The MG TF 1500

The MG TF 1500 is the last and fastest of the T-Series — and the answer to the TF's one great criticism. Introduced in the summer of 1954 with the new 1,466 cc XPEG engine, just 3,400 were built before production ended on 4 April 1955, and almost all of them went to America.

The problem the 1500 solved

When the TF arrived in October 1953 it was a facelifted TD, and many enthusiasts were disappointed. They had hoped for more power. The Triumph TR2 could exceed 100 mph; the TF managed about 80 flat out. Mechanically it was reliable and it drove beautifully — impeccable roadholding and handling — but against its competitors it was embarrassingly slow in a straight line. It is well known that Abingdon would rather not have built the TF at all, had the MGA project been approved earlier. Something had to be done.

The XPEG engine

Late in the summer of 1954 the answer arrived: a new 1,466 cc engine designated XPEG. It was in most respects very similar to its predecessor, the XPAG/TF. The trick was siamesing the cylinders, which allowed a larger 72 mm bore within the same block. With larger pistons, stronger connecting rods and compression raised to 8.3:1, the new engine produced 63 bhp — a meaningful 10.5% increase.

Externally there were almost no clues. The TF 1500 hid its advantage well.

How to identify one

There was remarkably little to give a TF 1500 away: two discreet cream-background enamel "TF 1500" motifs on the bonnet sides, just behind the forward bonnet release buttons, and two rear reflectors. Nothing else. And the earliest cars did not even have that — the first TF 1500s carried no nameplate at all, at least up to the October 1954 London Motor Show cars, chassis TF/7252 and TF/7253, a fact confirmed by the period Road & Track road test.

The reliable identifier is the engine. TF 1250 engines are marked XPAG/TF; TF 1500 engines are marked XPEG/TF. Be warned that there is no dependable correlation between chassis number and engine type, because XPEG engines were fitted in alternating batches: cars TF 6501–6650 received XPEG from 21 July 1954, then 6651–6750 reverted to XPAG/TF, 6751–6850 XPEG again, 6851–6950 XPAG/TF, and from TF 6951 onward — from 10 September 1954 — XPEG to the end of production. XPAG/TF engine numbers run in the 30,000s; XPEG numbers in the high 1900s to high 3000s.

Where to look

The engine number appears on an octagonal brass tag on the right-hand side of the engine, below the number one exhaust manifold branch; on the guarantee plate on the firewall; and stamped on the block plinth just above the tag. If the tag is missing, an XPAG/TF number is stamped just above where it sat, while an XPEG number will be found on the bellhousing face at the twelve o'clock position — the last three digits only. The chassis number is stamped on the outside vertical face of the left-hand front dumb-iron: turn the front wheels to the left, look in behind the wing, and expect to scrape away decades of grease and underseal to read it.

A car built for America

The larger engine did what it was meant to do and lifted sales — but almost entirely in the United States. Of the 3,400 TF 1500s built, only a handful were sold new in the UK. A home-market right-hand-drive TF 1500 is therefore a genuinely rare thing.

The end of the line

Production ended on 4 April 1955 after 9,602 TFs of both capacities, including two prototypes. The MGA replaced it, and with it went the last of the traditional, upright, ash-framed MGs. The TF 1500 is where that line stops.

A note on naming: you will see both "TF1500" and "TF 1500". The bonnet badge reads TF 1500.