Andre,

From what I’ve learned the only difference was trim and options.

A retired Classic worker told me all frames from the factory were the same. They could hang different suspensions and engines on them according to buyers specs. This may be why the wheels are ahead in the wells. They compromised position accuracy for ease of assembly with different drive trains. ???

Just my 2 cents.

Ringo

Andre,

Sorry to disagree with my on-line friends out there, but there is no difference in the kit itself. Classic Roadsters’ MG kit was properly called the “Grand Duchess”. I’ll show you the front page of my assembly manual if you want. 🙂

It’s simply easier to refer to the car as the Duchess. And that’s what we wll do.

Royale might have been a packge of options that were otherwise available separately. My memory is foggy on that one.

I’m not sure about Andre’s comment on “hidden” luggage space. All Duchess had space behind the seat. It’s not covered. And the standard roof cover covered only the folded roof. it did not cover the behind the seat storage. Class Roadsters did sell an optional tonneau cover for the entire passenger compartment.

Beyond front vs. rear engine, the only difference you will see are options.

Not sure about the front engine Duchess, but all of the VW based Duchess are a bit off on the rear wheels.

When I built mine in 1982…I thought I had messed up. Over the years, as I have seen others, I realized I had done fine.

I did trim back the front edges of the rear wheel wells. The cut as it came from the factory had to much flat area. Cutting it back made the off-center wheel look less off center. And it also corrected the profile of the rear fenders to more closely match an original TD.

Except for that, the Duchess is a great kit. Good quality fiberglass. It uses reproduction MG parts for the grill, door handles, etc. Some other kits did too, but not all of them. It’s also very close to the original in terms of overall dimensions.

I’ve got 26 years and counting on my Duchess.

PMOSSBERG39751.8158564815

Hi Andre,

Interesting. I’ll take a look at my id tag and see what it says. I’m sure mine does not say limited edition.

But now I’m confused. Is this the same car as the one in your photo gallery? It’s VW based, right? I assume it is because of the carpet on the firewell under your id plate.

Here’s why I ask.

Every, and I mean EVERY, Classic Roadsters VW Duchess I have ever seen has a small step just in front of the rear fender, between the fender and the running board. It steps out over the outer portion of the rear suspension torsion tube. You can see it in the front 3/4 shot of my Duchess in the pmossberg gallery.

I see other differences from what I know to be CR Duchess cars.

The general profile of your rear fenders is not like any other Duchess I have seen. Compare it to mine.

Classic Roadsters did not provide the cover over the behind-seat space. Their roof cover was basically a “bag”, open on the leading edge. You slip it over the folded roof and the front edge velcros closed.

I can see the seat back in your car. But I cannot see the seats. Do you have a bench seat? Or are there separate seat bottoms? Duchess has a bench seat bottom.

The front running lights/turn signals have lenses unlike the original
TD. Duchess came with repro style turn signals. Again, see the ones on
my car. The Duchess didn’t have the English flag either. And your windshield wipers are installed opposite from mine. Granted, these are
minor points that could easily have been running changes during
production.

What year was your car built?

I need to check my history files, but at one point Gary Rutherford (original CR founder/owner) sold Classic Roadsters to one of the other kit manufacturers. That company essentially sucked the money out of Classic Roadsters and left it for dead. Gary eventually bought the shell of the company back and they are still in business, albeit without the MG kit.

It is possible your car comes from the post-Rutherford period and is another kit, badged and sold as a Duchess.

Take a look at Ringo’s car, which I am certain is a Duchess. In particular, look at the rear fender line and the “step” between the running board and rear fender. And the wiper motor is installed the same as it is in my Duchess.

Please understand, I’m not knocking anyone’s car. In fact, your MG is beautiful!

But I built my car in
1982 and have been around the kit car hobby ever since. I’m just trying
to make some sense of what I see. The more I think about it, the more I believe your Duchess was produced after Gary Rutherford sold CR. And it is another high quality kit, branded as a Duchess.

I look forward to reading more member responses to all this. Like I said at the start…I’m confused. 🙂

Paul

You’re right about the Duchess vs Grand Duchess.  I checked the old brochure I have and it is only referred to as the Grand Duchess.

There were option packages that had names such as royale listed but no Duchess or Grand Duchess, only Grand Duchess. My bad

My Duchess is supposedly made in ’84.  What year did CR make the switch in owners?

Ringo

Andre

Yeah, that is a beautiful duchess!
My plate says limited edition but doesn’t have the *out of * number, just the serial number.

My Duchess has wire wheels.  Check my photos on the site to see the wheels…..Unless you mean a picture of the compartment, which I can take this weekend and send along.

Ringo

My Classic Roadsters ID tag does not say “Limited Edition” Just has the company and address and the year & serial number.

I hope we find out what the limited edition cars are.

I did not order the optional wire wheels. Nor did I buy a st of wheels from Dayton. I ran wire wheel covers until about five years ago.

Then I converted to a look as close to the original TD look as I could get. I took a set of VW chrome wheel covers and drilled the centers to accept reproduction TD hubcap medallions. I painted the VW steel wheels the correct color of gray for the original TD.

You can view the result in my gallery… pmossberg