Instrument panel

[Mark Robinson]

Before I spray my early TC instrument panel, should it be a matt black or satin black finish? Thank you.

[Steve Simmons]

Satin would be closer to original.

[Duncan M]

Of course the exception is the EXU panel. Variouly described as bronze or gold, this unrestored dash in TC9866 appears to be more of a brown flesh tone, but who knows what the paint looked like 75 years ago? The EXU panel also differs in having no labels or any sort.

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[Steve Simmons]

The shift knob must be original. It's so old there's nothing left but bones!

Late home market also had a tan/bronze dash. I used the Moss paint and it's definitely more bronze. The tan on your panel looks very similar to side curtain frame tan. I don't have letters, because I haven't found a good way to apply them. I don't like stickers.

[Duncan M]

Been in a sock drawer since 1952. Same with the alum intake manifold bits.

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[antijam]

When I bought TC6468 in 1966 (in the UK) it sported the gold instrument panel on Rexine dash, 'EX-U' steering wheel and the 'Made in England' scuttle plate fitted to some later cars sold in the UK. It also wore 16" wheels perhaps hinting at a previous race history. After its restoration many years later I chose a colour for the trim that didn't sit well with the gold panel so this was refinished in satin black (without lettering) and the decayed EX-U wheel replaced with a modern Bluemels repro. At the same time I replaced the electrical sockets in the panel with a two-way toggle switch for the new indicators and used the old '30 mph' warning lamp as the witness lamp.

Since the car can now hardly be called 'original' by any standard - only the chassis, bonnet and scuttle metalwork were retained in the rebuild - I feel content that the car at least retains the spirit of the original.
Incidentally another hint at a race history is the spare spark plug bracket fitted to the scuttle - I'm presuming this was not a standard MG acessory but does anyone else have something similar fitted?

[Steve Simmons]

I believe many pre-war cars had spark plug holders fitted, but postwar is all aftermarket.

[Rob Reilly]

The panel on my TA looked to me like it might have been gloss black.
Original MG T Series by Clausager just says chromed with black center, but he shows a close-up of a gloss black one.