZ
+1 on that.
And a book titled “Four Wheel Drift”…Gawd, I’m old…
Hmmm. Looks like I missed out on ‘The Red Car’ book. I guess I was too busy reading Henry Gregor Felson’s rod books. The only copy of ‘The Red Car’ I could find on Ebay is a first printing (paperback) for $75. Yep, as in 75 dollars. I guess that will have to wait.
Anyway….The seller says “We do our best to describe our cars accurately and honestly”, but this 1949 MG TC is described as having an automatic transmission…in two places in the listing.
It’s being offered by a fancy place that looks like it might have a garage, but no photos of the underside.
The last line of the listing says “WE DID GET THE MOTOR RUNNING”.
So, how does it run? Any bad noises? Nice and quiet? Compression numbers? ….anything?
It looks like a decent car to restore, but on this one I would trust only my own eyes and ears, or that of an independent MG expert.
Hi Dolphin, don’t feel bad, laddie, I never heard of “The Red Book” either. But I never was much of a reader. I think the pictures pretty much describe what you are getting. It is a little vague.
Beautiful cars to drive around town or in the country side on a spring, summer or fall day that is not too cold or too wet. but on huge caution.
These cars are not speed limited by the engine but the wheels. I have helped restore as many as 10 or 15 I have lost track over the years. Every one no matter how well we restored them and most of them were as good as factory or better had the exact same problem. The wobble of the wheels made them almost uncontrollable at highway speeds of today. Starts getting bad around 60 and I never wanted to be in one at 70. I know a couple of people that took them at speeds faster than than and I thought they were complete fools.
Do not get me wrong. All the wood is available from England if you need it but I bet you will not. Most of the body parts as well as the engine parts can be had at a price. Even the chromed brass radiator shells. These are enormous fun to drive an it may horrify people but they make fantastic grocery getters. Just do not expect them to perform safely on the highway.
Before I forget they are amazing in deep snow if you do not freeze to death because of the drafts from the side curtains. And yes I do know from experience, thank you.
The wheel wobble problem may be an easy fix, a number of guys with pre-war Bentleys an ad Rolls-Royces with 18 and 19 inch wire wheels have had good luck with balance beads – I use them in my motorcycle and never have to balance the wheels.
IIf you look at the road races in the fifties, you’ll find hoards of these somehow exceeding 60 MPH, TRUE, it was common to fit 16″ rims and tyres which were more stable.
Hi Bruce, I agree. Wires look nice, but are a nightmare. I had wires on my ’71 MGB, and I’ll never have a car with them again. I even went so far as to try and convert the MG to steel wheels, but it’s a big deal. If I went 2 weeks with out a flat tire ( wires require tubes) I knew one was not far off. In fact, I had it down to changing a tire in under 2 minutes. If, by some miracle, you don’t have a flat for a while, and the splines aren’t greased, the wheel can become hopelessly stuck, and finally, the spokes began to oval out the holes in the hub,( in all fairness, after 150K miles) and they never run true after that.
Does anyone else remember, a couple of years ago, the company selling this car was found to be falsifying mileage and and other documentation about cars they were selling. It was big news here in west central Ohio. I’m surprised they’re still in business.
That TC shape is classic, and I’d love to have one, but probably wont’t. Too many other cars in the fold of stewardship.
‘Picked up a copy of “The Red Car” a few years ago, but am embarrassed to say I’ve never read it! The cover art was good enough to go in a display case alongside scale models, and that’s where it sits. Perhaps I’ll read it when I have some days off, at the holidays. For me, the life-shaping, first car book was Ian Flemings, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, better in print than on film, but successful in both mediums. It’s probably why I’d still like to have a great pre-war tourer, but the reality of modern, small garage-size makes post-war sports cars more realistic.
The disconnects in the listing’s specs can be an advantage to an inquisitive party. My series 1 Jag XJ6 was advertised with incorrect info, such as a claimed original 4.0 V6 (it is ALL original, with its original 4.2 I6), and that probably kept some folks from enquiring further. Good luck to whomever end up with this TC: the open (back)roads await!
Yes they do have a heater. It’s called the engine & firewall!
Never read this book — Tom McCahill’s “The Modern Sports Car” got me going — but I have loved TCs since I first saw one (in the display window of a furniture store!) circa 1954. Have never owned one, but always wanted to….
My experience with wire wheels (15″ variety) has always been positive. Keep ’em tuned and make sure there are no broken spokes, and use tubes in the tyres. Between my father and myself, our 3-liter Healey covered over 500,000 miles with no wheel problems. And many of those miles were far from easy!
I have run wire wheels for decades. Never had a problem but one of my son’s cut his teeth as a bicycle mechanic and is a wizard in maintaining them, it is an art. I used to use Stockton Wheel when they were still around. Most people are too cheep to properly repair them when needed. My buddy is having the Borranies for his Ferrari rebuilt, I think he told me they were a couple of grand each. We would frequently run my Maserati with wires up to 150 MPH, never had any trouble and they were 17″ originally. When 17″ tires became difficult to find we changed to 16’s but not for stability.
Anyone who has driven in rural Britain or watched vintage British mysteries will probably understand why older British cars like this TC could be sold with those spindly wires.
Most of the roads were winding narrow lanes, often unpaved, and you had to be alert for the possibility that someone might be coming the other way and that both of you would need to slow and make sure there was space between you as you passed by each other.
Limited access highways were unknown, so you pretty much never got to 60 MPH, if that. Problem solved.
These are nice fun cars. I don’t know of any people who were disappointed in them. While I would prefer the TF to a TC, I sure wouldn’t kick this off my driveway. There’s an acquaintance of mine who has used his to drive all three of his daughters (including my daughter in law) to their weddings. Sure got a lot of honks and thumbs up. I think that most of the passersby thought the girls were driving because of the RH drive. Just something for fun…