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Ever wonder why only cars such as we drive are referred to as “Kit Cars.” What about all the hot rod guys, and the roadster guys and the speedster guys and the Cobra guys with fiberglass bodied kit cars. Why aren’t those cars referred to as “kits”. How do those kits differ from our kits. Rarely do you find an actural all metal car these days. I get a little
when other car buffs refer to our type of car as “kit cars”. Like they are a lesser car or something. When I get the inevitable question “is that a kt car?” I simply reply no it’s a replica which like all those others mentioned is really what it is. Just thought I’d vent a little today. Must be the heat. 
Ah yes…that debate has raged for years.
I LOVE asking street rod owners if their fiberglass bodied rod came from a kit. Inevitably the answer is NO. It’s a fiberglass body, but it’s not a kit.
I take a slightly different approach Tom. I tell people it’s a replica of a ’52 TD, built from a kit manufactured by Classic Roadsters in 1982.
I’m proud to be a kit car hobbyist!
But my all time favorite recurring question is, “Is that a real car?”
PMOSSBERG40772.509849537
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Quite a few of the Speedster guys can’t tell a 3/8 socket wrench from a ball peen hammer. And a fair number of them are proud of this fact. They “buy the best” from Intermeccanica or some other builder and get a fully-assembled, and often well-sorted, brand new car from the mfg. Plus dealer-like maintenance–to the degree that’s possible given the distances involved.
Their cars aren’t “kits” because they aren’t in any way home built.
I think all ours are, with the exception of the Lafers.
edsnova40772.6362037037
Tom, I’ve wondered the same thing. Maybe ours are so looked down on because of the price. It’s hard to find any Speedster for less than 10 to 15000 and Cobras well maybe 25000 pluss. Not sure how the rest are approched, but not a day goes by when I out in Audrey that I get
, 
,
or at least a 
from everyone. I can’t think of many other cars that get as much attention as ours do from all age groups. Wonder why all these guys at the car shows with the so called “real cars” look down on ours, maybe they are just jealous.
I’m with Paul proud to be a kit car hobbiest.
The TD kits are now rare, compared to the Speedsters and Cobras especially. When I cruise the local circuit there’s usually at least 5 Cobras on the lot. There’s never been another TD. Bridget gets a lot of admiring looks and I’ve yet to have anyone diss her–not within my earshot, anyway.
Cheap? You becha! Probably one of the five or 10 least expensive rides on the lot, and proudly so. Everyone likes these cars.
But even if they didn’t, what matters to me is that I like it.
“Car Show” on Speed TV tonight (8/17) ran a segment on this year’s Pebble Beach. The camera showed classic cars parked on the street in the intro. Ferrari, GT40, Maserati, MG TD. Tan with brown fenders and a faun interior. But wait a minute. The wipers were on the cowl. The hood was hinged on the left side at the top. It was a TD replica in a line of million dollar cars. I don’t know the details well enough to identify which manufacturer it was, or even which end the engine was hiding under.
Call it a kit car. Call it a replica. Revenge is a dessert best served cold.
Someone did the marque proud.
Nobody should knock these cars. I have both a cobra and the MGTD they both get looks. I like them both equally dispite the large performance difference. The cobra can handle the highway speeds the MG is more of a back roads kind of car they both have their place.
My wife clearly likes the mg over the cobra, she doesn’t need the performance aspect. They both require my attention which is a large part of the hobby.
I agree Rob!
And BDriver…that is a GREAT catch. I love it.
A few members of tdreplica.com also hang out with the Speedsterowners.com crowd. Those guys have a LOT of stories about people not realizing their cars are fiberglass reproductions. And just about every Speedster reproduction I have seen would run rings around an unmodified original!
PMOSSBERG40773.5170601852
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Episode 6: Supercar Showdown, is the current episode of “The Car Show”. It will replay 5 times this week. The TD replica is onscreen at minute 38 in the segment on the Pebble Beach Concourse. Can anyone identify the manufacturer?
Don’t tell the network that they included a $5,000 “kit car” in their lineup of mega buck super cars. The owner of that little beauty doesn’t care what you call his TD as long as it’s on national TV.
Schedule
- 08/21
- 12:00pm ET
- Supercar Showdown
- 08/22
- 2:00am ET
- Supercar Showdown
- 08/22
- 9:00pm ET
- Supercar Showdown
- 08/23
- 12:00am ET
- Supercar Showdown
- 08/23
- 9:00am ET
- Supercar Showdown
To add to the mix of what our cars are or are not…..
My Duchess was factory built. Made by men who were paid to assemble the car from parts pulled out of their stock. The same stock that was packaged in pieces with a set of directions and sent to people so they could assemble them at their homes.
So, in some respects, all cars are “kit cars” they just differ in where they are assembled. I can order all the replacement parts to completly build a “new” 1953 F100 truck, including frame, interior, wiring, glass and drive gear. Once it is together and painted would anyone ask if it was a “kit”? No way!
When someone asks if my Duchess is a kit car, I just say, nope, it’s a replica. If they are nice about it, I’ll explain her heritage, but otherwise, I really don’t care what Joe Blow thinks it is or isn’t. I’ve had one a** hole try to argue with me at a car show (after I won a first place in the original car class) that I must have put a Ford engine in a classic car and ruined it!!!
And yes Paul, my favorite “here’s your sign” question is “Is that a real car?”
Idiots…..they seem to be all around me.
Calling a TD replica a kit car is like kids calling each other names on the playground. They can’t beat the other kid at kick ball and so they call him a doofus. That’s like telling blond jokes about Marilyn Monroe.
Think about the original TD in the context of today’s traffic for a minute: Slow, fragile mechanicals, mediocre brakes. pricey bodywork. The only place you dare drive one is in a concours parade. It’s a paper weight on wheels.
Supercars suffer from similar problems. Scary repair costs, rotten visibility and too much power for anything but a track day. A bunch of concours queens.
Now consider replicas. Adequate power and brakes, mechanical parts available at Pep Boys and bodywork that can be fixed with a piece of cloth and a pot of goop. They have every advantage over originals. They are regular drivers that arrive at a concours under their own power.
Is it any wonder why people tell blond jokes about TD replicas? They lost at kick ball. It’s the only argument they have left. Marilyn Monroe didn’t care. She was a helluva blond. So are TD replicas.
Dizzy Dean once said, “If you can do it, it ain’t bragging”.
So stand over a heating grate and show a little leg.
I have a very good friend who is almost ten years into a restoration of an original TD. The bare frame is on jack stands. The body panels are in the rafters of his garage. The rest of the parts are in boxes around the garage.
In 1982, I built my Duchess in a one car garage. Most of the work was done solo. It took me about nine months working evenings and weekends.
I think I’m way ahead of the game owning a reproduction!
Kit Cost: $5,000
Donor Car + Chassis Refurbishing Expenses: $1,000 (approximate)
A reliable, running, reproduction: Priceless!
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
EXACTLY!
So what’s wrong with being a blond?
The joke tellers are just jealous.
Enjoy the heating grate and take the kit car comments as a compliment.
What would be interesting is putting a Ford drivetrain in an original to resolve any dependability issues. If you didn’t open the hood (bonnet) who would know 🙂
A a very common transplant into an original TD is an 1960’s Volvo four cylinder (I forget the exact engine). It is a drop in fit, has more horsepower and torque and is far more reliable.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Motor was from a Volvo P-1800. It was called the B-18b and it had twin SUs like the xpag, but made 100 horsepower stock and there was a lot more in it. Plus you could get an overdrive transmission. Very smart and very common early ’60s swap to liven up by-then obsolete TDs, though it’s not much seen today–and it makes the MG purists crazy with contempt.
The B-18b was also installed in the PV544-B18 Sport and the 122S. Both were early 4 seat sports sedans and surprised many a pure sports car of the era.
Yup, that’s the engine.
Ah memories… I learned to drive on a 1966 Volvo 122 station wagon…
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
I had a PV-544 sedan back in the 60’s. Got my racing start in it. A truly bullet proof engine, Looked like a transistorized 48 Ford seddan.
Housemate in the early 1990s drove in with a ’66 Volvo wagon. Wasn’t in bad shape either, but hardly practical as an everyday car by that time. The water pump went in the first week, and she wanted to fix it herself, so I helped her do it. Not that hard a job. The car went at least another year but I don’t remember what became of it after that.
My dad had a P1800 in the early 60s, before I was born. He told me about it a few years back, as he was dying in a nursing home. I said something like, “you mean, you were cool back then?”
He kind of was. He also tooled around on a Triumph Bonneville.
Yes. Your dad was COOL!
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
My favorite P1800 was the ES wagon. The Brits would call it a Shooting- Brake.
Roger Moore drove a white P1800 in the TV series “The Saint”.
Didn’t know there were closet Volvo fans here!
I occasionally search for 1966 122 wagons AND an 1800 or 1800ES.
Some day….
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
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