The53
(Started 4/2/05)
February 18, 2007 -- Update time.
Still no luck at obtaining a title for the car, but I've pretty well convinced myself that I'm going to 'restore' ir enough to make it a driveable machine the next owner will be willing to do the cosmetic restoration. A somewhat major accomplishment has been the refurbishing of the gearbox. It provided me with a great learning tool and the gearbox is now installed in Lazarus. The engine is on my stand and I'll be getting into it shortly. Stay tuned for much to come.
A radio came with the car. Click here for details.
November 3, 2006 --- Tublet has arrived (click for a shortcut)
On April 1, 2005 I acquired TD23618, a machine that I'm just going to try to refer to as 'The53' so as not to get too attached to it. It would appear that saying "it's a '53" is slightly inaccurate. A look at the Production Date schedule published in the NEMGTR T Series Handbook shows that Car No. 23634 was the last TD produced during the month of December, 1952. I'd venture a guess that 23618 rolled off of the floor right ahead of 23634 on the last day of 1953. As usual, I'm somewhat rushing this page onto the site just to be able to share some of the information. I'll be upgrading it, along with better images as soon as I get the chance.
The car is in rather rough shape between wood rot and rust worm infestation. I bought the car from a friend and former fellow colleague at Polaroid, Dave Sproul. Dave bought the car about 3 1/2 years ago, fully intending to restore it. Tempus fugit, and he has now also joined the ranks of those of us who have been put to pasture by Polaroid. Dave is quite adept at woodwork and had begun replacing some of the rotted wood. Indeed, he replaced all of the wood around the right side of the tub.
Here are a number of images of the car showing some of the bad areas and some of the new wood that's been installed. They're all thumbnails, so click away:
And some of the new stuff:
Numbers:
The odometer shows 86234 miles. On the windscreen is Massachusetts State Inspection sticker from Fall 1972. In side of car was found a plate saying: 'The New England MG 'T' Register Member No. 435'. I'm contacting the Register to see if I can find out who identifies with #435. It's obvious that the car was originally painted Silver Streak Gray, though it was repainted black at some point. The upholstery is red. A number of points of originality have shown up in answer to some recent questions, e.g., the location of the turn signal flasher:
It's in the vicinity of the right horn.
Without upholstery it's easy to see the details of the sleeve for the rear side curtains. The 'pin' is obviously the shank of a flathead screw that goes through the sleeve, in addition to the two screws that attach the sleeve to the top side rail:
Stay tuned, there's lots more to come.
Here's the location on the firewall of the dipper switch
mounting screws:
Here's looking at the dipper switch from inside:
Here's the instrument panel:
Note that the turn signal indicator light is the same resistor-wire socket as the other lamps. The ignition warning lamp is red and the petrol warning lamp is green. The car is late enough so that the high beam indicator is in the speedometer.
November 3, 2006 --- I'm softening and seem to be on my way to somewhat of a restoration. It is now my intent to bring the car to a state where it is driveable and ready for some enthusiast who wants to restore it. It's far too original to part out. My solution to the rustworm issue in the rear quarter panels was to locate, and purchase, a 'tublet' from Texas. It should be arriving today. More later...
Originality: As I discover originality points that I think may be of interest I will try to record them and list them here with links to the items:
Turn Signals: Since the car was produced in late December, 1952 it would have had turn signals installed by the factory. Four areas of interest show on the car:
Relay location: Mounted inside of the tub on the back of
the toolbox:
Switch location: On back of dash, to right of gearshift:
Switch mounting: Two flathead screws through inner dash
wood:
Indicator lamp: Located on the instrument panel above
inspection sockets:
Flasher location: Under bonnet, by right side horn:
I decided that the rustworm infestation in the rear cross brace assembly plus the rear quarter panels and inner wheel arches was not worth trying to repair. Horror stories abound on the use of reproduction panels so I began a long search for non-rusted metalwork. Fortunately, I has able to locate a complete rear tub ('tublet') that, though it's coated with a lot of surface rust, is basically solid. Dry rot has caused the wood to virtually disappear.
The tublet was found in Texas as part of a very large stash of MG parts uncovered by George Merryweather. As happens in life, the cost of getting the tublet from Texas to Massachusetts was more than the cost of the tublet. At least this one still has the captive nuts for attaching the rear fenders, etc. Stay tuned, more to come.
Plate on top of radiator:
Clearance between Oil pump and steering column can clear 7/32"
drill bit: