Gallery

Unrestored TF9432

TF9432 is an Ivory “TF”-1500 with very few miles. While it has had many ownwers, each took very good care of the car and treated it gently. On these pages you will note that the car is mostly unrestored but there are some normal maintenace based treatments that were required to insure the car operated as new. The car functions as good or better than new and it's finishes are mostly as it left the factory, allowing for some wear and tear after more than 65 years.

Note: There are a few admitted modifications to the car we will try to illustrate but in general the car is fairly untouched. Look for our comments on slides with the selectable icon. You will have to decide yourself how much this car represents what came from the factory. Also note it is well documented that the factory processes were not uniform during the production of the T series cars so what you see in this car may not be appropriate for all cars or necessarily one near its production number. In addition to Jim Purdin, Jack Richards and Chris Couper contributed to these notes.

Note: Obviously there have been some modifications to these cars since they were produced in the interest of keeping them running. You will notice for example that some of the flexible fuel and oil lines, battery, fan belts, spark plug wires, and radiator hoses were replaced. Compare these pictures to other unrestored cars on these pages.

Note: On these pages the pictures are numbered by the automatic photograph sequence and not linearly. There are intentional gaps based on the quality of the pictures and the sequence they were taken in. We tried to group the photographs by subject area for your convenience.

Exterior Pictures

1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20
21	22

Interior Pictures

23	24	25	26	27
28	30	31	32	33
34	35	36	37	93

Engine Compartment Pictures

38	39	40	61	62
63

Chassis and Underside Pictures

41	42	43	44	45
46	47	48	49	50
51	52	53	54	55
56	57	58	60

Miscellaneous Pictures

64	65	66	67	68
69	70	71	72	73
74	75	76	77	78
79	80	81	82	83
84	85	86	87	88
89	90	91	92	59

Maintenance Pictures

The following slides were taken during some maintenance activities. Some show details you would not get from a car that is operational. A few slides show some changes in finish by either cleaning or refinishing and are noted. See the notes following for more details.

94	95	96	97	98
99	100	101	102	103
104	105	106	107	108
109	110	111	112	113
114	115	116	117	118
119	120	121	122	123
124	125	126	127	128
129	130	131	132	133
134	135	136	137	138
139	140	141	142	143
144	145	146	147	148
149	150	151	152	153

Changes To HDP46/9432 After It Left Abingdon on February 14, 1955

TF 9432 is an incredible benchmark car. However, as with nearly every true survivor, a few things have been altered, repaired, refinished and/or added after it left the assembly line. This is an attempt to document those things to provide clarity for those seeking to better understand how an MG TF was originally built. The changes are listed in the order they were made, by the owner at the time of the change.

Note: Many of these items have been indicated in the pictures above with the symbol.

Richard Youngberg (March 22, 1955 - August 4, 1956)

1. An electric windscreen defroster was installed. This device attached to the inside of the windscreen utilizing suction cups. It was wired into the ignition switch. A small hole was drilled into the scuttle at the left side of the windscreen to provide a route for the wiring to the back of the instrument panel. A rubber grommet was fitted into the hole. The defroster is long gone, having been removed by Jonathan B. Richards shortly after he acquired the car, but the hole with its grommet remains.

Jonathan B. Richards (August 4, 1956 - March 31, 1987)

2. As no tonneau cover was ordered from the factory with the car, Jonathan Richards bought an aftermarket one and had it fitted to the car shortly after he acquired it. This required installing “lift the dot” studs on the body. The studs on the scuttle are finished on the underside with rubber caps, a feature not included with the factory tonneau installation. The tonneau is still with the car.
3. Amoco wind wings were installed early in Jonathan Richards' ownership. They are still on the car.
4. The front license plate backplate was drilled for an American license plate and two or three “badges” for participation in car shows in the late 1950s. A New England MG T Series Register decal was also affixed to this plate. The badges have been removed but the decal remains.
5. Three decals were affixed to the windscreen - a Harvard logo, a Harvard parking permit, dated 1957-58, and an Indianapolis Motor Speedway logo. All are still on the windscreen.
6. The ivory paint is all the original factory finish - cellulose (lacquer) on the body and synthetic (enamel) on the wings. The materials have aged differently so there is a slight colour “mismatch” between the body and wings. Jonathan Richards had some touch-ups done at a local body shop shortly after acquiring the car to address stone chipping and other issues. You can see the blend lines where the new paint was sprayed in several places - specifically, the left front and both rear wings as well as at the right end of the finisher panel between the rear bumper and the body. There is a brush touch-up on the right front wing. The body has had no paint work.
7. A center armrest was purchased for the car shortly after Jonathan Richards acquired it. It simply slides over the handbrake lever and sits on the propeller shaft tunnel. It is still with the car.

Jonathan B. (Jack) Richards ll (March 31, 1987 - November 18, 1988)

• No changes were made under Jack's ownership

Mitchell R.(November 18, 1988 - June 13, 2002)

8. A new hood and side screens were custom made for the car in December of 1988. The new side screens utilized the stainless steel trim as well as most of the metal framework from the originals (some of these metal parts may have been repainted during this process). A new tonneau cover was also fabricated from the same material as the new hood and side screens. All the original fabric pieces of the hood and side screens were saved and they remain with the car as does the original boot (half tonneau) cover.

Jim Purdin (June 13, 2002 - October 8, 2022)

9. Shortly after the acquisition of the car, the engine bay was detailed and some needed maintenance was done. This consisted of:
   • Having the radiator professionally inspected, cleaned and repainted.
   • Repainting the lower radiator splash pan in chassis black.
   • Rebuilding the carburetors.
   • Installing a new front engine mount.
   • Repacking the water pump and painting it.
   • Repainting the intake manifold, breather pipe, coolant Y-pipe, and thermostat housing with the correct MG engine red
   • Touching up the paint on various places on the engine block and cleaning the octagonal brass engine number plate.
   • Painting the exhaust manifold with high heat silver paint.
   • Painting the battery hold in bar with black enamel and making a wood adapter to securely hold a modern battery in place.
10. In early 2003, five new wire wheels with Michelin XZX tires were purchased and mounted on the car. These replaced the original wire wheels which still wore the original Dunlop tires on which the car rode when it rolled of the assembly line. The original wheels and tires were put into storage and are still with the car.
11. In 2021 the brakes were rebuilt. This process included having the original master cylinder and the original wheel cylinders restored by White Post Restorations. Care was taken to reuse all the original fasteners - no reproduction parts were used other than the rubber boots on the rear wheel cylinders. New reproduction brake shoes were installed, but the originals were saved and are still with the car. New reproduction “nut keeper plates” were used to secure the brake drums to the hubs.
12. In 2021 the clutch, pressure plate and release bearing were replaced with reproduction parts. This was done by removing the seats and floorboards to access the gear box and bell housing. While the propeller shaft tunnel and its support rails, along with the toe board and gear box cover were removed, an attempt to clean and degrease them resulted in removing the original finish, which was not the same paint used on all other chassis components - it was more like a creosote. It was decided to repaint them in black enamel. The rear gear box mount was also repainted and new rubber installed. The propeller shaft had no evidence of ever having been painted, so it was also painted black as per Anders Ditlev Clausager's book, Original MG T-Series. All other components were reassembled with their original finishes, including the floorboards.
13. As part of the clutch replacement project, the entire chassis, including frame, suspension and brakes was detailed as well as possible using a mild solvent, toothbrushes and dish soap. Care was taken not to remove paint but to simply clean things. The original black paint is in remarkable condition.
14. In 2021, the original exhaust system was replaced utilizing a Bell stainless steel muffler and a Bell stainless steel tail pipe. The original system was one piece, welded together. The original down pipe was cut from the muffler, painted with high heat paint and reused as it was solid and the reproductions are not the correct shape. The Bell tail pipe was “tweaked” by a local muffler shop to be as close as possible to the original shape. New reproduction hangers, both front and rear, were used to mount the tailpipe. All the original parts were saved and remain with the car.
15. As part of the clutch project, the original carpet and padding were carefully removed and replaced using the original tacks in their original holes.
16. In 2022, a new reproduction outside drivers mirror was added to make driving a little safer. It is a Moss Motors item that installs utilizing the existing hardware for the folding windscreen.

Ownership History

• Original Owner - Richard Youngberg (March 22, 1955 - August 4, 1956) Mileage at time of purchase - 300. Richard was a Sergeant in the U.S. Army stationed near Ulm, Germany when he purchased the car on March 22, 1955 through MG distributor J.A. Woodhouse in Klon, Germany. The car was delivered by Auto Verkaufs GMBH - Zepplen Garage on Heilbronner Straße, in Stuttgart. Upon his discharge from the Army, Richard had the car shipped back to the United States on the SS Silver Mariner where it was received through the port of New York on February 11, 1956. Richard drove the car home from New York to the family farm in Essex, Iowa where the car remained until it was sold.
• Second Owner - Jonathan B. Richards (August 4, 1956 - March 31, 1987) Mileage at time of purchase - 10,424. Jonathan Richard's son Jack, a 20 year old college student, spotted the car on the streets of Red Oak, Iowa in the summer of 1956 and tracked down its owner, Richard Youngberg, to see if it might be for sale. It was, and Jack convinced his father to buy it and add it to his collection of unique cars. The purchase was made on August 4, 1956. The purchase price was $1500.
• Third Owner - Jonathan B. (Jack) Richards ll (March 31, 1987 - November 18, 1988) Mileage at time of transfer - not recorded). Upon his father's death, Jack inherited several cars in his father's collection, including TF 9432. The car remained in Red Oak, Iowa and was driven sparingly under Jack's ownership until he decided to sell it in November of 1988. Still riding on its original Dunlop tires, Jack drove the car to Dallas, Texas where he consigned it to be sold at the Dallas Kruse Auction. It had 22,581 miles on the odometer when it was sold.
• Fourth Owner - Mitchell R. (November 18, 1988 - June 13, 2002) Mileage at the time of purchase - 22,581. When the hammer fell at the Dallas Kruse auction on November 18, 1988 Mitchell R. was the winner of the auction with a bid of $16,000. Jack Richards dropped the car off at the new owner's home in Dallas where it became part of his collection. It was driven very little under Mitchell R's ownership and never titled in his name.
• Fifth Owner - Jim Purdin (June 13, 2002 - October 8, 2022) Mileage at the time of purchase - Less than 23,000 but not recorded. In May of 2002, a guy who knew that Mitchell R. had decided to sell the car answered a “survivor TF wanted” ad that Jim had placed on the website mg-cars.org to tell him about the car and give him Mitchell's contact information. After calling to confirm the car was for sale, Jim traveled to Dallas to meet Mitchell and see the car. The purchase was completed on June 13. The selling price was $23,500. TF 9432 was shipped by enclosed trailer to Purdin in Oregon, Wisconsin where it remained until it was listed for online auction on bringatrailer.com in October 2022.
• Sixth Owner - Bob and Chris Vitrikas (October 8, 2022 - Present) Mileage at time of purchase - 24,302. Bob and Chris Vitrikas were the winning bidders when the Bring a Trailer auction ended on October 8, 2022. The winning bid was $31,500 but because the reserve price was $33,000, Bring a Trailer made up the difference and Jim Purdin was paid $33,000 for the car. It was delivered by enclosed trailer to the Vitrikases in Barboursville, Virginia on November 11, 2022.

Video of Conversation with Jack Richards about TF 9432

This is a video of Jim Purdin (5th owner) interviewing Jack Richards II (3rd owner) about his experiences with TF 9432.

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