Roadster drew global following
The English MG car dates back to the early 1920s when Cecil Kimber, manager and race driver with Morris Garages, Oxford, vendors of Morris cars, modified a “bull-nosed” Morris. He called it an MG, after Morris Garages.
Demand for MGs became strong enough that it became a production model in 1924. The popular pointed-tail, fabric-bodied M-type MG Midget appeared in 1929, with an overhead-cam four sourced from the Morris Minor. It provided sporting motoring at very reasonable cost, and MG consolidated its sporty reputation by amassing an enviable racing record in the early 1930s, particularly in the 750-cubic-centimetre class.
Although a few were imported privately in the 1930s, MGs were virtually unknown in North America until after the Second World War, when returning servicemen began bringing back lowslung little TC roadsters. They created such a stir they were being officially imported by 1947, making the MG the vanguard of the North American sports-car movement.
Those first imported postwar MG TC Midgets were direct descendents of the 1936-39 TA and TB models. The tall wire wheels, rakish clamshell fenders, cut-down doors and folding windshield made the TC, to quote Mechanix Illustrated’s Tom McCahill, “a debonair little aristocrat.”
Although stylish and sporty, the TC’s performance and riding qualities were limited. With a beam front axle, leaf-spring suspension and ultra-quick steering (1.7 turns lock to lock) it could be a handful to drive. On anything but billiard-table-smooth roads, its 121 km/h top speed required a skilful driver.
Although imported in fairly small numbers, the little right-hand-drive TC introduced North Americans to a whole new automotive experience, the charm of English sports cars.
But such an archaic 1930s design could not endure for long, so in late 1949, TC production ceased after 10,000 had been built. The Abingdonon-Thames works then began producing the more modern TD. In spite of protest from the purists about its “Hollywood look,” it was a far better car.
The TD had the MG Y-Series sedan’s independent A-arm and coil spring front suspension and superior rack-and-pinion steering. The tall, spidery wire wheels and knock-off hubs were replaced with 15-inch pressed-steel bolt-on types, which were not nearly as dashing, but were stronger and maintenance-free.
Although the appearance had been softened, the TD retained the TC’s square configuration with clamshell fenders, folding windshield and cut-down rear-hinged doors. A wider body provided more space, and the tachometer and speedometer were now together in front of the driver rather than widely separated. Left-hand drive was available.
The 1,250-cc, 54-horsepower, overhead-valve inline four and four-speed manual transmission was carried over. It wasn’t much power for a 907-kilogram car, so the TD wasn’t going to scare any Olds 88 or Ford V-8 drivers.
In 1952, McCahill took his own “McGillicuddy the Mighty” MG Mark II to Daytona Beach, Florida, for the annual February Speed Week. In a strong wind, he managed a two-way average of 128 km/h, setting a new speed record for stock cars in Class F (1100- to 1500-cc engines).
Road & Track compared a regular TD and the 60-horsepower TD Mark II “factory hop-up” with modifications such as higher compression, larger carburetors and valves, stiffer valve springs, two fuel pumps and a higher (4.875:1 vs. 5.125:1) rear axle.
They recorded zero to 100 km/h in 19.4 seconds for the TD and 16.5 for the Mark II. Top speed averages were 127 and 131 km/h respectively.
Although MG performance was definitely not in the Jaguar or Austin-Healey class, raw speed was not the MG’s appeal. Its forte was nimble handling, quick cornering and sporty driving at a modest cost. And even though they weren’t fast, the cutdown doors and wind-in-the-face driving made them feel like they were.
MG owners considered themselves hardy pioneers. They raced them, rallied them, joined clubs and enjoyed a kind of esoteric camaraderie that eluded “Joe Practical” (McCahill again) Plymouth and Chevy drivers.
The MG TD was replaced for 1954 by the TF model, a slightly modernized version of the classic square design. It bridged the gap between the 1930s-inspired T-Series and the contemporary style of the envelope-bodied 1956 MGA. In the TD’s fouryear production run, almost 30,000 were built, of which about 75 per cent came to North America.
The TD did not secure a place in automotive history for performance or technical novelty, but because it (along with the TC model) laid the foundation for the sports-car movement in North America. It showed that motoring could be fun; few sports cars have a more enthusiastic following.