An Australian Opinion On The "TD" M.G.
Sir,
The announcement of the “TD” series M.G. breaks one of the last links between the Golden Era of the British sporting car, i.e., 1923 to 1938, and the present. Why the Nuffield Organisation sees fit to change the only type of wheel for a sports car, the Rudge wire centre-lock, for a chrome-plated soup plate is beyond me! Wherever one looks, however, the story is the same. When big combines swallow comparatively smaller companies catering for the sporting motorist, the design of the cars produced gradually lapses into non-sporting mediocrity. Who could compare the present products of Sunbeam, Riley, M.G., Bentley, Frazer-Nash, Aston-Martin, etc., with these makes in their prime? The first one is purely a family saloon. A 2 1/2-litre Riley was soundly beaten by a Plymouth saloon at a recent Mount Druitt (N.S.W.) airstrip stock car race. One has only to look at the new M.G. with its chrome-plated bumper bars, soft-coil i.f.s., etc., for a comparison, say, with the M.G. Magnettes. The last three makes undoubtedly have high-performance engines, but to me they have entirely lost their sporting character and the feeling of “maintaining a tradition” found in their pre-war models.
All sports-car enthusiasts should support and be thankful for the only firm left, as far as I know in the world, which still produces cars of an unmistakable sporting character, from the front suspension and functional mudguards to the abundant instrument panel, namely the H.R.G.
To get back to the original theme, the point may be raised that for export reasons the “TC” Midget has been altered, but from all reports this model is selling extremely well in America and I am sure that sales of the “TD” in Australia will not be so great as the “TC,” at least not to the sporting motorist.
I am, Yours, etc.,
Sydney. D. M. C. SHANNON.
[The centre-lock wheels of the “TC” M.G. were of Dunlop manufacture.—ED]