1951 MG TD

1951 MG TD Roadster MG TDs have been owned and raced by some big names. JFK and Jackie drove one on their honeymoon. Marilyn Monroe and Cary Grant drove one in the film Monkey Business. Elvis was photographed driving one. Ronald Reagan was in the passenger seat in the film Tropic Zone. James Dean famously owned one. World champion racer and local legend Bob Holbert cut his teeth in a TD and was a pioneer who sold and serviced MG's in one of the first type shops in the country in nearby Bucks County, PA. For consignment, a 1951 MG TD roadster with a title verified 74,453 actual miles. This veteran of several Melee sports car rallies had an engine rebuilt about 1,000 miles ago and presents in drivable rather than concours level condition, so don your leather cap and goggles, this one can be driven! Exterior This car is in vogue with some road and time earned patina on its dark blue painted body, a sharp contrast to the chrome grille shell, headlight buckets, marker light housing, and fender mounted mirror. Vertical strakes line the grille mirrored in spacing by the canted louvers on each of the side engine covers, here with substantial chipping paint. The windshield is petite by today's standards, but the sitting position puts you below it and wind wings cut down on the cross drafts. In profile, the car's lowness is accentuated by the deep slant of the door dipping to the hinges of the reverse opening gateway. The tan canvas top is in very good condition and holds a small plastic window in back. Below it, a spare is mounted on the slant back, flanked by tiny tail lights and topped by a chrome luggage rack. The rally decals give this car some cred and harken back to when these were some of the most desired racers in the SCCA. Imperfections include chipped paint throughout and a roughness to the paint. Interior A swing of the front handled rear hinged low slung doors, and we are greeted with smooth blue vinyl door cards and the color translates to the pleated blue vinyl buckets with a solid bench back. The steering wheel is a tan banjo styled center 3 spoke design leading to a dash based in wood housing Jaeger gauges with white faces and patina silver rims. A black backed mid panel houses even more gauges all showing some age but fully intact. Chrome stirrup shaped handles have been added to each side of the wood dash undoubtedly to assist in entrance and exit. The modest shifter rises from the center hump and fairly plush black carpet. Behind the seats are stowed the side windows ready for deployment at the first hint of rain. Drivetrain A flip of the side cowl on the hood reveals a clean and rebuilt 4 cylinder red blocked engine in 1250cc configuration. A silver valve cover is atop, and this mill is fed by 2 H2 semi downdraft carburetors, all mated to a 4-speed manual transmission sending power to the 4.33 gears in back. New front disc brakes are matched with rear drums to provide the stopping power. Undercarriage Surface rust abounds on this driven classic and not unexpected nor structural. The shining single exhaust flows through a stock style muffler just before exiting via a straight pipe. Suspension consists of coil springs up front, and leaf springs for the back. There's some residual dampness on the pans and rear differential but does not appear to be actively leaking. Drive-Ability A quick starter, and after a nice warmup it ran incredibly smoothly and had great snappy pickup and suddenly we're at Thompson Raceway, 1954! It handled well and just the open road feel of this car is worth the price of admission and with the exception of a jumpy tach, all the functional items work as they should. While Classic Auto Mall represents that these functions were working at the time of our test drive, we cannot guarantee these functions will be working at the time of your purchase. With the showing of some aging and a few encounters with the outside world, this car is not perfec