MG T-Series

When I bought TC4985 in June 2015 my knowledge of the construction and mechanics of a TC was pretty minimal. However, I decided to join a local MG club so as to learn from more experienced owners about maintaining and driving a 67 year old MG. Thus it was that I went along to a meeting of the WSMGOC at Worthing Rugby Club. There was a lone T-Series, a TA, in the car park, an MGA and a few MGBs. Later I discovered that another member had a TF, but there were no others. Fast forward seven years, the TA has been written off and a TD has joined the ranks, but that car is now up for sale (the owner has bought an MGA).

Luckily there is a good online forum that covers the TC (mg-tabc on groups.io) and has many knowledgeable members. There is also an online publication called 'Totally T-Type 2' that contains many interesting and informative articles. The forum has members from around the world, whereas TTT2 is mainly UK based.

Since our club members are the proud owners of a few MGAs, some Midgets, an RV8 and lots of MGBs, roadsters and GTs, it occurred to me that there are not many members who know how to tell one T-Series model from the next. So my challenge is to provide a simple explanation of the range of MG T-Series cars, from 1936 to 1955. Of course, there were many other models produced before, during and after the production run of the T-Series. I have great difficulty identifying these models, so I know the problem.

Between 1936 and 1955, MG built the TA, TB, TC, TD and TF models. So let's start with the TA, which replaced the PB, a similar two-seater, but with a larger engine and more storage space. 3,003 TAs were built and the easiest way to identify one is to look at the running boards, where you will see three tread strips. Another difference, seen from the rear, is that the lights are round rather than D-shaped. Apart from these rear lights, the TB looks identical. Only 379 TBs were built in 1939, the main difference being under the bonnet where an engine, taken from the Morris Ten was given an extra carburettor and tuned to give an extra four horsepower. This engine became known at the XPAG. The powertrain also had a dry clutch rather than the wet clutch of the TA.

As you might imagine, hostilities interrupted production and so the TB is the rarest of the T-Series models. It was not until 1945 that T-Series production started again.

During that period, other changes were introduced and the TC was born. Between 1945 and 1949, 10,000 TCs were built, many being exported, in spite of the car only being made in right-hand drive form. The main visible difference between the TB and the TC is that the body of the newer model is about four inches wider, but the track width is the same. This means that less of the rear wings protrude from the body and the running boards have only two tread strips.

Underneath, the way that the front and rear leaf springs are attached to the chassis also changed. This photo is clearly of a car living in the US, since the spotlight and horn on the badge-bar are the other way round.

After the export success of the TC, MG decided to make further upgrades and to produce a specific left-hand-drive export model. Of the 30,000 TDs produced between 1950 and 1953, 23,488 were exported to the US. The TD was built on the MG Y-Type chassis, making the body five inches wider. The hood and side screens were also modified to give better weather protection. Although the body is ostensibly similar to the TC, the front wings dip lower at the front and the car now sports chrome bumpers front and rear. Also, steel wheels were supplied as standard, although wire wheels were an optional extra. If you stand a TC and TD side-by-side you can also see that the TD's headlights are slightly smaller.

Being based on a different chassis meant that independent suspension could be installed at the front, with rack and pinion steering replacing the old steering box.

By this time, MG's competitors were producing more 'modern', streamlined vehicles and so in 1953 the TF was launched. As you can see, it had faired headlights and a sloping radiator grill. Although it was initially fitted with the later model TD engine, but with increased compression and larger carburettors, it was later increased to 1466 cc and renamed the ‘XPEG’. The car was then marketed as the TF 1500. It seems that 6,200 TF 1250 and 3,400 TF 1500 cars were built, being superseded by the MGA in 1955.

So now you know as much as I do about the various T-Series models and can identify one from the other at 20 paces. TC4985 is now 74 years old and to my mind the best looking T-Series, but then I would say that wouldn't I.

If you're eager for more details of the various T-Series models then I can recommend a book that was first published in 1989 by Anders Ditlev Clausager, called 'Original MG T Series'. The latest edition was, I think, published in 2011.

 

Clausager, A.D. (2011). Original MG T Series. 5th edition. Beaworthy: Herridge & Sons.

(Written 23rd March 2022; published in WSMGOC Main Gear, August 2023.)