I know there are some early cars being listed on the 850 register and people are trying to find out dates of manufacture, but it appears there are no records.
It would be interesting to compile a list of info and various componets on these cars. Things like the original serial no. stamped on the body and the new aust no stamped. and the engine no. on the plate.
With the various date stamps on other parts it could shed some light on the various cars.
One problem I have found with my 850 is that dealing with the various english clubs ie the 59 heritage and B.M. heritage I have found many things on this car that are earlier than what it should have according to production change dates.
Trevor from 59 heritage thinks that many panels and parts were being stock piled for export to Aust as they came off production lines.
example is the engine and distributor that was in my car. the dist is for a 59 car and these were superceeded around mid 60. Again the radiator is a very early one and does not match to the car.
I know there would have been many parts changed over, but we might find some common items for these early cars.

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Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
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Probably not a bad idea David and could narrow a lot of things down for the changes . Admittedly after nearly 50 years a lot of the things mentioned could have been changed but it's still worth a try . How about helping compile a list of what we need and then will ask everyone who's provided car details if they are willing to add the info ?

I'm thinking ,
Front gutter vents (slotted hole or drilled holes)
Front valance (cut out or full width)
rear trailing arms (cast or pressed/welded)
rear trumpets (cast alloy or pressed/welded steel)
seat mounts (rivetted to body or bolted)
Seat rear legs (curved pipe or vertical post)
Washer bottle location (inner guard or firewall)
What else ?

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My early 850 had the UK tube frame seats, and I think the brackets were welded to the crossmember.
The crossmember already had the 8 threaded holes for the later brackets though, go figure..

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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.

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Have a Nice Day.
If already having a nice day please disregard.

what i am getting at is getting the ID no's off cars and especially cars where the exact date of manufacture is known.

Look at these particular cars and try to compile a list of the various parts they had, mainly for the kit cars that were assembled here.
I know that there is a lot of confusion with things like dates on glass, electrical componets etc. but over the last 18 months I have been finding out as much as I can about early cars from various sources in UK.

So far it has been interesting with the little changes and info that is around. One site I found and has been confirmed by quite a few research people in UK is the date system on UK cars. The glass with indestructo and tri plex glass. Also some electrical componets were date stamped with the week of the year and not month. Even the brake drums had date stamps.

As for body changes who really knows as there was so much mix and match as BMC found problems and carried out modifications, even parts like the early fabricated rear arms were modified to change over the hand brake cable system.

So if we start a list of the various changes and try to tie them done to a rough date then as more info come out we might be able to narrow it done.

I have seen so many people here asking the same questions about their car and we get a few replys but if it was on a data base then a more accurate picture might evolve. Things like Doc's comment about the seat brackets etc. and I am sure that people like Morris 1100 also have a wealth of info to contribute.

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

just a idea but maybe there would be problems with it, but if we made a list of the individual cars and all the no's stamped on it then add some of the various componet changes we might get a better idea.

Now the next question is , does any one have any idea of what the car no. stamped onto a plate refers to.

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
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When there are 2 numbers like this the 1st is the ID of the UK supplied CKD kit it was built from.

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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.

I thought that the ckd kits came to aust as a whole heap of similar panels stuffed into a box, then they were pulled out [not in any order] and welded together to make the car.

the no. looks like it is 9\54397 and from what I have been told from UK it is a aust ID . My car still has the original UK no.stamped on it 49903. This no. comes up on UK records but transfered to Nuffield exports . Dead end from there.
I also was told that many of the ckd kits were from austin factory as austins were not selling and they had 1000's stock piled. Morris upgraded with deluxe specs in feb 60, but austins did not until beginning of oct 60

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

I found one cut up at the dump years ago retreived the tag , seat brackets and the mounting brackets that are in between the inner & outer sill that bolt the rear subframe in as they are completely different to revised later inner/outer sills

do you still have the tag or the no's that were on it. I am not too sure about your discription of the sill panels. I believe that the early cars were like this.


were the seat brackets like this


Does anyone have a 850 that they know is a aust. manufactured car [not ckd] and if so what is the car number on the plate. I am wondering if the number changed for aust made cars.

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Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

How do you mean David , up until mid 63 all 850's had the ckd/bmc number before the car number . After that they switched to the straight car number , no change to the YMA2S1 code if that is how you mean ?

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What I am looking for is the car number that is stamped on the plate.
mine has 9\54397 then 1037.
The 1037 is the serial number but does the 9 refer to a ckd and the other numbers the UK "body" serial number. If this "body" number is the UK serial number then all the matching panels that are stamped with the same number would have to be sorted out and assembled.
If the UK panels did not have any numbers stamped on them , what does the 54397 refer to.
When the whole car was being made here in aust did the ID plate drop the car number 9\******* then serial number*****

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

no idea , the 9 was dropped soon after yours though according to the list and the first number became the 6 digit (normally though some real early ones had 5 digits) number that people are calling the ckd number (I have also heard it called a BMC number for all cars produced by BMC worldwide , hopefully watto will come on soon and explain it properly if he knows) then a space , then the car number which is normally very close to the body number or matches .

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Yes David the seat brackets in my `61 850 were same as that.
Pommy tube seats- they just slid horizontally fore and aft (no tilting during adjustment like later ones).

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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.