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From: David Lodge <wargs@mac.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 08:40:10 -0700
To: tom metcalf <mgtom@bright.net>
Subject: Re: [mg-tabc] early TC
Hello Tom,
So you actually have the car in the photos? Most impressive!
You're dead right, of course. I saw the dark engine colour and
automatically assumed that it's red. As for the excavated block, I'll have
to take a trip up to my other shop to check but 2346 seems to ring a bell;
1704 has engine number 2406, so the other one is quite early. Austin
-Healey green is a sort of cloudy light green, not the dark metallic as
found on Morris Minors etc. How on earth do you date a TC gearbox? I've
noticed the numbers/letters stamped on the top edge of the case but assumed
(there I go again!: Copyright Ronald Reagan) that they were merely
sequential.
Regards, David
> Hi David,
>
> Thanks for your early engine color input. Right - tis thorny!
>
> The early photos to which you're referring are probably the very car
> (TC0257 - photographic) we're doing - and it's a dark block (and silver rad
> header tank). The g'box is dated 5 May 1939 so I'm wondering if the engine
> was originally painted dark red TB color - truely a pre-war "leftover"?
> However, early TC guru Peter Debruyn(TC0252), who has helped tremendously,
> feels the early ones were dark green. This engine has the other TB
> ancilliaries - TB carbs, intake manifold, chrome valve cover, etc, but
> somewhere along the line the short block was replaced with a BMC rebuilt
> that is actually a STINKING TD BLOCK!!! No offense to TD owners - it just
> doesn't belong in this TC!!! And no chance of ever finding that elusive
> clue.
>
> Now, how early is the "early" XPAG block you excavated? And what is Austin
> Healey green????? Is that the BMC green that the BMC rebuilt engines were
> painted in the 50's - 60's?
>
>
> My thinking (draw own conclutions there) is early TCs were dark red (TB) or
> dark green (first 20 TCs?), then perhaps the same (or close) gray-green as
> the firewall - which BTW got progressively darker and greener, then the
> familiar deep red. The first color would simply be finishing the TB stock
> that had already been painted and assembled prior to WWII. The latter two
> colors are fairly well documented but the very early is still a bit muddy...
>
>
> Thanks David - any other opinions anybody? And FYI, yes, this is a car that
> will rack up many miles and will hopefully be a joy to drive. We just want
> to get details correct at this point since it's a somewhat significant TC.
>
> tommm
>
>
>
>> Tomm,
>> A thorny one, this, and one which has had me burning ye midnyte oile on
>> occasion.
>> Evidence for maroon engine: MG factory publicity photographs showing a
> grey
>> bulkhead/dark engine.
>> Evidence for grey engine; "people who know" including Mike Sherrell (TCs
>> Forever), and an early XPAG engine block which I excavated from a farmers
>> field near my parent's house in the UK, most of the colour gone except the
>> oil gallery bolts which were grey OVER A KIND OF AUSTIN-HEALEY GREEN!
>> My own preference is the maroon job as my own recollection is that I have
>> NEVER seen a grey engine in a TC (and I have owned ours since 1963) except
>> for the superbly restored example of fellow-lister Andrew Bradley in
>> Washington State, which, if memory serves has a grey engine - and black
> body
>> paint.
>> Yours in total confusion, David Lodge.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> Roger Melton owns TC0257 and is under restoration at our Safety Fast!
>>> Restoration shop - black with green interior. Any opinions on early TC
> engine
>>> colors??? tommm
>>>
>>>
>>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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