Red 1951 MG TD in Berkshire UK: The wonder of “dumb-irons”, Nitromors, online forums and… elbow grease!

Photo 1 is there a chassis number lurking around here somewhere? Or are my eyes beginning to play tricks on me?!

Whenever you start out on “journeys of discovery” (occasionally also known as “exercises in elbow grease depletion”!), then it’s always handy to get fully clued-up about the tools needed and the potential pitfalls along the route. No more so, too, when you’re clearly no expert in the matter at hand.

So, when I recently decided once and for all to try to locate the chassis number on my MG TD (as stamped onto the nearside chassis “dumb-iron” — as car vernacular goes, that has to be a winner!), then I certainly researched the potential obstacles in my way. Indeed, I’d heard many-a story about how hard these numbers could be to find, and, even if found, how hard they could be to expose. One particular MG owner’s story, which I had found online, even told of how it had taken him as long as five years to find his car’s chassis number! Slightly daunting, to say the least…

With all of this in mind, before getting underway I scrutinized various MG forums to see whether there was any tried-and-tested recipe for success. Whilst there appeared to be no fool-proof recipe for finding the number, there were definitely enough forum “clues” about how to find it and about how exactly other MG owners had chanced upon their own elusive chassis numbers. Less inspiring, however, was that a common thread had quickly emerged: just when you think you may have found the appropriate area on the dumb-iron where the chassis number ought to be, actually getting the number to emerge through all the decades of paint and accumulated grime is another trick in itself!

Unsurprisingly, too, this is precisely what I would find myself at the start.

Initially, having studied the dumb-iron in question for what seemed like an eternity at the time, I was convinced that I could vaguely see a couple of digits poking through beneath the paint. Could this be the makings of a chassis number?! Then again, I was also starting to think – after by-now almost two weeks of trying to find the number – that I was beginning to see mirages and perhaps lose my mind! (Goodness knows how someone has the patience for a five year hunt!)

On top of this, there didn’t actually appear to a definitive way to absolutely locate your chassis number once and for all: different MG forums had suggested different methods for revealing the chassis number, including one or more of the following—

• Applying citric acid and water onto the painted chassis frame;

• Using ultra-fine sandpaper to remove the paint likely concealing the number;

• Applying “eye wash” (!) to the area, rubbing it, and then offering up a UV blacklight to the dumb-iron – the ultraviolet is meant to be able to reveal outlines hidden to the naked eye;

• Shining other types of light at strange angles to the chassis frame;

• Employing an etching agent – frequently used in forensic work – to bring out the number;

• And, finally, taking digital photographs of the dumb-iron and then using editing software to alter the “contrast” of these photos, which, in turn, might reveal the outline of a stamped-on chassis number.

Well, believe it or not, I tried them all! And yet, still nothing conclusive…

The Eureka Moment

But then, when all else seemed to be failing, JACKPOT!!!

In spite of all these various efforts to reveal the elusive number, the eureka moment actually came courtesy of… good, old-fashioned paint stripper! Nitromors paint stripper, to be precise.

After by-then almost three weeks of trying to expose what I thought looked like a buried chassis number, ten minutes of Nitromors was all it took to expose the pesky number, and in its full glory to boot! The results are below for those interested in having a look – and the difference between “before” and “after” photos couldn’t be more ‘night and day’!

It’s certainly been a case of “if at first you don’t succeed…”!