Chassis number for 1949 MG TC

[hughpite]

I recently purchased a 1949 MG TC with California registration. This shows the engine number as the vehicle ID number. It is XPAG9204. I have the engine on the chassis but I cannot find the chassis number which should be on the front dumb iron as well as that the brass ID tag has gone missing. Is there any way to determine the chassis number using the engine number as reference?
Cheers, Hugh Pite

[Henry Pang]

Here are some information from the MG TC Provenance List that may help:
Chassis # 8519 has a XPAG9201
Chassis # 8486 has a XPAG9202
May be you can post some pictures, someone may know this TC....:->
Cheers,
Henry, TC7784

[Bob Grunau]

It is quite common to have TCs registered in the USA under engine numbers. HOWEVER, you can't guarantee the engine and its number is original to the car. Many engines have been changed over the years, so I think you need to look closer for the correct chassis number on the outside of the left front chassis. I'll bet a LOT of TCs out there no longer have original engines. Now if the previous owners changed engines and kept the original octagonal brass engine plate, OK. But don't count on it. Next thing we have two TCs with the same chassis number.
Bob, Canada

[David Edgar]

Hugh,

Here is a photo of what the chassis number should look like. As they were hand stamped some may be fainter and paint certainly can fill in light depressions so very hard to see.

By the way this photo is one from Mark Hineline who bought the bare chassis. He then found that a previous owner had replace the frame on his TC but kept and used the number on the guarantee plate rather than the replacement frame so if Mark had finished his project and registered with chassis number there would have been two TC 3409s out there (in different states). Mark decided not to pursue finishing his project and I lost contact with him. Not sure what became of the chassis.

TC 3409.jpg (91.53 KiB) Viewed 16765 times

[Stewart Penfound]

Hugh,

According to the factory build list engine no. XPAG 9204 was originally fitted to TC8485, and the car came off the line on 21 April 1949. We have a record of the car, dating back to 1966, when it was here in the UK and registered KGE 250. We haven't heard of it since, so maybe it got shipped over to the USA and has now turned up again...

Stewart Penfound
TABC Registrar, MGCC T Register

[Henry Pang]

Dear Mr. Stewart Penfound,
I'm try to find more information on my 1949 MT TC chassis # TC7784, and XPAG7601. Do you have the build date and any UK registered information?
Thank you,
Henry

[Stewart Penfound]

Henry,

TC7784 came off the line on 1 Feb 1949, and fitted with XPAG 7601. Back in the 1960s the MG Car Co in their wisdom destroyed all the T type customer records, thinking that noone would ever want to look at them. To make matters worse, in the early 1970s the UK licensing authorities merged into one body and all the county registration offices got rid of all their records as well. Very frustrating, and you can guess by now that unfortunately we have no early history on your car. Our earliest record of it is when it was in Pittsburgh in 1966, owner A.B. Vestal.

Hope this helps,

Stewart

[Bob Grunau]

Hi Stewart, I am familiar with the T Register production records sorted by chassis number and giving the engine number and date of production. Is there an easy way of finding chassis number from engine numbers? Or is it hit and miss by logging in chassis number till you find the engine number?? I searched for XPAG9204 and never did find the chassis number. Engine numbers don't seem to follow any kind of sequence or rhyme or reason that I can see.
Bob Grunau, Canada

[Stewart Penfound]

Hi Bob,

We're fortunate in having a copy of the factory build list for TA/B/Cs which shows each car's production date, and the engine it was fitted with when it came off the line. A search for XPAG 9204 showed that it was originally fitted to TC8485. We have a record for that car dating back to 1966, when it's UK registration was KGE 250. We haven't had any news of it since, so if you have the engine it is highly likely that it went across the pond (with loads of others) back in the late sixties, then was subsequently broken up. Doe this fit in with your thoughts on it?

Stewart, Brighton, UK

[Henry Pang]

Dear Mr. Stewart Penfound,
Is it possible to have a copy of your factory build list on this website? May be our web master Mr. Steve Simmons can help?
Thank you,
Henry

[hughpite]

Many thanks to those who replied to my enquiry re the chassis number. The situation has now been resolved. In addition I found its UK number plate, KGE 250, in the parts which came with the car. I have the history of the car from 1984 and, according to Stewart Penfound's data, the history up to 1966.
Cheers, Hugh Pite

[SteveW]

Sorry to restart an old thread, but I am now the owner of TC8485. I have now found and confirmed that the chassis number matches the engine number. The chassis number was very faint, suggesting that someone in the past has sanded the chassis down and repainted it. Its so faint that it cannot be seen through the paint, but it could be seen once the paint was removed with stripper.

I have now started a complete chassis up rebuild and will no doubt ask questions on here as I progress.

If anyone has any further information on the history of this car, I would be grateful.

Steve

[frenchblatter]

My 1949 TC is chassis number 10178 and engine number 10878 which indicates that the factory had made 700 more engines than cars by November 1949 (when mine was made)

[Steve Simmons]

I'm TC8975 / XPAG 9609. 634 difference in July, 1949.

[Richard Michell]

I have no expertise in this matter but the Mike Sherrell book gives some information (and highlights the complications). To give an initial reference, the book states that the first chassis (0251) had engine number 883, a difference of 632. During production, engines were not necessarily used in number sequence and so the difference moves around.

[Warmuthb]

Interesting. I have TC 5834, a 1948 model with engine number 6552. It was also once owned by a Mr. A. B. Vestal of Pittsburgh, PA! I have records that came with the car back to 1958..prior to that is anybody's guess. I believe the car was originally in the Washington, D.C. area or eastern Maryland area. I believe the engine is the original one that came with the car.

Brian W.

[frenchblatter]

I'm lucky that I know the complete history of my car. I have the original registration document (the old gree log book) which show the first four owners.

[Duncan M]

OK

[ian theobald]

I too have a late 49 TC -TC9583 with original engine XPAG 10357 but now has XPAG 10754 which I believe has been in car for 30 yrs or more.
This means numbers could vary by nearly 800.
People make a big deal about matching numbers but I also have a 1928 BSA 1.74hp 2 stroke [vary vary rare ] and frame and engine vary by 30 numbers so seems back then perhaps engines just stacked up on a production line and used in any order for the day. Seems that it is a modern day thing for cars and bikes to have matching numbers .As long as close to what was originally fitted ok with me.
My little bike had home made wooden foot pegs fitted as seems times were tough back then so have kept as thats it,s history,Likewise with my TC it has had some non standard modifications such as a sawn of diff from a TF or similar
After 60 odd years all sorts of alterations get made to our cars
Would be nice to know some of its history such as was it raced etc as mine has round holes in bonnet sides for air snorckle that have been welded up and body timber has been beefed up so has no rattles.
My motor is solid and does not blow a whiff of smoke and wonde how much work it has done and being so late in production did they migrate across to the newer TD as sump on mine fully ribbed and has TD type carbis I believe . Cheers Ian Theobald

[frenchblatter]

I assumed the extra engines were made and sold as replacements through the parts departments. There were no exchange engines in TC days.