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MG TD TF 1500 - Colour Combination

I have finally decided on a colour for my TF.

As I have mentioned before this is an original Irish car that arrived in Ireland as a CKD. As a CKD car there is no reference to the original colour and in fact it could have been any colour as it was sent in primer and colour painted in Ireland.

The car has been painted Jaguar Red for as long as I can remember (40 years).

Autumn Red which I believe is an MG colour seams to be the closest to the colour we all remember and looks fabulous in the attached pic I found online.

But I do have a couple of questions.

It looks like biscuit interior was the correct colour for the trim. Would this be right.

Should the piping be black biscuit or the autumn red.

I assume carpets are black.

What colour should the dash be. Autumn red like the car.

Hood and side screens I take it are also biscuit although they look black on this car.

As always thoughts and opinions gladly welcome before I bite the bullet.

Thanks Darryl



D Lamb

This is the Jaguar Red the colour the car was painted for the 50 years we owned it.

D Lamb

Darryl, my '52TD (TD10855) is one of a number of TDs made in October '51 that were probably painted Autumn Red. I've had contact with a few owners of Autumn Red cars from that same era. In all cases the upholstery has been red. Bud
Bud Krueger

Darryl. Are you sure that is Autumn Red as it looks more like Emgee Red to me. Autumn Red is a very dark red, However, right now I am not at home to check my reference samples. The dash and the piping matched the body paint on cars out of Abingdon. Carpets were black and hood, etc., a tan / biscuit colour.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Hi Bud and Dave Can't be 100% sure that's Autumn Red as that's what came up when I googled it! I will look further at emgee red.
I take it the piping can be painted then as suppliers are limited on the colours.
Thanks Dave for confirming the other items.
Darryl

I wonder then what colour the attached is?

D Lamb

I wouldn't paint the piping - it doesn't need to be a perfect match as it will blend in if its imilar red.
That car may be Autumn Red.
Dave H
Dave Hill

I painted my car with Emgee Red sold to me by HMG, but its a much brighter red than it should be I think, maybe Reno Red or brighter than that. My colour swatch for Emgee Red is much darker and when I discussed it with Ron Gammons he confirmed that was the case. Autumn Red is much darker still. Having said all of the above I am very happy with the bright red that my car ended up. Some of the publicity from MG at the time seemed to show a much brighter red anyway, so it all remains rather unclear. There is no evidence at all by the way that my reference samples have darkened.
Dave H

Dave Hill

TF's painted at the factory had the dash painted to match the upholstery, along with the visible part of the underside of the scuttle (directly above the dash).
A red TF from the factory could have had red or biscuit upholstery. I have attached a picture of an unrestored TF.

Matthew.

M Magilton

This car comes about as close to Autumn Red that I saw evidence of on my TF as I have seen in person.

L E D LaVerne

Yes you are right about the dash matching the interior, which I should not have forgotten since I painted mine that way.
Dave H
Dave Hill

LaVerne, I was all set to paint my car black because I didn't think I could match the original Autumn Red or that the original color looked that great (I have a small patch of the original color under the scuttle). Then you post the picture above. I love it. Do you happen to know the owner. I'd like to ask about the color.

Thanks

Tim
TD12524
TW Burchfield

Talking about colors...
I bought my 52 TD in the US two years ago. I personnally like its colour, but I don't know if it is original or if it was repainted by the previous owner. Any advice?


C.M. groucho

MG Autumn Red trial colour on the door...looks great. Colour code from the original MGTF website. Very exciting after 20 years + of no colour!

D Lamb

@C.M. groucho: Not an original color.

http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_finishes.htm
Christopher Couper

CKD I can get away with murder :)
D Lamb

The original color of my TF was MG red and red upholstery, not a combination I would prefer, too much red, the tan or biscuit interior looks much better in my opinion. But as everyone knows, I painted it my way. Grin. PJ
Paul161

Jaguar Regency red looks very much like That car LaVern
showed above. It is a beautiful deep color,looks like a ruby when you polish it. I used acrylic lacquer and hand rubbbed and rubbbbed it. The louvers on the Jag hood were a b---- to rub.
IMHO
Chuck
cj schmit

And I like your choice Paul. Out of interest your black interior was that from Moss. This is what I was looking at but finding it hard to decide without seeing the look and quality. Would you post a pic of your interior for me Paul.
Thanks Darryl
D Lamb

Chuck I see very little difference between Autumn Red and Jaguar Regency Red which was the colour our car was originally painted...
D Lamb

I do not Tim, but Dan Craig does. Fellow lives near him I believe.
L E D LaVerne

It is amazing how the 'myths' perpetuate. The TF dash from the Abingdon was NOT painted body colour. The dash was painted to match the upholstery. In the case of an MG Red coloured car,
if it had red upholstery,the dash was a slightly brighter red compared to the body paint,however it was red ! CKD of course would be a different matter ).

The body wing piping/running board piping was close,but not exactly,
the body colour.

Re MG Red colour on TFs,I have never seen an 'Autumn Red' car from
Factory. Rod Brayshaw(NZ) who has restored over thirty(30) TFs has also never seen 'Autumn Red' on original TFs.It is agreed that the MG Red is lighter compared to the much darker Autumn Red perhaps found on TDs?

Over many months last year,I solicited samples from around the world
of MG Red from owners and suppliers. They were independently quite close in shade to each other. What was definite,Ferrari bright red was nothing like the original !

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
Rob Grantham

My Autumn Red as mixed from MGTF website.

J Ostergren

Looks fabulous J Ostergren. I have gone with the same codes.
Couple of questions..
What colour is your piping and is that the biscuit interior from Moss.
And controversially what colour did you paint your dash.
D Lamb

The NEMGTR's T Type Restoration Handbook has a section entitled "Points of Originality: The M.G. TF", written by the late F.E. Old III, Technical Editor. In it, the paint color 'C' is called Dark Red. In a section on paint and upholstery colors the body color is referred to as M.G. Red. Autumn Red is never mentioned as a paint color for a TF. The section is well worth reading.

When I found Lazarus, my 52TD, he was painted a hideous shade of red. Upon disassembling him I discovered that he was originally Autumn Red. The color matches a few other cars of close Car Nos. that were Autumn Red. In 1993 I happened to be the owner of a NAPA store that sold paint. I was able to make some good contacts with folks at Sherwinn-Williams who were able to lead me to a vendor who had the base and tints to reproduce Autumn Red.

It is unlikely that the reds used are available today. red tints have become horribly expensive. The Martin-Senour number is listed on Chris Couper's site, http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_finishes.htm. Bud
Bud Krueger

I was going through some TD parts owned by my late father in law and came across this TD fuel tank. A little polishing revealed the factory red beneath some overspray on the hidden side of the tank.

Matthew.

M Magilton

Hmmm.... Matt the TD tank colour looks like the colour MG Red on the very original TF you imaged above. Grin.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
Rob Grantham

I am inclined to agree Rob.

Matthew.
M Magilton

Thank you Chris,

I thought this color was not original, but I like it. My TD is not a concours car, I just enjoy to drive it as is...
C.M. groucho

Jaguar Regency red, that I used, has peril in it and the sun will highlight the curves and edges of the panels, basically I would say by looking at the two colors close up in the shade there isn't that much difference, but in the sun quite a difference.
Darryl, I'll get you a couple pictures of the interior. PJ
Paul161

Thanks PJ
D Lamb

Darryl, Pics sent by email. PJ
Paul161

Matthews polished sample is spot on for MG Red. It's interesting to see how well preserved the red stays when hidden after ~65 years. I did the same trick on my car in 1972 and got the same results and color.



Christopher Couper

Darryl, yes the interior is Moss biscuit as is the piping. The dash is painted body color and the instrument panel is a color from a 'rattle can' that I don't have a clue as to what the name of the color was. I will post a picture of the panel tomorrow to give you and idea of what the color looks like. I really like the Autumn Red color and contrasting biscuit piping even though it's not 'original'.
J Ostergren

Hi Jostergren
You may be able to help me in terms of what Moss offer as interiors.
They refer to their interiors as being " Trim panels are available in a choice of leather panel & vinyl trim, or vinyl panel & vinyl trim." What did you decide to go for and do you have any idea as to how the 2 options differ.
Without knowing too much about this yet I would have thought leather panel and leather trim should have been an option to go with the leather seats.
Thanks
D Lamb

Darryl, I went with MOSS 245-608 which is the leather seat kit with vinyl panel & trim kit. I really don't know what the difference in looks would be but the vinyl panels and trim look great as far as I am concerned and match up with the leather seats just fine. There is some color difference in color between the two as you can see in the picture but again I think is looks just fine.



J Ostergren

One of the few T cars with the original paint, albeit a little dull, as it can no longer be polished.
This true Autumn Red.

colin stafford

9052

Colin, Does you car seem to be the same color as " unrestored TF 9052" on the original tf site? Is "MG RED" the same color as "AUTUMN RED" ?
J K Barter

No, they are distinct.
Dave H
Dave Hill

This thread was discussed between 08/11/2016 and 11/11/2016

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