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MG TD TF 1500 - Another MG Subcontractor



While waiting for the new Tie rod rubbers to come from McMasters, I am installing new Bellows on the steering tie/track rods.
I removed the Tie/track rod ends and also decided to clean and paint them again.

They were done 30 years ago and have never been on the road but the paint is chipping and pealing.
As I wire brushed off the old paint I found the maker and model information.

Somewhere there is a list of MG subcontractors. I cant find it on Chris's site or a link to it, to see if Thompson Tie Rods is on the list.
Perhaps the keeper of the list may find this useful.

I had to check to be sure there was a "P" in Thompson. I once worked for Thomson (CSF) and my fingers would just not put the letter "P" in there.

Jim B.


Jim B in NJ

Jim,
Just curious, where did you get the bellows?
Are you going to the G.O.F.in Strasburg this week ??

Steve
Steve Wincze

I got the bellows from Abingdon. They arrived in two days. Look OK.
I am not Quite ready for Strasburg. I had thought about it, but decided I could not get things ready in time.


Jim B.
Jim B in NJ

Jim
Do to a few problems with the TD ,( one is tires), we are leaving it home, and taking a Jeep.. It's still a good time!!

Steve
Steve Wincze

Jim,
You should come to Strasburg anyway, even if you just come on Saturday for a day trip. We would love to see you.
-David.
D. Sander

We are stopping at Longwood Gardens on the way out Wed.
Steve Wincze

Not much yet on Thompson's Product Incorporated. It was actually a US company making auto and aircraft parts. Later it became TRW (the T for Thompson).

Still on the hunt for some sort of ad from the 50's.
Christopher Couper

Is it likely that a UK manufacturer desperate to bring IN dollars would use a US maker of tie-rod ends? Feels much more likely that these are 60's US aftermarket.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

Worked with a gentleman named Thomson once. He referred to himself as the dry variety since he had no "P"
Bob McLeod TD 5618

Chris;
I seem to remember that they were called Thompson products.

Perhaps a different company or branch.

The odometer on the TD says 44K.
I would think the originals would last for that long.
Also the design was changed around 53'

I would think a replacement would be the new design.

so I would think these would, most likely be originals.


Jim B.
Jim B in NJ

Thompson Products sponsored a Class A baseball team back in Cleveland in the 1940's - 1950's. Bud
Bud Krueger

Thompson Tie Rods

Below is a picture of an advert, dated as 1937.

Some more googling and it appears to have been a subsidiary of Automotive Products Associated Limited ("AP") along with Borg & Beck, Lockheed brakes, and Purolator filters. I found a 1959 ad by AP that mentions all those names including Thompson Tie Rods. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to capture it and put it here. Here's a link to the book it is in, but I don't know if the link will work:

https://books.google.com/books?id=sG6DhMwj96UC&pg=PT149&lpg=PT149&dq=%22thompson+tie+rods%22&source=bl&ots=0XpewkgoIG&sig=suwfCh56RmwOFbKC74LVt2SA9mM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CF8Q6AEwCWoVChMI-eeAuY7UxwIVBtCACh1i9gSY#v=onepage&q=%22thompson%20tie%20rods%22&f=true

Considering all that, and the fact that the tie rod in the picture notes Brit patent no's, I don't know if this is the same Thompson as the U.S. company, though Thompson Products, Inc. appears as a manufacturer of tie rods for American cars, at least, out of Cleveland, Ohio.

In any case, It looks like Thompson Tie Rods could very well have been the original supplier.

David Littlefield

Your Link was good David.

I did two screen captures, (Shift+Print Screen), Pasted them into Adobe Photoshop, saved them as .JPG and merged the two together.

There may be an easier way.

Jim B.

Jim B in NJ

Nice work, Jim. Using your method, below is the ad referenced in the book page you captured. It isn't all that legible, but the text is what is quoted in the book page in the indented paragraph.

David Littlefield

Good sleuthing. Automotive Products Associates Ltd it is.

Can't find a Thompsons ad for the early 1950's TD's but here is one from 1947.

Don't forget the Lockheed is also a US company but also established in England. Still not certain what the connection might be with Thompsons in the US yet.



Christopher Couper

Just a another note on this. According to Wiki:

Automotive Products, commonly abbreviated to AP, was an automotive industry components company set up in 1920 by Edward Boughton, Willie Emmott and Denis Brock, to import and sell American-made components to service the fleet of ex-military trucks left behind in Europe after World War I.

In 1928, they obtained a licence for the manufacture and sale of the Lockheed Hydraulic Braking System for the British Isles and Continental Europe,[1] and in the following year they acquired a controlling interest in Zephyr Carburetors Limited which had premises in Clemens Street, Leamington Spa. A subsidiary company named the Lockheed Hydraulic Brake Company Ltd was formed and brake component manufacture began.

So it looks like they licensed US parts in the UK and set oversea's manufacturing plants too. So it appears at first glance that Thompson Tie Rods in the US (TRW) licensed the tie rods to AP in the UK.
Christopher Couper

Thats what was on the TF when I brought it home.

MG LaVerne

OK,,, got a question,,,, How are they
"self adjusting" ??
Steve Wincze

Steve, I think their spring loaded. A stiff compression spring below the ball cup which allows for wear. PJ
Paul161

This thread was discussed between 30/08/2015 and 01/09/2015

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