simon k wrote:
what about the number on the radiator shroud for earlier cars? - my '66 van was registered with MV04 474 which came from the radiator shroud, dad's '68 S is registered with his M206 number
One of the problems I had was that the RTA/RMS had used the number from the radiator cowl on their records, like yours.
I was not aware that RMS had a VIN/Car/whatever for my car as it was last registered in 1992 and the paperwork kept by the owner in those days did not show a car/VIN number, only the engine number. So when I went to reregister last year, the number on the radiator cowl was still on RMS file and was used as the default VIN.
The problem with using the cowl number is that it is about 500 less than the Car Number on the firewall. In my case the number stamped by the factory on the cowl was 0699. In the dim past, someone looked at that number and recorded it as "6690". i.e. the right number but upside down.
So this wrong Vin number on the registration papers could cause an issue in the future: a prospective buyer might be suspicious that the number doesn't match any other numbers on the ID plate - and - they didn't make 6,690 Mk1 Ss.
When I approached RMS about the mistake, they sent an inspector to my house to see the car. His first reaction was to photo the radiator cowl. It took time to explain this is wrong for Mk1 Ss. Finally had the correct Car Number allocated to the car but with the YKG2S2 prefix although not required to stamp the prefix number into the body.
I left all this out of my reply to edcomm as hopefully it won't happen to him.