MG TA Midget 1936 - drawing (N0688)
Manufacturer: MG Car Company Limited, Cowley - UK
Type: TA Midget
Production time: mid-year 1936 - mid-year 1939
Production outlet: 3,003
Engine: 1292cc straight-4 MPJG OHV pushrod (from the Wolseley 10)
Power: 52,4 bhp / 5.000 rpm
Torque: 80 Nm / 2.500 rpm
Drivetrain: rear wheels
Speed: 127 km/h
Curb weight: 820 kg
Wheelbase: 94 inch
Chassis: channel sectioned wooden ash frame with a steel body
Steering: Bishop chain steering
Gearbox: four-speed manual (synchromesch on III and IV / floor shift
Clutch: single dry plate cork liner (cork-faced) running in oil
Carburettor: dual horizontal SU 1in semi-downdraft
Fuel tank: 68 liter rear-mounted slab fuel tank
Electric system: Lucas 6 Volts
Ignition system: distributor and coil
Brakes front: hydraulic 9 inch Lockheed drums
Brakes rear: hydraulic 9 inch Lockheed drums
Suspension front: beam axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs + hydraulic telescopic Luvax-Girling shock absorbers
Suspension rear: beam axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs + hydraulic telescopic Luvax-Girling shock absorbers
Rear axle: live
Differential: spiral bevel 4.875:1
Wheels: 19 inch wire wheels
Tires: 4.00 x 19
Options: spare tire on the back
Special:
- The new TA was lower, wider, more spacious and has a more comfortable cockpit than its predecessor, the PB, but still many components borrowed from Morris. The production of these sports cars was concentrated at a factory in Abingdon.
- When first introduced, this bench-type two-seater vehicle with cut-out doors, folding windscreen, a tall, square radiator, (known as the T Type and only after the advent of the TB did the TA designation come into use), could be purchased in open and closed configuration.
- Later, the open coupé, referred to as an Airline Coupé by Carbodies Limited in Coventry (but only one or two is thought to have been made), was replaced with a Drophead style, using a soft-top.
- There was also a successful Tickford embodiment by Salmons in Newport Pagnell, 252 units built of which presumably only a dozen survivors.
- The Cream Cracker Team became three factory TAs with the 1600cc engine of the larger MG VA Tourer in 1937, being very successful in the hill climb races that season.
- Allan Tomlinson won the 1939 Australian Grand Prix driving an MG TA.
- The T-Series became the icon of British Sports Cars.