1948 MG TC - Will It Run? 

The plates are British and the Yellow badge is for the Automobile Association. This still exists as I work for them. I have checked the number with the driving license computer and it is not registered here at all anymore. I really love this car and I am very jealous.

Brilliant find! When I was 17 ( I am now 77) my Dad bought me a wrecked 1937 MG TA and said " there you are , now you can rebuild it"! so I learned all about these wonderful sports cars! That was in the UK , as far as I know the car is now in Kansas City.I notice the steering wheel ( the original wouldhave been a "Bluemell" sprung version)and bumpers are non original and suspect that they were probably an export condition, a dream find!

I would pull the head to have access to the stuck piston, and apply a mallet tap via a large wood dowel slightly smaller in diameter than the cylinder. A bit of trouble but probably the best route. You can check the valves and decoke as well.

Abington Rough Riders is a San Francisco Bay Area group of MGTC owners which is still in existence. They publish a monthly newsletter reporting on their activities which include driving their cars A LOT. Lafayette concours was running as early as the 1960s as I recall as a Bay Area resident. Concours in and around this area of California were common summer events. I attended many and judged in a few.

Oil is not the best thing to put in the cylinders I use transmission fluid and acetone 50/50 mix. Unfortunately not being able to get to the crank shaft bolt with the braker bar you may need to remove the head and try a using a piece of wood and a mallet on the pistons or remove the transmission to access the rear of the cranks shaft. Can't wait to see what you come up with and to hear this car run!

Wow, what a find! Please let us watch you get it going again. Have fun.

Absolutely, I want to see more on this MG TC.

Definitely need to see more of that MG.

Guaranteed this car was rolling around with my TC in the 60/70/80s. Mine was parked in 1982, but also attended Gof Wests, Walnut Creek area shows, etc. Let’s connect! 👍🏼

The concours de elegance of Lafayette, CA. is no longer but in the '70's and early '80's, was a wonderful event with fabulous cars and motorcycles.

This car is in good condition, even the wood looks good. I would almost certainly say the front number plate is British and note also the AA badge which is a British roadside recovery service that people pay an annual fee for and is still in operation today. You can also get cover for travelling to Europe and my guess is the owner lived in the UK and travelled to shows in Europe. That would be a common thing to do and still is, for a real enthusiast. As for the stuck engine I would suggest putting a small amount of diesel in the cylinder and leaving it to soak. That generally does the trick! It will smoke a bit on first start up but it will soon clear. It will be great to see this car running Steve. 👍👍

I am a member of the Abingdon Roughriders, the oldest TC club in the US and headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. I suspect the club may have information on this TC. Look them up on the web!

We definitely need to see more about this car! I'm not sure what approach to take, though. Some sort of penetrating oil in that one cylinder probably needs to be in the mix, though!

Loads of magic oil and atf is my vote

It would appear the front ' reversed ' registration plate , which is British ( London issue ) dates it to December 1961 as being re-registered .DGF 973 dates to August 1936 so definitely not the first registration index it started off with in 1948.

Walnut Creek is an upscale suburbia are about 50 miles from San Francisco. Lafayette is a couple of towns over. I can imagine by that 1974 Walnut Creek car show medallion and the Lafayette Concurs de Elegance memorabilia this car was loved and maintained by someone with $$$ Looks to be in great shape too!

My first Brit car was a well used TC. I was a teen and thrashed it as well as the previous British owners had. Great fun and only the first of many after it. 6" 17's on the rear for better traction.

Cool, I always like that car. It's everything a sports car really should be.

Over the years have used many products to loosen rust but the best product which I have only found lately and have used is a Product called "Liquid Wrench" up here in Canada, purchased at Princess Auto. And back in the 60's when I was in my teen years, this particular car was one I dreamed of owning some day, but I never did realize my dream. But always admired its lines. However I did restore from the ground up a 1973 Austin Mini and had many years of enjoyment with that resto. Really appreciate your video which brought back many good memories. God Bless.

Very nice find. Owned a 49 TC. Loved it. Road like a truck. I’ve had good luck with Marvel mystery oil. Really miss my British cars.

Amazing. I had a 1954 MG TF and I did have a heater installed in it. And I had it painted white. Drove it from Long Island to Los Angeles to Mexico City and back when I was 18..

Being an almost 78 year old engine I believe it would be time for a complete refresh. All the seals are dried up or cracking, the rings and bearing need a thorough inspect. All the front and rear main seals seem to have lost enough oil through the year to preserve all the wood and metal under that fine TC.

Great video Steve. This was one of my unicorn cars from when I was 6 years old. I had pictures of the TC, TD and TF in my room. I missed a chance at buying a mint condition TD in 1966 and regretted it forever. Whatever it takes to bring this 75 year old beauty back is more than worth the effort. I’ll be watching for update.

It's a British reg . I had a 1949 TC from 1968 to 1971 - great fun ! The oil underneath may be from the filter joints cracking due to vibration ( a perennial problem with mine ) , I realised later that the solution is to replace the rigid pipes with flexible hoses and mount the filter on the chassis . The other main problem I had was with the steering box worm cracking - had it rebuilt by a specialist MG supplier . Good luck with your car !

My vote is for a cautious strip and inspection of the engine - its a lovely car and deserves the best.

Vinegar works well on seized engines, I know everyone says atf and acetone, but vinegar works well. I think you should trymore fluid in the no 3 cylinder, before attempting to turn the engine, regardless it will need a rebuild, most likely.

Love this car! GIs brought them to US after WW2, began popularity of sports cars here. Reminds me of one of my favorite books when I was a young boy - "The Red Car" by Don Stanford, published in 1954. This book and my uncle's TR3 started my love of sports cars. Drive a 2001 Miata today. Good luck with your project!

Nice little MG straight out of Abingdon, UK plates, Automobile Association badge. The driver probably had a flat cap, too! I'm cautious with stuck engines - if the oil hasn't penetrated, I'd have the head off and work on the piston directly. And maybe the bottom end too?

OMG! A barn-find TC. Such stuff as dreams are made of. I carried the paperback "The Red Car" through high school! I'll make it a point to follow this one.

A very nice find! The head really has to come off to unseize the engine, any attempt to turn the engine will result in scored bores and damaged rings, and the valve seats will probably be badly corroded as well, so taking the head off is the only safe option here, taking the sump off so you can extract the rods/pistons would be a good idea as you can then hone the bores. Good luck!

Some people have as their grail car a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, or an Aston Martin. Mine is the MG TC or TD. My grandparents bought a TD new in 1953 and rallied it in the '50s. My grandfather would tell of removing the engine with his bare hands and porting the cylinder head with emery paper! Unfortunately, the price of these keeps going up, always staying a bit out of reach. Please show more activities with this car!

This is a really nice post-war MG and it looks as though it was lovingly maintained until the owner most likely became incapacitated or passed away. After that, nobody either cared or did not know what to do with it. Yes, get this back on the road and get the NEW parts you need to make it a safe, enjoyable vehicle. Get trans fluid/acetone mix in the cylinders and let it soak. Check to make sure the starter isn't frozen up in the engine. Then, use the car's crank to turn over the engine. Yes, it did come with one. Thanks for sharing and good luck.

The plates are british

Pull the oil pan and head off. Remove the pistons that aren’t stuck. Use a torch in the cylinder and heat up the top of the piston and cylinder wall around the top of the piston while some one rocks the car back and forth. That will free it up for sure. Then hone and re-ring! And put it all back together!

Steve, try a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone. It has been a miracle worker for me at unsticking stuck engines. Rust just disappears.

I had a 1939 TA .Bought for £100.00 back in the mid 1960's.

I hope that wasn't just a teaser because I want to see much much more of your work on that car!

Evaporust in the cylinder with the stuck piston for a few days, followed by removing the head and applying suitable percussion to the piston (if the Evaporist wasn't sufficient).

Yes. Let's see more of this project.

Look forward to seeing a heat-cycle approach

Steve, you find some real zingers! She’s a beauty…

Do it proper, take the head off, crank out. it needs at least a hone of the bores. It is a lovely car and i want to see it drive.

one of the harmless time honored ways to move a stuck engine is to fill the cooling sytem with very hot water and allow time for the block to expand. put the car in high gear and rock. rubbing alcohol on top of the piston will work wonders and works very quickly. go ahead and use the starting handle, just be sure not to add too much force. trying the starter should not cause any problems. if you hear it click, you will know that it is not jammed. i see no reason why you should have to resort to taking anything apart,except for the rocker box which should be removed. every valve should be checked to be sure non are stuck. proceed carefully, it is only manly to keep adding force, resist. british cars even rolls-royce tend to be flimsy things compared to say a packard, buick or model t. best wishes

I would love to see more of this super lovely TC. I hope there is an easier way, but it would be very interesting to see the head come off. Your "will it run" videos are always fascinating to watch, please keep up the great work!

How about a pry bar on the flywheel?

What a great find.

Jack engine enough to get the breaker bar on it. If that doesn't work you're halfway to pulling it for a rebuild. It's a beautiful old girl a deserves all the TLC you can lavish on her.

Hey Steve, my old name on RU-vid used to be “KeystoneKid”, now I’ve changed it to this name. I would love to see a heat cycle done as I never saw that before. So my vote is “heat cycle”. Nice find as well and good luck!

Marvel mystery oil is my vote too and keep rocking it. I put a socket on the crank like you did and used a very long extension thru the hand crank hole . Use a breaker bar and a lot of patience…. Good luck 🍀👍🏻

Absolutely gorgeous auto! Should be a fun restore Steve.

Love the TC, let's see more. Stephen

I love old British's cars. MG's Triumphs. I owned TRees and current owner of a 73 spitfire 1500. On the TD motor being stuck. And it has fluid in the cyl. I think I would pull head and then hit too of piston to loosen it up.

These "will it run" films are great 👍

Adding some sort of penatrant down the bores seems like a good idea, then maybe removing the starter motor and trying to pry the teeth on the ring gear.

A TIMELESS CLASSIC !

There is a plug on the bell housing (upper left). That is a good prying spot.

The grille shell is from a TD. My TC also has a TD shell. They are a bit stronger where the hand crank passes through.

I grew up in Iowa and still live just one state over (Nebraska) and it's absolutely mind-boggling to me what amazing cars you find in barns! You must have ESP or something... Me? Whenever somebody tells me he has a "really interesting old car" in a barn or shed or garage, it always turns out to be a rusted-out Delbert 88 with no transmission, and he thinks it's worth $50,000...

I love these sports car videos the most!! I would probably take the approach that Markm781 described. But perhaps patienmce and a cooler head will prevail as the "general" below mentions checking the valves and trrying a more aggresive solvent in the suspect cylinder

What a find! Such beautiful colors...

Looks like an original UK number plate and an Automobile Association badge on the grill. Being a rhd as well I would have thought that the owner was someone who liked to travel to continental Europe. Lovely car!

Definitely British plates and AA badge One of my teachers at school had one of these I’d love to see you get this car going 👍🏻

I would love to see this car running again. Removing the head is probably the best way to go to unseize it. Other attempts may be more likely to damage something and you do not want to go backwards in such a find.

You found a gem: I am so jealous!!

Very nice car. The TC has been my dream car since i was 14.

Hi the number on the TC is a British plate issued in the 40s a member of my family had that model year in the late 50s he sold it for $6.0 after it stood for 2 years

the MG TC has always been one of my favorites even though I have never owned one, My first car was a 1958 Triumph TR3 and I also owned a 60 Austin-Healey bug eye as I was a child of the 60s I of course didn't appreciate the bloated American iron of the time. However the racing bug bit me I spent all my hard earned bucks on track cars. I would really enjoy seeing you get this fine piece of English automotive history on the road again. 😎🏁

That is a very old British numberplate of pre-1963 vintage. The yellow AA badge is also one of the first they issued to members of the Automobile Association. It's also RHD so it must have been used in Britain. Look at the badge to get an idea of when, probably the 1st owner, joined the AA. Badge numbering system 1 to 999999 1906-30. A to P suffixes 1930-45. RST suffixes 1946-56 (flat motorcycle badges) WXYZA suffixes 1956-67 (domed motorcycle badges) OA to OZ prefixes 1945-57. 1A to 9A prefix 1957-59. 1B to 9B prefix 1960-61. 1C to 9C prefix 1962-63.

Looks like an old style uk registration plate ,incidentally it’s the very same age as myself right month as well ,pity it’s 4000 miles away ,fine vid never miss them!

Personally, I would not even worry about the engine being stuck at this moment. I would just pull it, take it apart, then soak it in a hot bath chemical engine cleaner (automotive machine shop level), then manuflux the parts for cracks. If all ok. Rebuild the whole engine and transmission. That way you are starting from zero again. I would also just replace the radiator, hone out the water passage ways, but that hot bath should clean a lot of the scale out of the water jackets. I just would not try and crank it, in its current condition.

The "GF" part of the plate indicates it was issued in London.

A bixed end wrench on that crank shaft nut with a legth of steel pipe overthe free end for maximum leverage. That6s after cleaning out that oil and using some good pentrating oil like Kroil.

I love these cars, my father had a '49 TC, and how I'd love to find that car! But, to your car, I'm of the "In for a penny, in for a pound" school and I'd pull the motor and give it a full rebuild. Once the motor is out, the head off and the oil pan, crank and good pistons are out, it should be fairly easy to get the stuck piston out. I would want to consider why the one cylinder is stuck when the others look so nice. How are the bearings? I wouldn't be surprised if the bad cylinder has more bearing wear. No less, I'd replace the pistons/wrist pins. By pulling the motor, you can also clean the cooling passages, and do all the little jobs now rather than having to do them later, and now's a great time for a new clutch kit. Cheers!

Steve, my vote is remove the head and with penetrating fluid and patience wooden block and tapping with a hammer just small increments . The key here is patience.

Yes, would like to see more of this car; looks in great shape, other than the stuck engine..."Back in the day" (before I was born), my Mom, Dad (prior to their wedding), and my Grandmom all owned MG-TDs (ca. 1952-55, I'd say), and would take them on road rallies around the D.C. region (when it was still easy to get into the countryside). My Dad even tried racing one at the annual SCCA event in Nassau, Bahamas (about 1955, IIRC), but his was modified w/ a Willys engine of all things! It overheated...

Yup, pull the rad and get that boiled out and pull the motor. Maybe the transmission too, all that oil is coming from somewhere and needs to be cleaned up. Kool car.

I would take the oil out of the cylinder, then fill it CRC or Pb Blaster; there’s a little ring of rust below the piston that needs to be disolved. All the oils that are being recommended are lubricants, and won’t dissolve the rust at all.

Make sure the brakes aren’t binding. There are adjusters on the backplates. With a socket on the crank pulley you can turn the engine with a couple of extensions passed through the holes in the badge bar and lower radiator grille. I’ve done this many times.

By the way, the rear CA. license plate was issued in 1969 from the DMV.

Off with it's head!!! Then heat the suspect piston smoking hot a couple times, make a wooden plug that is slightly smaller than the bore, place on aforementioned piston and whack it smartly with a hammer. Rinse, repeat.

Hi Steve...looks like it is really bound up on that cylinder. The oil that was put in there is just regular motor oil? I agree maybe make a concoction that has more penetrating power. Also while you could not get a socket on the front of the crank....can you get a box end wrench on there? Maybe put a wrench on the bolt and lace with another wrench or a cheater bar. Or maybe just continue rocking every couple of days....I am confident that you will get it to free up.

I would vote for the tear down and total rebuild.

i'm on the edge of my seat... waiting for the next installment. :)

Hope she turns out for you. Of course the tc td tf were my dream cars as a child. Shes a.beaut. hope youl keep her stock! I drool! Have fun!😅

It will depend on if it is iron rust or aluminum piston corrosion. If it is rust use evaporust in each hole and soak. If it is aluminum corrosion then it will most likely require persuasion thru the bottom. if it is stuck valves then see if you can get each one moving Independently. Obviously oil change immediately after getting it moving. Don’t forget to coat the cylinders with oil later to prevent more corrosion.

very nice, looking forward to getting this car operational again. I might try air pressure on another cylinder to force the crankshaft to move

Man thats awesome! Exactly what iv been looking for. You guys are lucky there seems to be alot of these in the midwest

Hi Steve . Must say l'm sllightly puzzled by the engine being so stubborn as it appears to look so good . I know ATF tends to work (Automatic Transmission Fluid ) . Thanks Steve .

Those diff ratios were close to 6:1. Screwdriver on the ring gear is the way to try to move it.

973 DGF is a London Registration number from early 1962 so it has lost its original number.

I'd like to see a heat cycle on it. DGHD tried it with the Fargo LCF but it didn't work. Maybe a smaller engine with less thermal mass would respond better to the heat. Either way, beautiful car.

Have to flush cooling system anyway. Remove radiator and gain access to manually rotate the crank shaft.

Ring spanner on the crank bolt would be my first approach. Given the number of MG/Austin cars you have fixed, you must have a selection of extra-length spanners for this purpose :)

My vote is for soaking with something better than oil, heat soak, and then an extension. That would be the gentle way to go.

Try a half inch extension bar through the hand crank hole in the front valance to access the socket on the crank nut. Might work…..probably not though!

Elle a fait partie de ce club en Belgique en 1895 ... il y a plus de 120 ans! La Belgique était un jeune pays à cette époque là.

Same engine as my 1952 mg YB 👍

GF registration means that it was first registered in south London.

I'd go ahead and remove the radiator snd put a breaker on it. You may want to have the radiator rodded out anyway.

Great car ⚡️