I have an English 850 solid sided van, but I don't know which year it was made. The body number is FE 1773***. Do any of you gurus out there know about when this would have rolled off the production line?

Best bet would be to get a UK heritage certificate as the numbers won't match up with any of the Australian ones . As a chance though , what's the engine number and I'll see how it compares to the 850's I have on the 850 register , if it's early (when we used UK engines) I might be able to give some idea .

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I bought the car in pieces, and I'm not sure if the engine that came with it is the original. There is no other body ID plate other than the body number plate riveted to the l/h inner guard. The engine number is 1015 [ 109**. Is that even 850?

Thanks for your help.

OK , that's an Australian 1100 cc engine number so no help at all unfortunately . Some of our Kiwi members might be able to help more as they had more UK built vans there than we did here .

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that number (not the FE number as I've recently been informed) will be what you need for a heritage certificate. Gives the original colours, engine number, the dealer who it was dispatched to and something else. Worth it for a special car

here you go...

http://shop.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/shop/heritage-certificates/heritage-certificates-10131/heritage-certificate/index.html

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Simon,

The plate riveted to the inner guard is the one with the FE number. Are you saying that British Motor Heritage can't provide a certificate on the basis of this number?

I don't know that a heritage certificate will be appropriate for my van anyway, I have nearly finished the resto with Rover spi running gear. I was really just curious to find out what year the shell was made.

A heritage certificate tells you everything about what it started out as , doesn't matter what it's like now or in the future .

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the FE number plate is usually welded to the body, and is in body colour. It's the identifier for just the shell, not the car. There would have been a proper ID plate (printed and stamped) with the car number.... so if you don't have that one, then you can't get a heritage certificate.



yep, I'm with you... not much point when it's not going to be an 'original' resto - my traveller is a smooth roof, and has is FE855*** - it's an April '65 build - you might be able to date yours off that

some discussion here

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic ... e&start=15

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

I agree with SK. Your van should have an FE number welded to the inner guard and a chassis plate screwed/riveted to the front slam panel. There should also be a body number stamped into a raised section on the slam panel. But without the chassis number you cannot get a hertage certificate.

Unfortunately it will be difficult to identify the car without the chassis plate. However, the Australian authorities often use the FE number as the chassis/vin number to register the car, so you should hopefully not have much issue there.

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2