Morris Minor Owners Club

How accurate are these records?

Currently on a DVLA V765 claim for, what appears to be, a '56 "FAH11", BUT upon visiting
Gaydon,the chassis prefix for the car is recorded as "FAB11"!

I know WHERE it was despatched to, hope registration records will state the colour of the
car when first registered.

As always, PLEASE keep sending in details of your cars,especially Adderley Park built Minors
- ALL this info is of great benefit to me when helping other enthusiasts with car id issues.

Cheers

Chris

The first Production Trace Certificate described my car as a Series II. On pointing out the error I was sent the correct certificate for a Series MM. Obviously a typo by someone copying info from the records.

One of the archivists said there's records missing covering '55 2drs.

My 1955 records okay for body/engine numbers, but have NO notes
on G/B,R/A nor key numbers!

So, what possibly could have happened between Cowley Despatch,
when the car was supposedly black, and delivery?

OR, as Mike suggested a typo error?

Chris
MINOReg Historian
pommreg@gmail.com

I have spent considerable time looking through the original ledgers, which is exactly what the staff do to produce a certificate. You have to understand that the ledgers are hand written - there was no computerisation! Some clerks were meticulous in recording all the information, others not so. What is there is usually good. but if details are missing, then that's that. There are also examples of cars with two engine numbers. Sometimes one is crossed out, but not always. Many years ago I spoke with one someone who worked in the factory. He explained that if a car was supposed to be blue with blue trim, but they had only red seats available, then the vehicle might get red seats simply to get it out of the door. The production ledger might record either the "correct" colour, or the actual colour. Given the number of staff working on a car in those days, I suspect that there are a great many stories of things that might or might not have happened.

simmitc wrote:I have spent considerable time looking through the original ledgers, which is exactly what the staff do to produce a certificate. You have to understand that the ledgers are hand written - there was no computerisation! Some clerks were meticulous in recording all the information, others not so. What is there is usually good. but if details are missing, then that's that. There are also examples of cars with two engine numbers. Sometimes one is crossed out, but not always. Many years ago I spoke with one someone who worked in the factory. He explained that if a car was supposed to be blue with blue trim, but they had only red seats available, then the vehicle might get red seats simply to get it out of the door. The production ledger might record either the "correct" colour, or the actual colour. Given the number of staff working on a car in those days, I suspect that there are a great many stories of things that might or might not have happened.

What a lovely story. I wrote to the Oxford evening news,many years ago,asking for ex Cowley employees recollections.
Many replied. One chap,Roy, told me he worked mainly on GPO vehicles. He also told me there was a resident GPO Inspector on site all the time. He would personally check each GPO chassis as it went down the production line. Roy also said, he would make sure,Mail,and Telephone vans got the correct rear floors , with the correct captives etc. If he lost any GPO fittings,he said he would get in real trouble,from the inspector. Another little story,before Robots took over.

Should of asked what the chassis prefix J/M meant on Civvy lcv's!

POMMReg wrote:Should of asked what the chassis prefix J/M meant on Civvy lcv's!

Flippen eck,clean forgot. Red Robbo might know !

POMMReg wrote:Should of asked what the chassis prefix J/M meant on Civvy lcv's!

AND "0" - another unexplained LCV prefix.

POMMReg wrote:

POMMReg wrote:Should of asked what the chassis prefix J/M meant on Civvy lcv's!

AND "0" - another unexplained LCV prefix.

Have you tried, The Minor LCV Register ? or Russell Harvey, Minor LCV Historian/ Freelance motoring Journalist ?