1948 MG T-Series

MG TC Convertible

4 - Cyl.

Manual

TC5382

Gasoline

The years and months of work on the TC are coming to an end and its time for a new owner to enjoy it. From the start of this project I knew that I wanted to have a five speed transmission in this TC. I imported the conversion kit from Hi-Gear Engineering in England, it's the same conversion kit that Moss now sells. A fully rebuilt Ford type 9 transmission comes with the kit. The five speed really transforms the performance of the car and makes it much more usable in today's traffic conditions. Usually I am focused on maintaining originality but this is a significant improvement without visually compromising the look of the car. The body and fenders were removed from the frame, stripped, and refinished. The wheels were stripped and powder coated. All five tires are new Dunlop B5's sourced from Longstone in England. All the instruments were rebuilt by John Marks of Vintage Restorations in England. When I bought this TC about 7 years ago it was very straight and complete but was lacking some important detailing. In particular the dashboard and instrument panel were wrong. It had a plastic wood veneer glued on the dashboard and the instrument panel was bare metal. This TC was built in early April of 1948 and as such came from the factory with a rexine, not a wood dashboard. I was determined to restore the correct look to the car and while it took me eight months, I was able to find a rexine supplier in europe. I ordered the correct red rexine for the dashboard and had a new dashboard fabricated at the Whitworth Shop in Novelty, Ohio. After the dashboard was made, Craig Seabrook at the Whitworth Shop applied the rexine to the dashboard and both refinished and re-lettered the instrument panel. The chrome bezels and trim were re-chromed and finally the dashboard and instrument panel looked the way they did when the car was new. I located an original TC steering wheel and had it professionally restored. The seats are new leather seats. The door panels are leather from Heritage Upholstery. The carburetors were rebuilt by Blair Engle of the Classic MG Shop in Tallahassee, Fl. The exhaust manifold was restored to its correct original aluminized finish with a metal flame spray process in my shop. The exhaust system is a brand new stainless steel system. The distributor is new old stock. A previous owner installed a TD oil filter assembly. This oil filter uses elements that are readily available at a local NAPA store. The brake system is new and has silicone brake fluid. The springs are new as are all the bushings. The shock absorbers were rebuilt by Apple Hydraulics. The gas tank was sent out to Gas Tank Renu in Dallas where it was taken apart, sealed, and rebuilt. The wiring harness is new. The fuel line and fuel pump are new. The radiator shell and fog light shell were sent to Custom Chrome in Grafton, Ohio for a show chrome finish. The top is new black canvas. I am including a full set of side curtains but they do not match the top. The picture of the rear of the car was taken to give a clear view of the gas tank. The spare tire carrier and spare tire and wheel are of course installed and included. Shipping is the responsibility of the buyer but I am glad to assist in loading the car in a carrier. A $500 deposit via Paypal is due at the end of the auction and the balance is payable within a week of the end of the auction. No warranties or guaranties are expressed or implied. I wanted to add a quick note for those who are not particularly familiar with TC's. I received a question with regard to the original color of the car. The original color of the car was red. In thinking about it I now realize that the color of the firewall may lead someone to think that the car may have been green at one time. Approximately the first 2/3 of TC production had their firewalls painted gray, green, or gray/green. I suspect most owners did not particularly like this and most painted the firewall to match the rest of the car at some point. I went to a lot of trouble to determine the correct gray/green for the production date of this TC and in the spirit of trying to duplicate the original appearance painted the firewall this color. I had a question about the engine number which I am glad to answer. The engine number is XPAG 7015. This is a replacement TC engine that was installed 25 or 30 years ago.