Oh My God! I thought Sydney was in NSW! I'll have to re-write my whole article.

Didn't realise that Mini production began here in 1950 either. Bugger. And obviously the Zetland factory only opened for Mini production. Hmmmmmm.......

OK, to more serious type stuff.

Yes, the first six-digit number is the UK chassis number. These numbers were applied in sequence with cars assembled in the UK, and were applied to CKD in ther same way as to complete cars in UK.

If you contact BMIHT at Gaydon (www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk or phone - from Australia - 0011 44 1926 641 188) they should be able to give you a date that the CKD kit was transferred to Nuffield Exports, which would be shortly before departing for Aussie shores.

Fisher and Ludlow, who operated the Sheet Metal and Body Division at Zetland (what is commonly khown as the body stamping and assembly plant) began stamping Mini body panels in March or April of 1964.

Prior to this date (and possibly with some left-over shells as production switched from CKD to full local manufacture) all Australian Minis - including Morris 850, Mini van and Morris Cooper, should have the two numbers stamped on the ID plate, and I guess on the firewall.

For a rundown on the differences between the 997 Cooper, 998 Cooper and Australian-engined 998 Cooper, see Issue 13 of The Mini Experience.

Cheers,
Watto.

Okay picked up the two shells today and this is what numbers I have ... can anyone help?

On compliance plate (orange car):

YMA2S1

73382/5256

8AM/J/H/198 (some numbers after 8 painted over)

CHARRELLE

On other car

No compliance plate, but under where the compliance plate should be on firewall:

29379

On Radiator shroud

28895

On wiper motor

2971016B DR3A 12V 67

Can anyone help?

1st one is an 850, engine number prefix is 8AM/U/H......

U means magic wand shifter. There never was a J.

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

J ... well it was pretty dark when I was getting the numbers

Any idea what year model it would be? How do I work that out?

Ok.my Mini has the following stamped on it

M2
22
003
PA


This is on the firewall-We know the M2 22 is a mini clubman (possibly a clubman s)

The 003 is the body number

As for the PA we have no idea

The British motoring history group could not help us.We know its July 1971

If any one can tell us its a clubman s and what the pa is it would be great.

The 003 body number also means the third of the Australian production plant line-Lucky us


Thanks
Shane Cassidy
Motor Sports Media
CAMS Accredited Photographer

First car is a Mini 850. Probably around 61/62 (Sports 850 will know better)
Second car I assume to be a 1967/68 Mini Deluxe. The number on the firewall is the car number, the number on the radiator shroud is the body number. Which way do the wipers go? Are they the same on both cars?

Compliance plates were not fitted till 1970 (dec69) Up till mid 69 they had ID plates.

Early model 850 .... WOOHOO ... ill have a look at the 3 engines I got tommorrow and check if I have a matching engine number I am pretty stoked with that. I will PM Sports 850.

Second car ... where would I find an ID plate? It's pretty rusty so if it's only a deluxe might build it for khanacrosses

Anyone got a list of body numbers? Or know where I can find one? To confirm exactely what it is?

.

.

Sweet .... Thanks

My Mini only has the numbers on the firewall there are no numbers on the radiator shroud-The factory did not put numbers or compliance plates on to meny cars after 1969-1972

A family friend who worked at the BMC Layland plant helped us with the numbers and so did some aussies on the brotish mini forum

the 003 is the body number and a promonante member of a club in sydney has a clubman gt with 005 and it was the 5th mini gt made in Australia

The British heritage trust has also given me a letter stateing its a 1971 mini clubman with a body number of 003 being the third od the production line July 1971

I'm pretty sure it was only some Minis produced in '69 which didn't have a compliance plate. Regardless of a compliance plate or not all cars should still have letters & numbers on the radiator shroud.

My GT has a body number (firewall) of 002 and a compliance plate & radiator shroud number of 504. July '71 build.

_________________
Julie.............

The Mini manual my dad has says some minis 1969-1972 were not fitted with compliance plates or numbers stamped on the radiator shoud.

The body number on mine is 003 a very special number and I hope its up and running for the Albany round the houses regularity race re enactment next june in the 50th year.

I hope to also get a great racing shot of it for Adriene the Editor of Australian Classic Car Magazine to concider for a cover photo.

Shane Cassidy
Motor Sports Media
CAMS Accredited Photographer

Actually, Morris 1100, I beg to differ. The Leyland Mini S was released in March 1973, but as we showed in Issue 12 of The Mini Experience, with car number 550 (the 50th one built) it was a Mini Clubman S, and that the first couple of months of production were likely badged this way. It is reasonable that there would have been at least a couple of months' lead time between production and release, and that at the time of production the cars were all Mini Clubman.

However, as the mentioned car is one of the first Mini Clubmans (003) and is from 1971, then it is quite celarly not an S. At the release, as far as I am aware, there were three models - Mini 1100, Mini Clubman and Mini Clubman GT. The Mini 1100 is YDO21 (vehicle type on the Compliance plate is YG2S6), the Clubman YDO22 (YG2S7) and the Clubman GT YDO23 (YG2S8).

M2 22 stamped into the firewall is Mini Clubman (YDO22).

Compliance Plates were required to be fitted to all Australian manufactured or assembled cars from 1 January 1970. If the car doesn't have a Compliance plate, then it must have been removed. It would have been illegal for the car to be sold without it.

Vehicle ID plates were not fitted from mid-1969. Officially July, but it appears that it is more likely to have been around March or April. (maybe Leyland Australia ran out ahead of schedule).

For the original request on the 1967 car - this would have been a Mini De Luxe, as it is the only model from the period with enough made to have such a high chassis number. There were apparently 37,489 De Luxe Minis made, and only 2,248 Mini Minors (850 with wind-up windows). The Morris 850 was discontinued in January 1966, with a total of 60,188 (according to information recently received) being built.

This means, from January 1961 to January 1966 there was an average of approximately 1,000 per month. However, initially production was running considerably slower than this, and was ramped up in April 1961 to meet the exceptional demand.

Be careful about information coming from the UK, as my experience is that the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust knows very little about the manufacture of Minis in Australia. I have spoken with a number of the archivists there numerous times, and they have no records of Australian production.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Watto.

What about The Mini Experience?

Cheers,
Watto.