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MG TD TF 1500 - TD speedometer in rare car from Jay Leno's show

As a curious thing, I have seen in Jay Leno's last video about the car "1959 Old Yeller II" a TD speedometer. Can someone confirm it ?. Is it easy to adapt it to other cars? Was it the custom of the time? In any case I think that as a simple curiosity it is useful to know it for all of us.

https://youtu.be/zBs6O_D1D3k
Gabriel Martínez

But you notice that it isn't even hooked up! And limited to 100mph...

Actually, you don't often find T-series instruments in other cars. Perhaps they are too fragile, perhaps the cable connection is hard to match.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

Well, if it was only to fill the gap, they could have chosen something more in line with the rest of the instruments. This one clearly does not work but what I do not know is if it worked, that is, if our speedometer was used from the beginning on this car.
Gabriel Martínez

Since the car went well over 100 mph I doubt it was ever used in race mode. It was likely put there to fill the hole. The dash clearly has a smattering of mismatched gauges in it that are not period correct and wouldn’t have been original to the car’s construction. They certainly detract from the overall appearance.
W A Chasser

It's a rather legendary car, at least here on the West Coast There were two versions. I'm sure I have photos of it in the pits somewhere from recent years. I will try to remember to look them up. You can probably find plenty of pictures of it online though.
Steve Simmons

How about the fenders. They seem to look a bit like MG fenders that have been cut down.

They said he drove it on the road, so perhaps they did have the speedometer hooked up for road use.
Bruce Cunha

Possibly, but I doubt they would take the time to either disconnect the speedo or change it out for a larger scale every time they went to the track. It doesn’t make much sense to me. I’d be spending my time tuning the car rather than wasting time changing out speedo’s every weekend for track time. There is a second YouTube video regarding this car but I haven’t viewed it. It would be interesting to see period dash photos from the late ‘50s to early ‘60s when the car was regularly campaigned even though by that time the car had changed hands
W A Chasser

I think the manufacturer of this car didn't care about the speed of the car but just winning races. According to this video, the TD speedometer has always been there (minute 33:50).


https://youtu.be/1ourvuotFuY
Gabriel Martínez

It was not working back then either. Interesting
Bruce Cunha

The Speedometer could have been required by the state licensing authority in order to be licensed on the hwy, which hwy speeds never reach near 100. The speedometer could then have been disconneted and left that way. Who knows?
Kim Herford
W K herford

I actually have unseen race footage of this car from the 1950's in Southern California.
Steve Simmons

Steve,

If the footage is unseen, how can you be sure it's race footage of this car from the 1950's in Southern California? ;-)
Willem van der Veer

Willem, I'll bet that Steve was the cameraman. He has quite a collection. Bud
Bud Krueger

Good one Willem. :) I should say unseen for over half a century.

I'm not old enough to be the cameraman (even my father would barely be old enough) but I know the who/what/when/where/why it was taken.
Steve Simmons

I saw Max Balchowski race it in Nassau in 1960 - terrible car. Don't know how he ever kept it on the road ... the TD speedo notwithstanding !!.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gord Clark

This thread was discussed between 25/05/2021 and 18/06/2021

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