Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi,

in the engine bay, besides the identification plate with engine and chassis number, there are even two other little plates, on the right side with some numbers. What do they mean?

Does the engine number have a meaning, like the chassis one? If so, how does it have to be red??

Thanks,

Luca

Ciao Luca.
those numbers to the right (carb side at top), were some kind of production line numbers, and dont realy mean anything to us these days

Yes, they are the body number, but I believe that it was just a factory reference and they are not logged against any other numbers so they are pretty useless to us unfortunately.

The engine number does have a meaning but there are a few different 'formats' depending on the engine type and age. Willie is the engine number expert on here!

Isn't the bodynumber also qouted in the Heritage Trust Certificate? I checked my chassisnumber against that, to make sure the car wasn't made up of more than one car

i am not sure Onne. they must be recorded somewhere, but i have never used them for anything. It nice to still have them on our cars. i always look for them if i buy a minor.

On the Minor LCV that body number can identify the year, and as to whether the LCV was GPO/PO or civillian, so they are useful (Cam) if you know what you are looking for!!!!

But not useful (Russ) on a Saloon like Luca's.

I am sure that the date of production could be obtained from it and what type of Minor it is!

Not according to Ray Newell and the British Motor Heritage centre, as apparently these numbers were not recorded against the cars...

Of course, if you know any different, then please tell us.

Cam

Saloons & travellers I know very little about, but I have to say I would find it strange that the body numbers on LCVs can date a vehicle and define its type, yet on the rest of the range that is not the case? Also why go the the extreme of using a plate with different numbers etc for no reason....come on!

But alas I will let someone else to dabble with the rest of the range as a couple of us 'LCV nutters' have been working on these for years within the LCV range!!

RussLCV wrote:Saloons & travellers I know very little about, but I have to say I would find it strange that the body numbers on LCVs can date a vehicle and define its type, yet on the rest of the range that is not the case? Also why go the the extreme of using a plate with different numbers etc for no reason

I too find it strange, which is why we are talking about it! So the case is either:

1) Ray Newell and the Heritage motor centre are wrong and in fact you CAN date a vehicle from it's body number (although the location and details of the 'list' is unknown - to me anyway).

2) The saloons, travellers and convertible records did not contain details of the body numbers, just the chassis and engine numbers.

....come on!

Pardon?? We are trying to gain information here. Like you said, you know very little about saloons and travellers. It's not impossible that those numbers were not recorded.

But alas I will let someone else to dabble with the rest of the range as a couple of us 'LCV nutters' have been working on these for years within the LCV range!!

Yes, that's not a bad idea. Perhaps if we 'non-LCV' types get together we can maybe find a pattern?

Oh and one other 'tongue in cheek' comment (not to be taken too seriously! - so please don't!):

The saloon came first and the LCVs are a varient of the original!

*I'm* hurt and offended...

Me too! Thanks to you and your kind, I want an LCV too now!

Can I become an honorary LCV bod by just wanting one really badly??

Cam

I know where you are coming from but as I said I have spent years number crunching these 'body numbers' on LCVs as it was indicated to us they meant nothing! All that means is that there are no archives or records (to hand) that you can cross-reference too, but any serial number will always mean something.

Again I am not sure if this is the same in Oz for saloons etc...., but these body number plates are not fitted on the LCVs, as the Oz compliance plate (larger chassis plate) includes the Oz body number on them and guess what............you can also tell the year from this. Again I have no idea if the cars in Oz are the same, but then again why should they differ!

Cheers

Just out of curiosity, and to confirm what I thought, the Heritage Certificates for both my cars (2dr saloon & Traveller, '62 & '57 respectively) do have the body number as well as the chassis number. So there must be a reference in BMIHT records of which body number relates to which vehicle as it left the factory.
Whether this is universal is a different matter but it would appear that maybe in some if not all cases that if the body number is known without the chassis number then some sort of cross reference can be made to determine said chassis number.
I'm possibly off track here, so apologies if that's the case.

I think this needs further consideration. Perhaps I should start a bit of number crunching myself!

Like you say, all serial numbers mean something. I was not aware that the LCV folks had been previously been told that the numbers have no meaning! Right, well thanks for the info Russ. I'll start collecting numbers!

Just out of curiosity, and to confirm what I thought, the Heritage Certificates for both my cars (2dr saloon & Traveller, '62 & '57 respectively) do have the body number as well as the chassis number. So there must be a reference in BMIHT records of which body number relates to which vehicle as it left the factory.
Whether this is universal is a different matter but it would appear that maybe in some if not all cases that if the body number is known without the chassis number then some sort of cross reference can be made to determine said chassis number.
The little plate originally mentioned and later described as a production line number, not body number, may be a different kettle of fish though.
I'm possibly off track here, so apologies if that's the case.

Anyone any findings yet?

Not enough data yet!

I wonder what is on this plate to further complicate things?
Not screwed but firmly fixed to body by other method adjacent to front left bumper mounting. NMP = Nuffield Metal Products (Birmingham) presumably. Sorry, my pic. will not post directly in spite of using IMG immediately before and after? I wonder if the body identification on this plate (if there is one) is that for which there are no records?

http://img.photobox.co.uk/2767955403f77 ... c9a153.jpg