Morris Minor Owners Club

Would anyone know when in the production line did the chassis number get stamped?

Interesting question... not for the question itself, but as to why you're asking.

Unless there is someone here with intimate knowledge of the production line, I doubt you'll get an answer.

My personal view would be before anything when into the car and before the bonnet was fitted.

Just so a man in a brown dust coat could easily stand in the engine bay with a set of punches and do the job....

The shells with NMP plate came down to Cowley from the midlands presumably after rotodip and primer. As has been said, soon after arrival and before paint,

Just out of interest - what about the Knocked down kits?

"Just so a man in a brown dust coat could easily stand in the engine bay with a set of punches and do the job.... " That too is interesting - as their alignment is not uniform I presume it was done by hand with just stamps and maybe a bit of wood held behind to stop the panel from collapsing.

Nourish wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 12:29 pm "Just so a man in a brown dust coat could easily stand in the engine bay with a set of punches and do the job.... " That too is interesting - as their alignment is not uniform I presume it was done by hand with just stamps and maybe a bit of wood held behind to stop the panel from collapsing.

Yes, probably a 2 man job. Basil's is all over the place, and much larger stamps used than others I've seen.

Nourish wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 12:23 pm Just out of interest - what about the Knocked down kits?

I think that may well depend on the extent of CKD.
In an extreme example, that of Australia where kits were in Primer and even Paint colours were a local variation, they were given distinct numbers.
I've copied these images, for the purposes of this discussion, from a Australian Auction site, as if I link to them they might be gone tomorrow.
Down there the cars were assembled by Nuffield (Australia) Pty and given a local number in addition to the UK number, making for a very long VIN.. So this car had the local number stamped over on the other side of the battery above the fuel pump... But there's other examples online where it's next to the Plate... If you study those plates, you'll find yourself wondering how they organised the unpacking of the CKDs.

The last photo 192092, would indicate a SII, circa 1953, but it has a higher local number 23917, than the S3 car (681268) in the first image

I don't understand the word "organised" in this context

simmitc wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 3:54 pm I don't understand the word "organised" in this context

Well I'm assuming the first plate, for the car identified as a FA5 is '681268' .(Some of these Aussie Plates have random '/' all over the place but numbers didn't go as high as 7******)

So if that is local build number 10824, how is a much earlier SII car given local number 23917, some 13,000 builds later...
Did they leave it at the back of the warehouse for years?

Perhaps I'm misreading them....

confused.com...

geoberni wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 5:08 pm

simmitc wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 3:54 pm I don't understand the word "organised" in this context

Well I'm assuming the first plate, for the car identified as a FA5 is '681268' .(Some of these Aussie Plates have random '/' all over the place but numbers didn't go as high as 7******)

So if that is local build number 10824, how is a much earlier SII car given local number 23917, some 13,000 builds later...
Did they leave it at the back of the warehouse for years?

Perhaps I'm misreading them....

confused.com...

Oz c/n rebooted at S111

POMMReg wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 5:32 pm

Oz c/n rebooted at S111

That would make sense of these numbers.

There were 948cc engined S11 CKDs.