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MG TD TF 1500 - Slat finish

I put the radiator slats in the lye tank today and removed all the paint. I think the slats have been repaired in the past. Some of the slats appear to be stainless steel and others just steel.

Also, the rivets on the top are brass. (I am lucky the lye tank did not eat them up.).

Did the TD/C have chrome slats or might they be polished stainless steel? All I see in the archives is that they were Chrome.




Bruce Cunha

I am not sure what if anything on the cars were stainless. Alloys for sure, but off the top of my head I cannot come up with anything that was stainless originally.
Christopher Couper

I have never seen brass rivets, but have only looked at a couple original slat sets. I thought some MkIIs had stainless slats? Reference books packed away at the moment so I can't look it up. I noticed a couple are a bit wavy or bent. I spent a huge amount of time getting mine straight as it is really important appearance wise. I think I have a few straight original slats in the attic if you need a couple. George
George Butz III

The slats on my late TDII were certainly chromed. They were riveted to a plain steel frame

Ian Bowers

Some repro slats were probably made of stainless. You can polish them forever and they won't quite look like chrome.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Anything is possible. Could be they had some repop stainless and added them to the grill. Rivets look like they were done on a machine. They are all uniform in their compression. Roundhead rivet on the front.

I was thinking about that Chris. I don't think there are any stainless steel pieces on the TD. Even the dash trim was plated brass.
Bruce Cunha

I have seen a stainless radiator surround with slats in a collection of odd parts. I have no idea where it came from.

Jim
J Barry

Bruce, Most TDs have a stainless gas cap. And many a stainless hood hinge. Likely correct the original MkII grills were chrome. George
George Butz III

Hi George. Interesting catch. I know the hood hing on the early TD was chromed brass. As for the gas cap. That is a possibility.

I have also seen stainless hubcaps, but cant say they were original.
Bruce Cunha

George: My bonnet center hinge is definitely chrome and if it's stainless, it was plated. Cannot tell.

As far as the gas cap. This is one I was suspect about. It does sort of have a stainless patina vs chrome but I always attributed that to the fact it gets rubbed up against the body when its open.

Looking for hard proof from others. BTW you just cannot use a magnet to detect or reject an item as stainless. Some stainless is magnetic and some is not.
Christopher Couper

Hi Chris, From your Original MG-TD website:
"Fuel tank filler cap, bonnet hinge strip Polished stainless steel". There was an article years ago, maybe in TSO? about the strips. I recall both stainless and chrome brass was used at various times. The same supplier that has made them for many years also makes the same for Morgans. All of the repros for years have been chromed brass. But I'm very sure all of the TD and TF caps were stainless. My car 10835 definitely unplated polished stainless for both. George
George Butz III

Hi George: That's what I like about getting old. I forget what the truth is and what I wrote years ago. Maybe I should re-read my own website. :-)
Christopher Couper

This thread was discussed between 26/07/2021 and 28/07/2021

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