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MG TD TF 1500 - TF 1414 Progress

TF 1414 originally HDB light grey / Birch grey color.

Progress. Slow and steady.

Single stage paint.

Ordering my bright red interior kit after the first of the year.

Grey is the "new black".

Frank
TF1414


Frank Cronin

...

Frank Cronin

Nice!
J K Barter

Hi Frank,

Great to see your detailed work continuing on your TF. I am virtually at the same stage now with my TF1500s full rebuild/restoration. Will be painted
in 'MG Red' as it was its original colour. (Of course, it seems there about twenty(20) varying shades of 'MG Red' from around the world with many believing they have The One !!). lol.

I too will be having the internal Battery Box painted in Black as per original.

So good to see you attacking your TFs restoration steadily and with care on originality detail. I still admire the fact that you did not have to replace the Body Tub wood. Very rare indeed. I reckon that saves about two(2) years work and a hec of a lot of frustration.

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

Beautiful! I can't wait to see it. Such attention to detail.
D. Sander

Looking great!
L E D LaVerne

Frank, how was the finish on the single stage paint? Was orange peel a problem? Did you color sand the finish? I've always used base coat clear on my cars. I'm thinking of doing single stage this time.

Tim
TD26711
Tim Burchfield

Frank and Rob -

Why did Abingdon paint the inside of the battery box black? Flat? Semi-gloss? Gloss? Did the box have body paint overspray inside also? My “picky gene” loves these little details.

Lonnie
TF7211
GOF-South Mk LII
http://www.gofsouth.com
LM Cook

Maybe black to hide acid burns? Black was the colour for inside the side screen box (felt) and under the tool box lid, so the battery was a similar storage/utility area I guess.

Great work Frank. You could park that tub in a modern art gallery and charge people to look at it! I like how you have painted the under-scuttle in upholstery red as per original too.

Matthew.
M Magilton

Lonnie,

May be semi gloss black but who really knows. It does seem however that the Black colour was used in this area as some of the more original cars
have remnants of same. Perhaps the paint type was tougher to afford greater acid drop resistance.

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

That's going to be Beautiful Frank!......That is an Early Car....I hope it has Solid Wheels!
I'll be waiting for this!!

Mike
TF-8257
M Brand

Rob do you know if the TD was given similar treatment? Given the possibility of acid spills could the original paint possibly have had a bitumen base? Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Hi Peter,

I am not sure of the TD having a blackened Battery Box as unlike the TFs,
I at least a the moment, have not seen an original type TD. They have nearly all been repainted.

I wonder if TD man Chris Couper has come across TDs with the black painted Battery Box. His TD has been in his family for yonks so he may have clues as to the original TD finish in this area of the car.

I enjoy the original detail the Internet can offer up these days. As an aside,
the rear plywood that joins the left and right hand quarter panels on TFs I am pretty sure was also painted Black,not body colour.

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

Thanks guys for the compliments. It is coming along. Took a while to find a good painter. Other delays (life) and scheduling conflicts to get to this point played a role too.

In case everyone is wondering -- the grey paint color is called Porsche Sport Classic Grey (L63A) . 2010 Porsche introduced a limited edition of 250 units. Most were sold in Europe but some have found their way to the USA. Grey paint colors have tints of green and blue. This color is neutral and also solid. If you Google "Porsche sport classic grey" you'll get some hits. My car is 251 I guess….

When you tell someone that you're painting the car grey, the look on their face doesn't get too enthusiastic looking. Kind of a "huh?" a confused “why would you do that look” but when they see it in person, their opinion's change quick. With the bright red interior it's really going to pop.

Questions on paint color get asked quite a bit and I've taken the position is to get the closest match possible. Birch grey did have some green in it but I chose the safe route. A modern color that I can go buy a paint touch up kit at AutoZone if I have to. Even if you did have the paint formula the factory used 60 years ago, the pigments they used are "unobtainium" today. See the Sun Bronze thread for example.

I got a few questions, so I’ll answer them.

Lonnie -- I think Mathew is on the right track of thinking here. I suppose the same black paint on hand used to paint the chassis, they used it as well in the TF battery box. I painted my chassis gloss. I chose gloss because protected surviving black on my car (ie. Steering wheel column) looked gloss to me. Either way is fine as long it is black. I will attach photo of my battery box. Leaky battery acid, time, under bonnet heat, pollution, decayed much of what it in the battery box. The wood runners and thin plywood is usually rotten away although I had remnants of what was left of it. Chris Couper’s site in the gallery section and see TF6688. Clearly the wood and bolts are black. Bud’s TTalk has dimensions of the battery box wood. I was viewing TF9052 and although much of it is hidden, in one picture zoomed in you can see the interior of the metal box was also painted black. I believe they were hand painted as the picture I saw had brush overruns just a bit into the red. Hardly noticeable. I zoomed in like 400%. I believe the battery box was painted black when they did touch up with a brush from the body color overspray on the frame rails and the wood bottom main rail under the car after the tub was received from the Morris Bodies branch. I will attach second picture.
Tim – the car was not color sanded. There is a slight orange peel but hardly noticeable at all. I’ve seen bad orange peel on some cars that looked more like alligator skin. The guy who’s doing this is doing a real nice job. Paint is PPG single stage and next time I’m at the shop I’ll get more information for you.

M Brand – early car with wire wheels. Heritage Trust certificate also confirms this is how it was shipped from the Factory.

Rob -- I will email you with information on TF interior since this probably what you have planned next.

I will keep everyone posted with updates as they come along..

Thanks,

Frank
TF1414


Frank Cronin

....

Frank Cronin

I noticed looking at the TD chassis assembly factory films on the British Pathe website that the chassis reflects the light like a gloss paint would. The gloss probably did not last very long.

Matthew.
M Magilton

I used a semi gloss on my chassis, Martin Senior Tuff Coat. Photo was taken 5 years ago and still looks the same today, nice paint. PJ


PJ Jennings

Very lovely color. My TF 1500 was the same colors when it left Abingdon. It is a great combo when completed and looks really tidy. Also, I like that it is less common than the red colors often painted on these cars while still being original. Keep us posted on the progress.

Alex
Alex Waugh

The black battery box thing got me to look back at some old unrestored pictures. It appears that at least a late 1952 TD has a black battery box and also a 53 TD. A set of pictures from a very late 1951 has a colored battery box so perhaps sometime in 1952 they changed it.

The picture is car TD19243.



Christopher Couper

The battery box interior on this car is red. The car has painted headlamps but with KotR medallions and is a late 51.



Christopher Couper

There appears to be a speck of color on the upper right corner of the box Chris. I would wonder if perhaps the paint just came off because of the fumes and the remains are the black primer they used?
L E D LaVerne

Hard to say. I would bet that the black was probably painted over the color coat after the body bucket was painted. With MG it was probably painted with a brush. :-)

I have some 53 cars that both have black battery areas too but they are much later.

The two real late 53's I have pictures of are both black cars. :-(
Christopher Couper

Frank -
Did you purchase a new battery box? If so, is the top folded over and cut to a peak? From whom did you purchase? And thanks to you, the inside of my battery tray will be black when I finish the restoration of my red TF.


RE: Wood battery tray -

I embellished the battery tray information by Colin Stafford that is on Bud's site and recapped the build of the battery tray for my TF.

Link: Wooden battery tray. View on-line, or click the "download" icon to download ... a downward pointing arrow with a bar across the tip.
http://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxisXBEpc-IWRUFCNFZlWmdsLU0/view?usp=sharing

And for kicks and giggles, add Lucas decals and round battery caps for a period look.
http://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxisXBEpc-IWOHdJTkFhbzZKczA/view?usp=sharing

Lonnie
TF7211
LM Cook

Hi Lonnie,

I still have the original battery box so no replacement needed.

Check out TF7472 in the gallery at CC's Original MG TF site. Nice survivor with a good shot of the battery box paint.

Frank
TF1414
Frank Cronin

Lonnie, this is a Moss battery box and no it doesn't have the point in the center of the upper lip. Didn't seem important to me seeing my car is not concurs. Couldn't tell you how many judges have looked at this car and not a one has ever mentioned the battery box upper lip. I spot welded it in using the original weld positions. PJ

PJ Jennings

The Moss battery box was too wide for my TD so I had a metal fabricator build me a new back with the tapered lip on it. Moss lists one part for both cars but the one I bought about 3 years ago was 1/4" too wide.

I then used panel adhesive to secure the new back in place so no welding was needed. This way I could just mask and protect the area to be painted without having to worry about damaging anything else. Actually worked out better for me since only the back and lip was damaged. The small amount of rust on the bottom is covered by the wooden tray and the sides were good.

I did this after the car was restored but in my first attempt I did not worry about the missing lip at all. (actually when I did the first restoration in the early 1970's, I was not even aware there was a tapered lip)
Christopher Couper

This thread was discussed between 18/12/2017 and 28/12/2017

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