What (if anything)Can You Tell From A VIN #

[bloodyank]

I'm not even sure of the year of this thing. I thought it was a '65 but the bill of sale says 1970..
VIN# M/AW5 D 1124567
Reg # HYL 850C

Thanks as always.
-Dave

[Orkney]

I have discrepency like that with scabby, without finding the log book cant remember but its closer to a 10 year discrepency.
Only its 3rd owner, and previous owner came up with it was stored for 10 years from new as it belonged originally to the owner of a dealership.
So could guess it was made wxy year and reistered xyz year.
Be nice ot find out one day but guess the only way is to get a heritage certificate but dont have the money for that.
Overall looking at the originality of everything would guess there is some mileage in the story, as in its not anywhere near as rotten as it should be.

[bmcecosse]

Perhaps depends when the car was taken to USA. I believe there is a rule about classic cars needing to be 25 years old to escape various penalties/difficulties etc when taken to USA. So, it may have been 'convenient' for the car to have been a 1965 car if it was taken to USA in say 1990 - when a 1970 car would only have been 20 years old !! Just a possibility - I believe it goes on all the time with Minis - where 10 year old Minis suddenly age by 15 years to allow them into America. It's one of the 'uses' for old V5 documents that sometimes appear on ebay ! Certainly a Bill of Sale in 1970 should show a car with a 1970 registration - it would end in an H or perhaps J. Your car's suffix C does indicate 1965 first registration.

[superchargedfool]

yes america is very expensive to take a car home to. but very cheap to take a classic car to and they class 25 years and over as classic.

I once sold a dolomite sprint to go to america and the chap who bought it took it over on older paper work to make it 25 years old so it does happen.

[bloodyank]

This car was just imported in Nov '07.
So, the C indicates 1965?
What can we tell otherwise by these numbers/letters?
Thanks!

[stevey]

Morris Minor traveller (MAW) 1098cc registered 1965

[Axolotl]

Chassis number:-

M - Morris
A - A-series engine
W - Traveller
5 - 1098cc
D - DeLuxe spec.
nnnnnn - serial number of build [Edit] All I can tell you from the number at the moment is that it is after August 1962 and before January 1968, so 1965 is definitely possible. I'm still looking for a concise list of chassis numbers against build date. [/Edit]

Licence plate:
H=Sequence letter within area code (to give more registrations per area code).
YL=Area where fiirst registered. In this case,YL = London (Central)
850 = sequence number
C = Date of first registration. In this case C = between 1/1/1965 and 31/12/1965. (or since you are American, between 1/1/1965 and 12/31/1965 )

[bloodyank]

Axolotl--
Perfect! Just what I was looking for- Thanks!!
You guys are amazing.
-Dave

[LouiseM]

Chassis numbers 1092770 to 1131828 were built during 1965 so your car is definately a 1965 model.

[bmcecosse]

So the 'Bill of Sale' must be wrong! Does it claim to be from the original vendor of the car ? Does the chassis number on the plate on the bulkhead confirm the paperwok details ?

[bloodyank]

Got it sorted out. Thanks all for the help. The Bill was wrong, and the seller is sending me a new one.
I'll be posting some pics soon for some identification help on the various parts that have been replaced and updated.
Gotta go shovel snow again.....
-Dave

[bigginger]

It's a hard life Nice turning on your site, btw
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