- Very Rare Made in Germany

For sale is this very rare 1951 MGTD 8873CH/Only.

This car is one of twenty-four “chassis only” MGTD’s that were shipped from the Abingdon Factory to the Zeppelin Garage in Stuttgart Germany. In 1951, a contract was signed with Germany’s Zeppelin Garage and Abingdon’s Morris Garage for the purchase of 24 TD chassis, axles, engines, gearboxes and instruments. After assembly of the “rolling chassis” at the JA Woodhouse workshops in Cologne, the frames were fitted with old car seats, batteries and discarded motorbike gas tanks and driven on the Autobahn to the Zeppelin Garage in Stuttgart. It was at the Zeppelin Garage where the bodies and interiors were fabricated for final assembly. The craftsmen at the Zeppelin Garage were absolute artists in the use of mallets and wooden formers. They were able to hand form flat heavy gauge sheet metal into fenders and other body parts.

Abingdon had not provided dimensional drawings for the cars so the panel beaters hammered out complete TD bodies, with the aim of producing a shape as close as possible to the original using photographs. Some distinct differences you can note from the photos from the British made cars:

• Curvature of the front fenders
• Front and rear fenders were fabricated from several pieces of heavy sheet metal welded together
• Rear fenders were flat and had no center ridge
• Outer edges of all fenders were rolled for greater rigidity
• Vents on bonnet were equally spaced
• Bonnets were steel with aluminum side panels
• Borono style door latches
• Steel versus brass door hinges
• 3 piece firewall
• Gas tanks had screw on caps
• Body is 2” wider at rear compartment

This TD was in the first lot of twelve chassis-only cars shipped to Germany and is one of four known survivors of the original twenty-four. Two of the other three survivors are located in the US and the other is located in The Netherlands. This car was discovered 2.5 years ago in a Greenville, NC auto repair shop that had been abandoned for approximately twenty six years. The new owner of the property was a metal recycler and was days away from selling this car for scrap metal before it was rescued.

After acquiring this car, the following new items were installed: head gasket, water pump, fuel pump, exhaust system, complete brake system, tires, points, plugs and condenser. I am currently using the fuel tank from my home generator and have it mounted on the deck behind the seat. The original fuel tank is not operational.

Although not registered for the road, the car starts right up, runs great and is driven around the neighborhood and at local and regional car shows. It was recently featured at the 50th Anniversary of the GOF in Ocala, FL with the other two German TD's from the US. I have tried to preserve the barn find look by replacing a few missing parts with used parts purchased at swap meets and from eBay. This car has been a huge hit at British car gatherings where the overwhelming response from attendees is, “do not restore this car”.

If someone does desire to bring this car back to its original glory, please expect that it will need a complete restoration. I will leave that decision up to the next owner. Most of what appears to be rust on the exterior of the car is actually brown iron oxide paint that must have been applied 25+ years ago. There is some surface rust but for the most part, both the body and frame are in very solid shape. I am currently using a portable gas tank from my home generator that i have mounted in the rear deck area. That tank is not included in the sale.

Since I can not provide a link, if you cut and paste the following: The Breed, MGTD Made in Germany into your browser, you should find a PDF version of a newsletter from a South African MG Club. Scroll to page 7 and you will find a more detailed version of the story behind these rare TD's.

Thanks for looking and please feel free to contact me with any questions. I have many more detailed photos on a share site for your review. I can be reached at 910-616-8383 if you would like to talk live.