MG T-Series Midget TA to TF (1936 to 1955)

Why people buy one

• The classic upright British sports car, light and simple, with a fold-flat windscreen, separate wings and a fly-off handbrake.
• The XPAG and XPEG engines are robust and keen to rev when healthy.
• The TD and TF have rack-and-pinion steering and independent front suspension, so they are easier to drive than the TC.
• Hagerty UK rates the TF, especially the TF 1500 (about 3,400 built), as the best driving T-type.
• The MG Car Club T Register, founded in 1963, keeps records on over 11,000 cars and holds an online database of factory production records searchable by chassis or engine number.

What to weigh up

• The ash body frame rots, and Hagerty UK says wood rot is more serious than steel rust; a full timber reframe is a big, labour-intensive job.
• Most TDs and many TCs and TFs were exported, largely to the USA, and many have since come back. The TC was built in right-hand drive only, so a left-hand-drive TC has been converted; returned TDs and TFs have often been converted from left to right-hand drive.
• Identity needs care: a TF 1500 should have an XPEG engine, and "1500" badges alone prove nothing. Many cars have Morris or BMC replacement engines, and some TAs have been fitted with the later XPAG.
• Replicas exist: Naylor and later Hutson built TF-style cars in the mid-1980s with an O-series engine, and the glassfibre Gentry kit car uses Triumph Herald running gear. Check what the V5C describes.
• The gearbox has no synchromesh on first gear, the cars are low-geared and tiring at motorway speeds, and the cockpit is tight for tall drivers.
• Hagerty in the USA and Sports Car Market both describe the XPAG crankshaft as fragile and hard to find.

Where they rust

• Ash timber around and between the A and B-posts, where Classics World says the wood is exposed and usually rots first.
• Lower longitudinal body rails and the uprights at the base of the scuttle; a scuttle that wobbles from side to side means severe rot.
• Door frames: dropped doors and poor door gaps point to rotten framing.
• The area behind the fuel tank and along the rear skirt of the body tub.
• Front wing supports and the wing stays.
• On the TD and TF, the chassis below the scuttle, where the box-section rails become channel section and can crack.
• Chassis rails along their length for accident damage and distortion, and the steel panels where they are tacked to the timber.

Mechanical weak spots

• A healthy XPAG is smooth and quiet; Classics World suggests 40 to 50psi of oil pressure when hot, and a drop or two of oil from the rear crankshaft seal is normal on unconverted engines.
• Listen for rattles and look for smoke; a gearbox that jumps out of gear on the overrun is worn. Many TDs have a Ford Type 9 five-speed conversion.
• The TA, TB and TC use a steering box, where Hagerty UK says up to about three inches of play at the rim is acceptable; the TD and TF use rack-and-pinion.
• Check for kingpin play, perished bushes and leaking lever-arm dampers.
• The drum brakes can seize after long storage, causing poor or uneven braking; MGB-based disc conversions are common on the TD.
• On wire-wheeled cars, tap the spokes for an even note; a clonk when pulling away can mean worn hub splines.
• The electrics are simple; the ammeter should show a charge above idle.

At a Mathewsons viewing

• Find the chassis number stamped on the nearside front dumb-iron or chassis extension and check it against the plate under the bonnet and the V5C; then look it up in the T Register's online factory records before bidding.
• Read the engine plate: XPAG for a TB, TC, TD or 1250 TF, XPEG for a TF 1500, MPJG for a TA. A square plate with a letter prefix usually means a replacement engine.
• On a TD, look for an EXL or EXLU suffix on the chassis plate, and on a TF read the car number (a first digit of 3 or 4 means it left the factory as left-hand drive), so you know whether a right-hand-drive car has been converted.
• Press the timber at the base of the A and B-posts and the lower body rails, try the doors for drop, and with a torch look under the scuttle for chassis cracks.
• Open the bonnet and look for oil leaks and untidy wiring, and if staff start the car, listen for knocks and watch the oil pressure; do not assume it will be started.

Parts, specialists and clubs

Seen on Bangers & Cash

• MG TF (Bangers & Cash series 9, episode 10, First shown April 2024)

Sources

• Buying guide: MG Midget T-types (Hagerty UK), 21 July 2021
• MG TD buyer's guide (Classics World), 18 October 2024
• MG Midget buyers guide: TC, TD, TF (Hagerty), accessed 14 October 2026
• An MG that fits you to a T (Sports Car Market), 1 March 2008
• T-type chassis and engine identification (MG Car Club T Register), accessed 14 October 2026
• T Register (MG Car Club), accessed 14 October 2026
• 1986 RMB Gentry, lot description (Brightwells), December 2024
• MG T-type (Wikipedia), accessed 14 October 2026