MG guides · Lighting

MG headlamp references: 49 numbers and one repeated name

MG's lighting index holds 49 references. Twenty-seven of them are called, identically, Headlamp Assembly. The index does not say which car any of them fits, because it does not carry model-year fitment at all.

That is the whole problem in one sentence. A workshop asks for a headlamp for an MG, and the only honest answer starts with a question: which of the twenty-nine?

This page is about how to get from that question to one number, using what the index actually contains rather than what a catalogue would like it to contain.

1. What the lighting index is made of

The 49 references fall into a small number of names, and the imbalance is the point:

Front lighting dominates by a wide margin: 27 headlamps plus 6 fog lamps plus 6 indicators against 4 tail lamps. That reflects where the collision and wear demand sits, and it is also where most mis-orders happen — a front lamp is the part a workshop orders in a hurry after a bump.

Note also what is not here. There are no headlamp brackets, no lamp bezels and no grilles in this category. Those sit in the bumper category, and they are separate purchases. More on that in section 5.

2. The name that appears twenty-nine times

Twenty-seven references are called `Headlamp Assembly`. Two more are effectively the same thing under a different label (`Rear Lamp Assembly`, `Front Position Lamp Assembly` are not headlamps, but they demonstrate the same naming habit). The practical consequence:

> A request that says "headlamp for an MG" cannot be resolved from the index. It can only be resolved from the car.

There is no shortcut here, and it is worth being blunt about why. If the index carried fitment, this page would list which reference belongs to which model and year. It does not. Writing that mapping from memory, or inferring it from a name, would produce a confident answer that is wrong roughly twenty-eight times out of twenty-nine.

So the index is used for what it is good at: recognising a number you already have, and confirming it exists. It is not used to guess a number you don't.

3. Neighbours are usually a pair

Here is the most useful structural fact in the whole category. Sorted numerically, the references cluster into runs of consecutive numbers: 15 runs covering 32 of the 49 references (65%).

A run of two is a left and a right. A run of four — as at 11505836 to 11505839 — is two pairs stacked: typically two versions of the same lamp, each in left and right. Four numbers, one name, no explanation in the index.

The practical use: if you have one side and you need the other, check the neighbouring number first. In this category that guess lands inside a run two times out of three.

But only first. The runs are evidence of how the index was built, not a rule the manufacturer promises to keep. Which brings us to the trap.

4. The side is almost never written down

Of the 49 names, exactly two state which side they are: `Rear Tail Lamp, left` and `Rear Tail Lamp, right`.

Two out of forty-nine is 4%. In a category where 65% of the references are pairs, the name tells you the side 4% of the time.

And there is a detail worth sitting with. Those two references are 10976793 and 11179734 — nowhere near each other numerically. So the pattern inverts:

• when the numbers are neighbours, the name does not say left or right;
• when the name says left or right, the numbers are not neighbours.

Neither half of the index tells you both things at once. A buyer who assumes "the odd number is the left one" and a buyer who assumes "the name will say" are both wrong, in opposite directions.

The only reliable statement is the one that sounds unhelpful: quote the number, and confirm the side against the car. A photograph of the fitted lamp, taken from the front with the bonnet open, settles it faster than any catalogue.

5. What sits outside this category

Three things that people order together with a headlamp are filed somewhere else:

This matters commercially more than it looks. A front-end repair is rarely one line. If the enquiry lists a headlamp only, the bezel and the bracket arrive as a second order — and the second order is where a project stalls, because by then the car is on the ramp.

When you send a request for a front lamp, say whether the surrounding trim survived. It costs one line and saves a round trip.

6. What to send, so the number is settled once

Four items, in this order:

1. The reference, in full. All eight digits. If the number carries a letter suffix, keep it — across the wider MG index, 95 of 971 references do, even though none in this category does. A suffix is not decoration; dropping it points at a different part.
2. The VIN. Not because the index will resolve it automatically, but because it is the only thing that ties the request to one car rather than to a model name that may cover two different vehicles.
3. A photograph of the fitted part. Front three-quarter, plus a close-up of any connector or bracket. This is what settles left versus right, and version.
4. Quantity and destination. A pair is a different quotation from a single lamp, and freight changes with the destination country.

Prices and availability are confirmed per enquiry rather than published, and the country of origin is stated with the quotation.

Short answers

Are the 27 Headlamp Assembly references interchangeable? No. They are distinct part numbers that share a name. Nothing in the index says which vehicle each one fits, so the number has to be confirmed against the car.

If I have the left lamp, is the right one the next number up? Often — 65% of this category sits in consecutive runs, and the pairs are consistent. But it is a strong hint, not a rule. Confirm before ordering, because a wrong-side lamp is a return, not a repair.

What is the run of four at 11505836 to 11505839? Two pairs stacked under one name. In practice that means two versions of the same lamp, each in left and right. The index does not label the versions, so the version has to come from the car.

My reference has letters after the number. Do I need them? Yes, quote the whole string. Suffixes appear on 95 of 971 references in the wider MG index. We do not decode them here, because the index does not define them — but omitting one changes the number.

Is the bezel included with the lamp? No. Lamp bezels and radiator grilles are separate references filed under the bumper category. Order them with the lamp if the front end is being rebuilt.

Which model and year does a given reference fit? That is exactly what this index does not record. Model-year application is confirmed per enquiry against the reference and the VIN.

Where this comes from.

Every reference and every count on this page is taken from GNSGO's own MG-compatible parts index — the same list at MG compatible parts — OE reference index. The category totals, the repeated names, the consecutive runs and the two side-labelled references are all read directly from that index.

The index records an OE number, a part name and a category. It does not record model-year fitment, so we do not infer it here, and we do not present a name as if it were an application. Where the index is silent, this page says so rather than filling the gap.

No manufacturer workshop documentation has been used in preparing this page. Model names on this site follow the export designations covered in MG model names in Europe and China.

Related MG guides

• MG model names in Europe and China — where one badge covers two different cars
• How to verify an OE number and a VIN before ordering — the four checks that settle a reference
• MG-compatible parts we index — 971 references across body, lighting, braking, cooling, engine and transmission

Send the number that is on the old lamp, not the one on the invoice. Get in touch with the label photo and the VIN and we will confirm the reference.