Bury Me in An Old MOWOG Parts Box - Learning to See

By Jay Lockrow

A week or so ago I was talking with a few friends and one of them stated he could never tell the early MGs apart and they all looked the same. I almost choked on my cup of coffee and immediately said…“For gosh sakes open your eyes and look!” I really meant this but later it struck me that many people do look but don’t see. I touched on this a few years back but it bears repeating. “People look but don’t see” Sounds ridiculous but it is very true. You have to train yourself to see, train yourself to notice things that most people will miss.

Have you ever seen those little pictures in the comic pages in the newspapers or magazines where two small pictures are exactly alike but then they ask you to spot the differences? This is a good place to start and after a few tries it becomes quite easy. The pictures appear alike but with a little careful scrutiny you see things missing in one but not the other like a cloud in the sky, the number of flowers in the flower box or a button on a coat, these sorts of things. Yes this is a little game but you are learning to see. Or possibly the ones that have four drawings in a row and you have to find the two that are alike! Good way to start doing this sort of thing. If you ever had the thought of becoming a policeman, a secret agent, an antique automobile judge or even an antique dealer, firearms dealer or any of a dozen occupations, the one thing they have in common is to see details! A policeman especially is taught to look for the odd bloodstain; lost button, hair, and cigarette stub anything that would be a clue to solving a crime. In the case of an automobile, you start with a quick glance and does the vehicle look right? If not you can sometimes eliminate it at this point because a replicar (particular MG replicars) have notoriously bad proportions but some people cannot see the difference. Then you look for wrong bumpers, bad bodywork, sloppy assembly, wrong or modern parts ,wrong size bolts, fiberglass body or any number of things that are just plain wrong. Not that some of the replicas are all bad but if you are looking for an original then you better be able to see. In some instances, like Model A Fords, the competition is so difficult many judges can tell you if a split pin (cotter pin) in in the correct way. May seem a little overboard but many times a first or second place can come down to something like this. But don’t despair I have seen judges make mistakes also. I was judging T series one time and I noticed the oil gauge hooked up wrong on a TD. I told the owner about it and he said I was wrong. I was not, and if I had had the book with me I could have shown him. I also know where he made the mistake. He was looking at the picture of the TA engine when he hooked up the gauge and the TB onward are different. All right you have been told to learn to see so start now, it’s never too late. Look, look, and look again but learn to see. What you are looking at and mind the details!

So let’s go back to the early T series MGs. If this person were referring to today’s modern cars I could readily agree as they all look like amorphous blobs. Even with the TA, TB, TC I could see his problem. From a few feet away they look identical. Get closer and you begin to see differences. Look at the rear spring shackles, they are different on the TA than the TB or TC, The TA engine is altogether different. The TB has a chassis lubrication system that is done from under the bonnet. The TA and TB are a few inches narrower at the seat squab than the TC, but keep looking there are other differences. Keep going and become an expert. The TC, TD and TF is a different story altogether. If you can’t tell these apart from a hundred feet you either can’t see or you don’t see.

To begin with all TCs are right hand drive (I have seen one conversion using an MGA steering column, wheel and box) and all TCs have wire wheels. This alone should eliminate a good deal of confusion. TCs have the 19 inch wheels and some have been fitted with 16 inch wheels for competition use. You will find some TDs with right hand drive but if they have wire wheels it is an after market conversion. No TDs came from Abingdon with wire wheels. The TFs are mostly all left hand drive. I don’t recall ever seeing a right hand drive TF but I’m sure they are out there. Some TFs have wire wheels some do not. TFs were available with wire wheels. The TC has a more angular upright look than either the TD or TF. The TC and the TD have separate headlights. In other words they are detachable and they have the acorn type bucket attached to a brace between the radiator shell and the front wing. The TFs headlamps are molded into the inside of the front wings (fenders). Look at the front wings. They all have the long sweeping wing but the TC front wing stops at the top of the wheel and the bottom of the front tip is virtually horizontal with the ground. The TD and TF front wing comes almost halfway down the front of the wheel and is much more of a curve. Again the TF has the headlights in the wing. The rear wings are all different, the TC has a taller, narrower rear wing, the TD has a shorter wider rear wing and the TF has a gentler angle on the rear, all different. Still confused? Look at the fascia (dash), the TC has the tachometer in front of the driver and the speedometer in front of the passenger (To scare he-- out of him). On the TD the tach and spedo are clustered in front of the driver and the TF has octagonal instruments. I needn’t go on because the differences are endless. Best take time to LOOK and SEE! But don’t be surprised if someone tells you they are all kit cars.