BaT member l.a.brooks became the latest caretaker of this 1954 MG TF project car, which had been owned by the same family for the last 62 years and was sold by hawkgt6 in a September 2025 BaT auction. He’s made progress on it since and recently wrote in to tell us all about it:
I have been steadily improving this MG TF’s appearance and functionality since I got it home over a year ago. Essentially a “barn find,” this TF has been in Oregon since 2002, when the previous owner purchased it from his grandfather out of Sacramento, California. I have resurrected over 40 old Porsches, including 356s, 912s, 911s, and one Porsche tractor. Those were all barn finds from over the last 50 years, but this was my first British car. There was a bit of a learning curve, but the biggest challenge has been the fasteners. I have bins with metric fasteners of every size, pitch, and length all sorted, and most have been refinished. But precious few are applicable to the TF.
The paint seems to be 80% original and in pretty decent shape. I think it would have been a shame to restore such a solid original car. The wood was all solid, with no rot, and there was no rust found anywhere on this car.
The engine runs great, even though the listing indicated it had low compression on cylinder #3. It turned out there was just debris on the valve seat because it ran better when I picked it up. The most recent compression test I performed showed all cylinders within five pounds of each other. The transmission shifts fine.
The brakes were redone before I bought the car. However, the brake shoes weren’t arced, so braking was a bit scary until the shoes were worn in. It stops fine now. Many of the other components needed to be coaxed back to life or replaced after their 50-year rest:
- The top was tattered, but luckily, a “new” one came in a box with the car. Examining the box, I noticed it had been shipped “Blue Label” over 50 years ago. I found the rushed shipping to be hilarious! It took a week of careful stretching before I finally installed it.
- I got the tach working by replacing the reduction gear assembly on the end of the generator. Most of my Porsches were equipped with cable-driven tachs, so this was an easy fix.
- I removed the fuel tank and flushed it. I also added an inline fuel filter.
- I tried to get the charging system working for a couple of weeks before I put a new AGM battery in it and drove 35 miles to a mechanic who specialized in old British cars. My biggest problem was that ALL of the wires were faded to beige, so it was hard to track down which was which after they disappeared into the harness. I didn’t have the patience. He found a wire that had been misconnected years ago, and the charging system works great now. I suspect this was what kept this car parked for 50 years. He also got the turn signals working.
- The windshield had a couple of cracks, so I removed it and enlisted my local glass shop to cut a replacement using the original one as a template. The replacement seal I bought from Moss Motors was useless, so I bought flat stock rubber off Amazon and cut it to fit.
- Someone had redone the seats 50 years ago, using a horrendous blue and green boat upholstery vinyl that was in sad shape. I bought the correct green leather kit from Moss Motors, and I was impressed with the quality and ease of installation. I have redone several sets of Recaros in the past, and the MG seats were easier to get right. I also bought some spare vinyl in the same color to redo the dash crash pad.
- The door panels were in great shape, but the fresh leather mentioned earlier showed how faded they were. I searched and finally found a perfect green color to re-dye them from Clydes. The panels turned out great with just the right amount of patina.
- The temperature gauge was one of the many things that didn’t work when I bought the car. So I rigged an electronic read-out gauge that I installed above the glove box on the driver’s side. It’s invisible until you’re in the driver’s seat. I tapped the fitting from the original tube on the engine and screwed in the sending unit. I will not drive an old car without a working oil pressure gauge and light, or a temperature gauge and light. I planned to use this until I found a working gauge or had the old one rebuilt, but a few weeks later, I got lucky and found an NOS gauge in its original box on eBay for a fraction of what I expected to pay for a rebuild. I installed it and removed the electronic one.
- The wide whitewall tires had no miles on them, but they were over 25 years old! I don’t care for wide whitewalls on most cars, and I think they especially look out of place on sports cars, in my opinion. It was an easy decision to replace them with new black walls.
- I recently bought and installed a detachable steering wheel. I was on the fence about getting one, but I had been limping around since I twisted my knee getting in and out of the TF. It is now much easier to get in and out of.
Thanks for sending in this project update, l.a.brooks, and thanks for getting this old TF back on the road!
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