Have I got an oldie?!

[Freoway]

Just located an old Morris Minor lowlight in a garage. The car is being moved on by its owner, a 92yo lady, who is moving to a home. I have never had a Morris Minor, although I have had plenty of old classics 30's-50's classics. The car's ID plate has MNR, below that, SMM 2189. Below that is the engine number? 1192. I believe it has the original sidevalve engine. It's all there, bar the radiator (which I believe someone stole!). It's straight and rust free. I'm guessing it's early to mid-1949. Is it a particularly early chassis?

Cheers, Lloyd
Fremantle, Western Australia

[OHP 900]

From the information given this is a VERY early car. Built in 1948 or very early '49 (?) but probably registered later due to having to be exported etc. The main reason being that the engine number is 1192, a very early number considering mine is 4024 and that's Febuary 1949 (although probably registered earlier due to it being home market).

If you can, pictures would be great!

[POMMReg]

Deffo 1948

[Freoway]

OK. Minor embarrassment. I got the chassis number correct:SMM 2189. But I misread the first digit of the engine number. It is actually 4192, not 1192. I will try to attach some pics. Unfortunately there's very little room around the car to take pics.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[tysonn]

Oh to be acar restorer in a country with a good climate!Makes me smile when I watch the US shows on SKY when they find a car with rust.It throws them completely.Ours had it built in at the factory.
Mick

[irmscher]

Nice car

[tysonn]

You been up all night Lee?

[OHP 900]

Interesting. The engine number is late February '49 but the chassis number is earlier than mine (3048). This may be due to Morris using different 'starting numbers' for different types of car. RHD was 501 (NWL 576), LHD was 5501(?) and I'm not sure if CKD (completely knocked down) cars had a different 'starting number' or not. Were Australian cars CKD or just RHD? I believe South African cars were CKD as were cars sent to New Zealand though I'm not too sure.

Brilliant car by the way, well worth saving, as others say you're very fortunate in Australia, most project cars over here need some sort of structural repair and in extreme cases a totally new floor!

This is still a very early car and providing its original fitments are all there this is a rare find indeed!