Planning a T-type restoration

Two different projects

A rolling refurbishment and a chassis-off restoration are not the same job at different intensities; they are different projects with different risks. The rolling job works round a usable car in stages and its risk is that standards drift — you end up with a car that is 80 per cent sorted forever. The chassis-off job reduces the car to components and its risk is far worse: it stops. A T-type in a thousand labelled boxes in a garage is a common sight, and the reason is almost never money.

If the car is honest, usable and structurally sound, the rolling route is nearly always the better one. It keeps you driving, which keeps you interested; it spreads the cost; and it lets you learn the car before you take it apart. Our servicing guide and recommissioning sequence between them cover most of what a rolling refurbishment consists of.

The two decision points: timber and frame

Two findings force the full job, and neither is negotiable by enthusiasm.

The ash frame

The T-type body is a wooden frame with metal panels fixed to it. The timber is the structure; the panels follow it. That is why published accounts of panelling a TC body begin by setting a new ash frame up on an accurate chassis and aligning it there before any metal is offered up. It also means that soft or rotten framing cannot be repaired with the body in place — the tub has to come off the chassis.

The good news is that this is one of the best-supported corners of T-type restoration. The MG T Society lists Moss, NTG, Andy King, the Hutson Motor Company and Steve Gilbert as suppliers of ash frames and timber parts, and MG Ash Frames in Yorkshire offers anything from a single replacement timber to a complete ash frame or a fully panelled body tub. A soft frame is a decision about scope, not a reason to walk away from a car.

The chassis

The T-types use a separate ladder chassis, and the thing that catches people out is not corrosion but distortion — old accident damage that the eye cannot see. One published TC rebuild found major damage to the front dumb-irons only once the frame was bare, had it straightened by a chassis specialist, and then checked it on a laser aligner, where it sat right at the limit of the tolerance given in the Workshop Manual.

So: strip the frame bare, get it measured properly, and ask to see it after repair and before painting so the diagonals can be checked while something can still be done. Every alignment problem you tolerate here reappears later as a door gap you cannot fix.

The accepted order of work

The clearest published statement of the sequence for these cars comes from a documented 1949 TC restoration, which describes it as “the accepted sequence”: rolling chassis first, all panels fitted on that rolling chassis, bodywork then stripped for paint, chassis finished with engine and gearbox in, painted body reunited with it, then electrics, then trim, then wheels, geometry and tune. The steps below expand that, with documentation added at the front where the diarists say it belongs.

1. 01

   Document and measure before a single bolt comes out

   Photograph everything, good and bad, and measure whatever is measurable before you begin to dismantle — mudguard width, dashboard width, bonnet length, door openings, panel gaps. Bag and label every fastener with the assembly it came from, and throw nothing away however rusty, because the wrecked original is the pattern for the replacement. This is the advice T-type restoration diarists give first and most emphatically, and it is offered as a mistake already made rather than as theory.

2. 02

   Decide the scope honestly, then write it down

   Two jobs are commonly confused. A rolling refurbishment keeps the car usable and works round it in stages — brakes one winter, engine the next — and suits a sound, honest car you want to drive throughout. A chassis-off restoration takes the body off the frame and rebuilds from bare metal and bare timber, and is what a rotten ash frame or a distorted chassis actually requires. The car decides this more than you do, and the two decision points below are what it decides on.

3. 03

   Strip to a bare chassis and have it checked

   With the body off, examine the frame properly. Distortion from old accident damage is common and is not visible by eye — one published TC rebuild found major damage to the front dumb-irons and had the frame straightened by a chassis specialist, then verified on a laser aligner against the tolerances in the Workshop Manual. Ask for the diagonals to be measured after repair and before painting, while something can still be done about them.

4. 04

   Build the chassis up to rolling stage

   Suspension, steering, axles, brake pipes and hydraulics go on to the repaired frame, giving a rolling chassis that can be moved around the workshop. Doing this before the body goes on means you are working on the running gear in the open, with the whole car accessible, rather than lying under a finished shell.

5. 05

   Repair or replace the ash frame, then trial-fit the panels

   The T-type body is a wooden frame with metal panels fixed to it, so the timber is the structure and the panels only follow it. Set the new or repaired ash frame up on the accurate chassis and align it there — the published accounts of panelling a TC frame start exactly this way. Then fit every panel, wing, door and running board on the rolling chassis and get the gaps right in bare metal, while adjustment is still free.

6. 06

   Strip the fitted bodywork back off for paint

   This is the step owners skip and regret. Panels that have been trial-fitted and adjusted come off again for preparation and paint, and go back on to a chassis that has meanwhile been finished. Fitting to a painted body means adjusting a painted body, and the finish never recovers.

7. 07

   Finish the rolling chassis: engine and gearbox in

   While the body is away being painted, take the rolling chassis to a finished state and install the rebuilt engine and gearbox. The published sequence for these cars puts the drivetrain in at this point precisely because the body is elsewhere and access is at its best.

8. 08

   Reunite: painted body and panels on to the finished chassis

   The parts now go together as pre-fitted components rather than as a puzzle to be solved. If the trial fit was done properly this stage is quick, and if it was not, this is where the project stalls.

9. 09

   Wiring, instruments and electrics

   Loom, dashboard, instruments, lighting and electrical components go in after the body is mounted and before the trim covers everything. Establish which control box your car has before you order a harness, because a loom cut for a five-post RB106 car will not suit a nine-post RF95 one.

10. 10

    Trim, carpets, seats and weather equipment

    Interior trim, carpets, seats and windscreen follow the electrics, in that order, so that nothing finished is disturbed by something unfinished behind it. Hood and sidescreens are fitted to the trimmed car.

11. 11

    Wheels, tyres, geometry and tune-up

    Good wheels with new tyres, toe-in set, and the engine tuned are the last items on the published sequence. Only now does the car become a car again — and the shakedown that follows is a stage in its own right, not an afterthought.

What to send out, what to do at home

A T-type is an unusually good car to restore at home, because it was built to be worked on with hand tools and because the parts supply is genuinely good — see parts and spares for what is remanufactured and what is not. A short list of jobs still belongs elsewhere.

Named firms for the trades we could verify appear in the table and in our specialists directory. Where we could not verify a current T-type-specific recommendation — plating, radiators, instruments, wheels, trim — we have said so rather than list names we cannot stand behind.

Paperwork: DVLA, MOT and the registration

Start this at the beginning of the project, not the end. Three things matter.

Substantial change. A vehicle built more than 40 years ago and not substantially changed is exempt from MOT testing and qualifies as a Vehicle of Historic Interest for vehicle tax, declared using form V112. Club guidance summarising the DVLA criteria is explicit that a replacement chassis of the same pattern as the original is not a substantial change, while altering the chassis design, or the type or method of suspension or steering, would be; an XPAG bored out stays within the rules, a modern engine transplant does not. Our UK registration guide and quiz walks through the categories.

Reporting the work. DVLA announced updated registration policies taking effect on 26 August 2025, under which like-for-like repairs and restorations no longer need to be reported and more modified vehicles can keep their original identity. Form V627/1 is the vehicle parts statement used where a declaration is required, including for a like-for-like replacement chassis. Older club pages describing the previous points system are useful background but may now be out of date — work from current gov.uk guidance for anything structural.

The number. If the car has lost its original registration mark, form V765 is the route to reclaiming it, and the MG Car Club T Register is DVLA-approved to support T-Series owners with V765 claims and age-related numbers. Its production records are the evidence such a claim rests on; ours are summarised on the production records page.

Sources

Everything above is drawn from published material rather than from a restoration of our own. Where sources disagree or fall silent, we have said so on the page instead of filling the gap.

• Restoration of a 1949 MG TC (mgtc.co.uk) — the source of the “accepted sequence” order of work quoted above, and of the note on rivet-on brake linings.
• Bob McCluskey, restoration diary — chassis — photograph and measure before dismantling; dumb-iron damage, specialist straightening and laser alignment against the manual’s tolerances.
• MG T Society — Panelling a TC ash frame and supply of ash frames and timber parts.
• MG T Society — DVLA items of interest — the substantial-change categories as they apply to T-types.
• gov.uk — Historic (classic) vehicles: MOT and vehicle tax, form V627/1, form V765 and the DVLA policy update of 20 August 2025.
• MG Car Club T Register — DVLA services; and specialist suppliers MG Ash Frames, Hutson Motor Company and prewarmgparts.co.uk.

Deliberately not stated here: restoration costs, timescales for your car, a definitive map of which panels are steel and which aluminium across TC, TD and TF, and whether complete new chassis frames are currently in production. We could not verify those to the standard of the rest of the page.

Questions

Chassis-off or rolling restoration — how do I choose?

Let the car choose. Two things force a chassis-off job: rotten ash framing, because the body has to come off the frame to renew the timber it is built from, and a distorted or corroded chassis, because it cannot be straightened or properly repaired under a fitted body. If both are sound and the car is usable, a rolling refurbishment done in winters is the better project — it keeps you driving, spreads the cost and avoids the classic failure mode of a car in a thousand labelled boxes.

What is the accepted order of work?

A published account of a 1949 TC restoration sets it out as: chassis completed to rolling-chassis stage; bodywork completed to final fit of all panels on the rolling chassis; bodywork stripped down for painting; rolling chassis completed with engine and gearbox fitted; painted body and panels assembled to the completed rolling chassis; then wiring, dashboard, instruments, electrical components and lights, internal trim, carpets, seats and windscreen; and finally good wheels with new tyres, toe-in setting, engine tune-up and number plates. The trial fit before paint is the part of that sequence people leave out.

Can I still get an ash frame for a TC, TD or TF?

Yes. The MG T Society lists Moss, NTG, Andy King, Hutson Motor Company and Steve Gilbert as sources for ash frames and timber parts, and MG Ash Frames in Yorkshire supplies anything from a single replacement timber to a complete ash frame or a panelled body tub. Wood is one of the better-supported areas of T-type restoration, which is worth remembering when a car is written off in your head because the frame is soft.

Are new chassis frames available?

Repair parts and chassis components are catalogued by suppliers such as LBCarCo, and a specialist stated an intention to remanufacture complete replacement chassis and bulkheads with tooling done for the 1954–55 TF. We have not been able to confirm that complete frames are currently in production, so treat a new chassis as something to enquire about rather than assume, and get a quote for straightening your existing one at the same time.

Does replacing the chassis affect the car's registration in the UK?

It can, and the rules changed recently. DVLA announced updated registration policies effective 26 August 2025 under which like-for-like repairs and restorations no longer need to be reported, and more modified vehicles can keep their original identity; form V627/1 covers notifying DVLA where a statement about parts is needed, including a like-for-like replacement chassis. Older club guidance describing the previous points system remains useful background but may now be superseded, so check current gov.uk guidance before you commit to anything structural.

Will a restoration affect MOT and tax exemption?

Only if it amounts to a 'substantial change'. A vehicle over 40 years old and not substantially changed is exempt from MOT testing and qualifies as a Vehicle of Historic Interest for tax purposes, declared with form V112. Club guidance summarising the DVLA criteria notes that a replacement chassis of the same pattern as the original is not a substantial change, whereas altering the chassis design, or the type or method of suspension or steering, would be; an XPAG bored out is not a substantial change, a modern engine transplant is. Our substantial-change quiz walks through this.

How do I get the original registration number back?

Apply on DVLA form V765, supported by your club. The MG Car Club T Register is DVLA-approved to help T-Series owners reclaim an original registration mark or obtain an age-related number, and holds the production records that support such a claim. Start this early — it runs in parallel with the restoration and takes as long as it takes.

What is the single most common planning mistake?

Dismantling faster than you document. The second is painting before trial-fitting. The third is starting with the engine because it is the interesting part, when the chassis and the timber are what decide whether the project finishes at all.

Where to go next

• What to check before you buy a project →
• XPAG & XPEG rebuild tolerances and machining limits →
• Parts and spares: what is still made →