Morris Minor Owners Club

I know its on the site here somewhere but can I find it. I have a car to look at and I think its a conversation. Is it MATB or similar that will show its a genuine Tourer

I need a quick answer guys as I am only at work for another couple of hours and no online access at home.

Thanks

I think the chassis number is only a giveaway on early cars.

Holes in the A pillars- interior light switch is a giveaway.

The other two differences are the strenghtening triangular pieces between bottom of dashboard and A pillar on an original will be spot welded to the dash, Mig welded on the chop top.

Look at the bottom of the B pillar where there are other strenghtening pieces, these should also be spot welded and not mig welded.

Dont dismiss a chop top if done well, the difference is neglible and most people (even Minor owners) cannot tell the difference. Just pay less for chop top than a genuine.

Heres a thread about it
http://www.mmoc.org.uk/index.php?name=P ... sis+number

in addition to what CJ said someone said

Also, you can check the next letter after 'M/A' on the chassis number, if it is a 'T' then it is an original convertible but if it is '2S' then it was a saloonl.

Thanks for those comments but its the chassis bit I really need. This car is MATSD sure that means its not

The Chassis number letter prefix only applies to cars built after a certain date but I forget what that is. Chassis plates can be swapped so look for the courtesy light switch at the front of the door gap between the hinges. If there is one that has a cross head slot and the whole switch threads into the A-post then it's NOT a genuine soft top.
Also look at the curved strengthening panels below the dash. They should be spot welded in place.

Thanks Orkney, this car is a genuine tourer then, many thanks.

yep MAT is correct for a convertible the 5 means its a 1098, so the chassis number checks out as long as its not been replaced.

The genuine tourer I scraped had the light switches in the door pillars so that isn't a definative sign.

Paul Humphries.

switches can be put in at anytime though

Personally I'd look at the welding holding the reinforcemetns at corner of dash.
They should be spot welds so if missing, edge welded, plug welded etc then that would make me suspicious.

Paul Humphries

aupickup wrote:switches can be put in at anytime though

That's what I mean although I've seem to think we've had this debate about door switches before and others say their car had the holes, at least from new.

Paul Humphries.

Interesting about the switches because they would need a captive nut of sorts which wouldn't be a simple job to retro-fit.
I would imagine the discrepencies are down to what was available at the time of building. Either way it makes spotting a genuine car hard work for sure.

courtesy light switches did not have a captive nut, they were screwed into the a post threaded part

screwed into the a post threaded part

Well that's what I meant 'of sorts' as the basic thin metal panel is not good enough to do the job on its own.