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MG TD TF 1500 - Another what was painted question

Chris lists that the firewall was painted outside and inside in body color. As I have green paint on the side of the wood the firewall attaches to, this appears correct.

In pictures from the factory, the firewall and body were put on the car as one piece.

So do you feel the firewall was attached and they lifted it up to paint under the firewall in the paint booth?

Does anyone have any original pictures of the underside of the firewall? I found this one on Chris's originals. I think it shows cream paint on the inside of the firewall.


Bruce Cunha

Bruce, Here's a pic of my TF behind the firewall when I was pulling it apart, the car was originally MG Red. Looks like it was just enough to protect the metal. Above the striker is a closer hint to it's original red but very faded. PJ

PJ Jennings

Another pic.


PJ Jennings

PJ - or me it looks as a primer only.
W_Mueller

I agree, but there was a lot of red overspray in other areas.
PJ Jennings

Of the five I have done Bruce, what I have seen suggests that the firewall was attached to the tub and then the whole assembly was shot in body color with no evidence of paint between the tub and wood and firewall. None of them however were untouched and here is my TF. I cannot explain the green fire wall. The rest of the car had several resprays of red and the vin tag shows that it left the factory red.

L E D LaVerne

But underneath the green on the firewall was the original red....go figure.

L E D LaVerne

This is a TF but I'm sure the painting and assembly production didn't change.

The tub was probably hoisted in some fashion perhaps on a dolly so someone could spray under the scuttle and bulkhead.

Here's mine with nice grey "patina" and red paint to match the interior. If you go look on Chris Couper's site for Original TF, check out the gallery. TF9052 & TF8541. I took a lot of pictures underneath the bulkhead to show that the whole tub inside and out was painted body color.

Frank

TF1414

Frank Cronin

One giveaway. If you take apart the firewall from the body you will find that it has no body color. There was a caulk like material that oozed out of the gaps and was painted as an assembly. This of course included the bolts and washers.

An interesting thing shown in PJ's pick above was that the two brackets to attach to the frame stiffener had to be painted with the body because it was attached with the bolts sandwiching the firewall and body bucket. They are black with a lot of overspray.
Christopher Couper

Ok, but it also looks like a lot of the interior was body color. This factory picture appears to show a black paint on the interior of the body.

Could be that these bodies had not yet been painted?

I agree Chris. The bracket shows red overspray. But in Fanks picture, his scuttle is painted red and there is red overspray on the gray/white.

What color was your body Frank?

Bruce Cunha

TF bodies were painted inside and out the one colour. Like Chris says, there will be no paint hidden between the firewall and the body unless a previous restorer/repairer has been at work. Also no paint under the door hinges. Your photo above probably does show the tubs in black undercoat. Those bodies are on simple assembly frames being pushed along a type of tramway rails.
TF's then had a squirt of upholstery coloured paint applied to the scuttle underside as in Franks picture.
The attached pic shows factory paint on the inside (Birch grey).

Matthew.


M Magilton

Bruce,

The color of my car was Birch Grey with red interior.

If you look closely in my picture you can see the unpainted wood where the mounting plate was for the door striker.

The red paint is how Matthews describes. Changed after the TD, the TF dash was metal and was arranged in a sloping position. This exposed area seen under the scuttle was painted dash color depending on the color of the interior. Red, Biscuit, & Green.

A picture to help clarify.

Frank

TF1414

Frank Cronin

First off all of the cars had black primer/undercoat. I have seen different cars with either very little body color where it would not show or cars where the painter went nuts and painted everything their gun would reach.

So depending on what car you encounter you could see a lot of black or a lot of body color hidden behind panels etc. But every car has body color where it was not hidden by some panel.
Christopher Couper

Thanks Chris.

I was planning to paint the entire interior other than the inside of the firewall in black. Then when we paint the outside and the underside of the firewall, to lightly overspray the inside edges with body color. From what we discovered when you were here, it appears that is what mine had.

Does that match what you have seen?

Bruce Cunha

Bruce: That was the way my car was too but I have seen some cars with almost no black showing too.

Take a look at the pictures of TD11272 in the gallery. This is pretty normal.
Christopher Couper

A little broader shot of mine while pulling it apart. PJ

PJ Jennings

I would say your firewall has been off the tub judging by those bright unpainted bolts PJ.
M Magilton

Your right Matthew, some wood seems to have been replaced years ago. Because of an accident back in the early 60s, the right wing, door and rear wing were replaced with new. I'm assuming, but don't know, the whole front of the car was taken apart for repairs, possibly the firewall was removed, the non-original bolts were an indication to me also. I did have the firewall and scuttle off to repair a slight twist in it. I understand the accident was caused because of an engine fire and the driver panicked and run into a guard rail by the owners, (a doctor in California) brother. Note; the original owner is still with us living in Alabama, in his 90s not doing well though. PJ
PJ Jennings

"Note; the original owner is still with us living in Alabama"

I first read this as:

"Note; the original owner is still living with us in Alabama"

I thought that was total dedication. Taking in the car and the original owner too. :-)
Christopher Couper

Hear.. hear..... :-)
L E D LaVerne

LOL, Sorry for the misunderstanding. Dr. Duvall is in his 90s and in fair health, the problem with communicating with him is his hearing is mostly gone and so is his memory. Fine details are lost forever. Yes, he lives in Alabama not here in Oklahoma. Meaning, he's still alive!
PJ Jennings

Looking at Chris's TD 11272, does help, Note in 117, 118, 119 you see the dash brackets had to be installed prior to the painting. The door latch steel backing bracket also appears to have been installed prior to painting.

ttps://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/Pictures/TD11272/Thumbnails/mgtd_gallery_thm_TD11272.htm#

It also appears that the inner dash had to be in when it was painted. The line of paint is smooth on the bottom of the scuttle. There is no body color on the underside of the scuttle.

An interesting picture is 132. This would indicate the panels were painted in black primer prior to the wood being assembled. That would make sense to prevent rust. But when you look at the front wood, there are bare spots, so it appears that a second black spray must have been done after parts were installed on the wood.

As for the amount of body paint on the inside, it looks like it depended on who was painting. That would also make some sense.
Bruce Cunha

This thread was discussed between 01/02/2019 and 05/02/2019

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