MG made quintessential sports car

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When Bill Demarest first saw the 1952 MG TD, it was a Maryland barn -- in pieces.

MG produced the popular TD model from Nov. 10, 1949, until Aug. 17, 1953. Mr. Demarest's blue one left the factory in England destined for sale in the United States.

Over the next 29 years, the 12-foot-1-inch-long sports car had several owners and accumulated 93,000 miles. At that point its owner decided to restore the MG. He got as far as dismantling most of the vehicle when he discovered that cars come apart easier than they go back together. He lost interest and that's where Mr. Demarest entered the picture.

When Mr. Demarest first saw the dismantled MG, he could envision what it could be. In early spring of 1981 he returned with a tow bar and bought the car. Boxes of parts and pieces were loaded into the car for the trip to Mr. Demarest's Vienna home.

The cylinder head had been removed, allowing Mr. Demarest to look down into the 76-cubic-inch, four-cylinder overhead-valve engine. There, on the top edge of one of the pistons was stamped the word "FRONT."

Of course, that edge was installed toward the rear.

It was then that Mr. Demarest pulled the engine from the car and proceeded to take the car completely apart, down to the last nut and bolt. When it went back together, he wanted to be certain that everything would be as it should be.

During the next 12 years Mr. Demarest scoured the country -- and beyond -- for needed parts. "I had the body tub reskinned," he says. "All of the wear items were replaced, as well as all the bearings and seals," he reports.

He says most of the restoration work was accomplished in the basement. His wife, Donna, was thrilled.

Mr. Demarest wanted this restoration to be as authentic as possible but he drew the line when he learned that the original color had been blue. "It had to be Coventry red," he says and it is.