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MG TD TF 1500 - Very Early TD Solid Wheel Color

Hope that title is enough succinct!

In 2010 Jim P posted a question about the color (or colour) of original solid wheels on early 50 TDs, based on the Pathe film that seems to show them NOT silver. His question is as follows:

"Does anyone happen to know what color the solid wheels were. I recently saw an old black and white film clip that showed two different shades on the wheels. One was the slotted wheels and was a light shade of gray. The other wheel was very dark therefore indicating that the wheels were different colors. These were on cars leaving the factory so this was not an after market change. The conventional wisdon has been that TD wheels are silver, however this seems to not be true. Comments??

Jim"

Does anyone have a confident answer to the question of color? Were they perhaps painted interior color? I suspect the slotted wheels (drilled) that he sees as a light shade of grey, were silver. But does anyone have an unrestored early TD who can guess at the wheel color?

Thanks very much.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

Tom,

If you take a look at the following British Pathe film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nt1rigJyLY
you will see a couple of contradicting views of the early undrilled wheels.
The scenes showing the build, the wheels appear very light colored, presumably silver. However, later in the film as the cars are being loaded on a transporter, the wheels look very dark, almost black.

I wonder if the dark color isn't an illusion due to lighting or perhaps they had been covered in a protective coating over the paint.
Lew Palmer

Lew: I suspect you could be right. I have noticed a lot of B&W pictures of the cars are really hard to tell the finish on. For example tops and tonneau covers appear almost black and red paint looks like dark green or black too. Then you see the same exact car in shots from another direction or lighting and it looks different again.
Christopher Couper

Interesting thread.
Recalling another video with the early solid wheeled cars there's this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KBKgw5Cvz8
At about 1: 40 there is one on the assembly line with light colored wheels.
At about 2:50 there's a view of 4 TDs on a truck from the factory - 3 with dark wheels and one with light wheels.
When I get to the book I'll need to check Clausager to see if there is any mention of the solid wheel colors.
By the way, at about 4:15 note the tach at about 5250 and the speed at 80 MPH. Not a hint of vibration.

BobbyG
Bobby Galvez

possible they painted the wheels to match the interior color?
TLW Wright

This was discussed before. Australian export cars had to have Australian tyres fitted as part of a local content rule. It would make sense to have returnable slave wheels fitted for the Australian exports. I am guessing these are slave wheels. You will not find a pic of these in a dealers showroom. I think the cars are RHD?

Matthew.
M Magilton

Bobby's post suggests that it isn't lighting showing light & dark wheels. At about 3.00 both light & dark wheels are seen on the same transporter in the same shot. Matthew is probably correct suggesting these dark wheels are wheels fitted just for transport to Australia for the reason cited. I'd be happy with 80mph @ 5250 RPM! And this from a a new car just off the line, if we can believe the narrator. Great clip. Thanks Bobby. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

I'm really curious how that speed/rpm combo is possible - with a 4.3 diff the car would be going about 90 at those RPMs. Either it's an even TALLER rear end ratio, or either the tach or speedo is considerably off. I suspect the latter.

Still no resolution on wheel color, I see...

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

It is odd Tom especially when you consider the TD standard diff ratio was 5.125:1! T Type silver was the standard wheel colour & the dark jobs were probably just for transport as Matthew suggests. The 5 silver painted wheels were probably stashed in the car until it was delivered to the Oz dealer where the new tyres were fitted & the factory fitted wheels & tyres were then returned to England for use on the next batch of exports. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Tom There is a SVMGCC club member that has an earlier TD than mine RHD that has his solid wheels packed away as the car has a WW conversion. I will contact in a few days and see what is on his rims. Car is ivory and red.

Regards

Regards
Bill Chasser JR
TD4834
W. A. Chasser Jr

An interesting detail perhaps: the part number of the early TD wheel is the same as the one used on the Morris Oxford MO namely "130148".
AFAIK these Morris wheels were always painted body colour. 1949/1950 Morris Oxford colours being: Platinum Grey, Romain Green, Maroon and Black....
It's indeed a possibility that coloured wheels were used on the TD complementing the upholstery/grille colour.
Just my 2cts...

Nick (TD3232)
Nick Herwegh

The only problem with Matthew's scenario is the spare. Why would you ship a tyre on a spare if the only reason was to use in country tyres on the car? You would just ship the car with the spare wheel attached and no tyre on it.

So I suspect some of these early cars got darker wheels for some reason. Maybe they intended to have the wheels sprayed locally for some purpose or the very early cars just had dark wheels.
Christopher Couper

This thread was discussed between 11/12/2014 and 14/12/2014

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