MG TD TF 1500 Looking for Dad's Racing TD BBS discussion at MG-Cars.info

MG TD TF 1500 - Looking for Dad's Racing TD

Hi. I'm looking for my dad's TD. He raced it in Southern California in the early 50s - and I have a number of trophies and dash plaques from his successes. I don't have a VIN or engine number, only a picture and unique details about the car, and I can only expect that it has long since been put to pasture. I have a couple picture of my dad's TD. This is a rough copy. It is from a 3D viewer. The picture through the viewer is amazing. But this is a shot with my cell phone through one of the eyes of the viewer! When I figure out how to get a better picture, I'll post it too. Here is what I know from the pictures: it was green, with a MotoMeter radiator cap, with wings. It had the front license plate: IT63422. It looks like he had the fenders and top of the car painted copper (goldish redish) color, with a green curve down through the bonnet and side door. But it looks like the whole part is painted, not just a "spear" like I've seen on others. It has four rows of louvers on the top of the bonnet. The louvers were by "an old guy with a set of dies, named Emil Dietz. Emil had hand-built the beautiful aluminum Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson's roadster, but was better known as the body maker for the Meyer-Draker/Offenhause/Deitz Indy cars that dominated the circuit. The car's louvres were hand-stripped by an ex-Packard man when von Dutch was still learning a trade." Dad used to tell a story of when he got the pinstripes, the guy had shaky hands as they moved to the car, then turned to rock the second the brush touched the car. At some point, he swapped in a '41 Studebaker straight 6 and 3 speed OD transmission. A Ford column shift was cut about 4 inches and located horizontally at the rear of the transmission. The firewall was cut back and the battery moved. The exhaust was two 3-to-1 headers going to dual pipes all the way back (like his later XK120). The heads and carbs were Vic Edelbrock's aluminum. And it had a heavy duty radiator. My dad took it to International Motors, in LA on Sunset Boulevard, where Ken Miles was the head of the service department, and Phil Hill was a young mechanic who tuned the car. It is interesting that Ken Miles may have had contact with this car. Ken went on to be the first one to make a prototype Sunbeam Tiger for Rootes (because Shelby was taking too long). And, dad's last car was actually a Sunbeam Tiger (which I now own). Who knows, maybe this car, with the Studebacker 6, helped Ken in that project! I don't know exactly but he probably sold it in the mid 50s, when he bought a new XK120, which he went on to race too. I have no details on that car. Yeah, I know that the extent of these engine changes may make it even more unlikely that it is still out there. I know it's a long shot. But I figured it's worth a shot. Jay

JSL Laifman

This thread was discussed between 24/09/2014 and 10/01/2015

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