The big rear wheels are an instant giveaway that this 1952 MG TD is not stock. Look at its massive rear tires or the part-exposed engine and you’ll spot the absence of the factory 1.3-liter four-pot, which has been replaced by a 383 cubic inch (6.3-liter) V8 – it’s claimed to do the quarter-mile in under 11 seconds with a squirt of nitrous.
It belongs to Jay Leno, although Jay didn’t build it at his shop. He bought it off the guy who built it up nearly 40 years ago. The only thing he changed were the brakes, which were original drums all round – he swapped the fronts for a couple of Willwood disks, so he at least gets more than one good stop per run.
However, in putting a much bigger and heavier engine in, it reportedly doesn’t do corners as well as you’d expect from an MG. Oh, and such a car may get you booed out of MG owners’ gatherings, if they think stock is the only way to go…