Central Florida car enthusiast John Leary has owned dozens of sports cars, many from England. These days he owns five, including an early Mini Cooper S, a Sunbeam Tiger, and a couple of Midgets modified for the track. But of the Brit cars currently in his fleet, the one that gets the most offers from would-be buyers was built from …
Tearing At My Heartstrings!
I bought my '54 TF 1250 (not a 1500, damn) for $750 in 1963 from a graduating student at the U of I in Champaign-Urbana.
I was later selected that year as 7 out of 600 aplicants based on my car design portfolio to be a member of the 10 week Orientation Studio at the GM Tech Center in Warren, MI. The looks on the Security Guards were priceless when 3 dudes were piled into TF and rolled into the gates to park into the Executive Garage along side Harley Earl's prototype 'Vetts" & European exotics.
Mark (now in St. George, UT)
I have a Victor Tf - was fortunate enough a few years ago to come upon one that had not been built; it was a project that was both a bit of a challenge as well as quite enjoyable. Mine is powered by a '69 B engine that I built with very mild upgrades, as well as an overdrive transmission and coil-over front suspension. Great driving, fun car!
Why bother?
You'll always know it's a fake. Why not simply buy a real TF? Their not expensive, and not hard to find.
Much of the joy, the experience of owning these T-Types is the history, the club camaraderie, the aspect of keeping something ancient running smoothly.
I think that the goal was more to update the running gear and performance of the T series cars. They could have done it on an original TF chassis and body - many people have done Volvo engine swaps on those cars (the engines look similar and have the carbs on the correct side so it isn't always instantly recognizable as a swap).
The choice of using a new body/chassis would have been easy as Victor was already in the replica car business - if they were starting from scratch that might have been different. And is isn't a fake - they never held it out to be an MG or anything but a replica.
Personally, I would have gone for the Datsun 240Zs rebodied as a Ferrari - there were quite a few different ones to choose from.
In reply to John Webber :
I am from CT and winter in central west coast FL. I own the last factory built Victor TF and belong to the CT MG Club and in FL the Nature Coast English Car Club. Never heard anything but positive comments about the Victor from members of both clubs. Yes I have "real" MG's but the Victor gets all the interest. Any way to contact John Leary or have him contact me? Would love to compare notes.
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