MG T-ABC

What is available to replace the lenses on a 8 inch headlight. Are there suitable seal beam units available that fit?

Should have added that the reason for the enquiry was that I had a disaster yesterday when collecting everything together for re-chroming- I dropped a headlight and broke the lens!!!!!! So might as well consider a upgrade assuming they are available.

If it were me, I would search for another 8" lens. I chose to replace my sealed beam lights with the original lamps and fitted them with halogen bulbs. Lenses are sometimes available on Ebay. I was lucky in finding a pair of NOS lenses quite cheaply.

You are not alone in having a disaster like that. I stupidly managed to break the lens of an original SFT 462 that I had bought to restore. Fortunately I found a rough one (again eBay) that yielded another lens.

Over the past few years, because of owning Triple-M's and TC, I've come across and used a variety of 8" headlamps, Rotax and Lucas. Generally if I have them I'd use the Lucas L140 bowls along with flat defused lens. Yes the TC was fitted with the LBD140 or MBD140 in the UK, along with U-shaped and or cats-eyed lens too. If you do have sealed-beams, and they work why not use them! But what I would say is dont use halogen. Who goes out on the motorway at night to need such florescense? Fitting LED equivalents reduces stress to your cutout and battery drain ... everything is ok its just what you prefer ... it really changes IF youre doing a 'concours', post '47 or US.
This is only my opinion, for what its worth ... and thats the final word ... depends on what your budget is too.

Hello Ray,
Would you please give the source and part numbers of the LED bulbs for TC headlamps and fog lamp.
Thanks, Norman

I've run halogen bulbs for many years. They are brighter and use less power than equivalent incandescent. My ammeter doesn't move much when I activate them.

The only sealed beam lamps that I know of are 7", so you would have to use reducer rings to fit them.

EXU's use 7" which is a very standard round headlamp unit size. I bought a set of the (fluted lens) complete 7" LED units from AS, as they had the best price. There is a little fan built into the base.

AS lists a set of LED bulbs (35-097B) for the TC 8" but the base does not look right?, and there appears to be no fan built in, which is typical for an LED headlamp unit.

Norman Tuck wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 04, 2021 7:43 am

Hello Ray,
Would you please give the source and part numbers of the LED bulbs for TC headlamps and fog lamp.
Thanks, Norman

Sorry Norman, I have only Halogen bulbs.

Obviously the idea of a reducing rim would help but unfortunately at the moment I`ve no source in the UK although I am aware Abingdon Spares have them in the US. I`m in Cornwall UK.

When I restored TC2911 many years ago, I replaced the "updated" 7" lamps and reducers with the proper lenses, bulbs, reflectors and other hardware needed to take it back to what was original. It looked proper and I didn't regret it one bit! Driving the old car at night out of my area was something I was not going to do anyway. You can often find the Lucas replacement lenses used listed on eBay. I was lucky to have a couple of originals with the LUCAS vertical lettering and always felt they looked particularly smart. If you do choose to install 7" lamps, I suggest you save all the hardware you remove as some day you or someone else might regain your senses and want to take it back to original.

Steven. As I`ve written before I respect those who pursue originality but my inclination is "clock up the miles" and leave it to others who consider the car should look as originally designed. To that end I don`t wish to wait for the appearance of an original part. Life is to short. Having driven/owned various MGs now for 60 years from my first a `36 TA ( at one time I had 3 TFs 2 TCs and a TD until my wife said enough is enough!!!} through to a MGC I now content myself with a `55 TF1500 and the TC currently in rebuild. That`s until the next one turns up of course

My car came with 7" reducer rings when I bought it, which I replaced with 8" flat glass tripod reflectors. It's a pre-war look that I've always loved. With the halogen bulbs installed, it lights up the road beautifully. Much better than the original incandescent. I've driven thousands of miles at night without an issue, across the open desert, along the foggy coastline, and through cities. Just some food for thought.

I put almost 20,000 miles on TC2911 during the time I owned her and enjoyed every minute. I do admit that very few were at night and those that were in "very familiar territory". Old eyes aren't that good at night no matter what you are using. Given that, there are just so many wonderful lines and features on a TC that taking some of those away, particularly at the front was something I just could not do! I spent a lot of time and money getting all those bits back in the right place and really enjoyed the result. She did move on to another owner a few weeks ago and I think he appreciates that original stuff as much as I did.

I'm lurking on this thread, learning about the various headlights.
I got a real surprise when I took apart the headlights that came with TA1271.
There were no bulb sockets and no reflectors.
I will be seeing another T owner next week who may have some to spare.

Ah yes, the old candle-powered version. Very rare!

I have a pair of reflectors in need of restoration if interested.

Ed Callo
CT - USA

Keith Ardley in Ely, Cambs, re silvered my reflectors recently but he has moved house. I think he has retired from full time work now but still does a few small jobs.

Someone told me that equally good results can be achieved by chrome plating if silvering reflectors is difficult to get done. I can't see a problem with it myself but if anyone knows different.....?

I had the reflectors chrome plated on my TC that is pictured above and they worked fine given the wattage of the bulbs that were used. Silvering was rather pricey and not all that durable. It seems to me that standard lamps were all chrome plated anyway.

stephen stierman wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 07, 2021 12:12 pm

It seems to me that standard lamps were all chrome plated anyway.016.JPG

That's a new one on me. I thought they were all silvered.

Yes Ray you are correct, I was thinking of more current "standard" lamps as in sealed beams or fog and driving lamps.