Registry: 1953 MG TD Arnolt

1953 Arnolt MG. #221.

An Arnolt MG started as a standard TD, supplied by Abingdon without a body. 103 of these running chassis went to Bertone in Turin Italy to be bodied and upholstered. Stanley Arnolt orchestrated the endeavor, distributing these cars from Warsaw Indiana..

This is the first “production” car with the finalized styling. Three earlier prototypes with different rear fender and doors were built, but are not known to exist.

This car was used for promotional work by Arnolt Corp, including as the pace car for the 1953 Ohio Sesquicentennial National SCCA Races at Lockbourne Air Force Base. It was at this race John Kiner of Westerville Ohio first saw the car he was to eventually buy in late 1953.

Kiner drove the pants off his car, swapped in non-MG engines, painted it various colors, and really enjoyed it. Early on, he drove it to California where he came across another Arnolt on the same road. There was a short period in the 60’s when Kiner sold the car to a friend, but he soon bought it back. By the 1990’s Kiner returned the car to its original color and put in a normal TD engine. In a semi-restored state, the Arnolt appears in Autoweek a few times and made its way to car shows in Ohio. Despite selling his Bugatti and other interesting cars, he held on to the Arnolt nearly his entire life.

Arnolt MGs have an MG TD chassis, drivetrain, radiator, mostly TD electrical parts, and gauges. The “hoop” from the chassis to the cowl has been cut off. Bertone welded their bodywork directly to the chassis. To this they added many Italian and French sourced component. The head and fog lights are by Marchal. The interior door pulls and window winders are the same as a Lancia Aurelia (as is the mesh in the grill). The exterior door handles are found some other Italian coachbuilt cars in the early 1950’s, such as the Ferrari 225 S. I took the gas gauge apart and found the reverse side was silk screened for a Siata, so it must be also used on one of those! It’s a bit of everything. This Arnolt in particular has a neat thin wood rimmed Nardi steering wheel, and aluminum rimmed Borrani wheels.

When I purchased the car from Kiner in 2018, shortly before his passing, the Arnolt had not run in many years. A chance to show the car at the Greenwich Concours as part of an Arnolt Reunion in 2019 necessitated a rapid suspension, brake and fuel system rebuild. The car was running and could drive through Greenwich, but it was clear it needed an engine.

Over the next couple of years, the engine was rebuilt with a new billet crank, roller cam conversion (with a supercharger grind to future proof it), and new block to replace the damaged and also non-original block. Butch Taras found that the oil pump bypass valve was entirely missing, which explained the unsalvageable condition of the old crank. Highly recommend his oil pump rebuild service!

The extreme mechanical wear extended to a distributor that had worn the points lug holes in the action plate oval… and one carb body was so worn Joe Curto couldn’t save it. Even the wiper motor was worn out. At this point, based the devastating wear elsewhere, it made more sense to put in a Hi-Gear T9 5 speed than to attempt a gearbox rebuild.

Finally in 2023 the car got new carpet and I repainted the dashboard. This car has eaten untold thousands of dollars but is now a very enjoyable car to drive.

Some time in the future it deserves a Shorrock supercharger and a rollbar…