What year is my car? (Possible 59 content Bill)

[roxorboxor]

Hello all,

I have been interested in minis since I was 14 or so (ten whole years ago!). A few weeks ago I was able to buy my first mini, a 1960 Morris 850. However, I'm a little confused over the actual year of my car.

The previous owner obtained a Heritage Certificate which states that it is a 1960 (December 30 at that). I've seen other 1960 cars with VINs in the 20000 range (is that right?). However, my car's number is only 9443. It was originally an export (MA2S4-L) but I don't think they had separate chassis numbers for exported cars? I feel like such a low number would correspond to sometime in 59?

To make things more difficult, the original engine is not currently with the car, and I'm not sure what else has happened to it in the last 54 years. I do know that the wiper motor box is labelled 1159.

Anyway any help is appreciated! I will post pictures in the next few days.

[woodypup59]

Has it got an FE number.

Is there a number stamped in the wing stiffener (LH as you look in the engine 'ole).

Or a BMK number on a little plate screwed to the firewall.

[mk1]

The wiper motor would indicate a build date around December 1959.

Hopefully Bill will pass some comment, in the meantime some pics would be most useful.

[JC T ONE]

Switches for lights / wipers and the high/low beam also have dates, incase the wiper motor has been changed at some point.

[gs.davies]

Are there also dates on the backs of the door latches? I also think the boot lock is dated as is the distributor and in the case of my car, the starter motor (obviously a later replacement as my starter dates to '68)

[roxorboxor]

This is the best photo I have right now, right before it was delivered to my house.



I'll look around my car for any interesting numbers etc. and post pictures here then. Thanks for the help and interest so far!

[Tim]

Gee that looks like an Australian car - apart from the mirrors.

Tim

[LarryLebel]

If the heritage certificate says its a 60 ... its a 60. I doubt somebody reVINed a 59 to make it a 60. Any dated parts would have been made prior to the car. There's no such thing as time travel.

[rich@minispares.com]

If the heritage certificate says its a 60 ... its a 60. I doubt somebody reVINed a 59 to make it a 60. Any dated parts would have been made prior to the car. There's no such thing as time travel.

actually, you are wrong

some of the early cars which didn't sell (particually the boring basic ones), were returned to the factory, up-speced, re vined and sold as 1960s

bill will know more

[roxorboxor]

Thanks for all the help everyone.

From the engine bay I got these two numbers:

BMK 7403
and
FE12360 (as far as I can tell)

Included is a picture of the driver side (left interior) footwell, (since I believe these were much smaller in area than on older model years but I forget exactly when they changed these things) After checking the 1959 Mini Registry website it looks like these floor pans match the "Mid Oct-59 to Oct 60" style so that doesn't really help
. In the footwell is another plate with a number (bottom right of pic) but it's covered with that black paint/sealant so I can't really read it.


As for the other things, I didn't see any codes for the door locks or light switches, and I wasn't ready to start taking things apart this morning but maybe I will if the above isn't helpful.

Thanks again for the interest everyone.

[woodypup59]

Your BMK and FE numbers are spot on for end of '59, tho I can't really be more precise.

I have a record of FE 12115 for 30/12/59 but no BMK for that car. The nearest BMK # I have is 4858 for end Oct '59.

You'll have clean up that little plate in the picture.

Also, carefully examine the inner wing stiffener by the fusebox (maybe paint strip it) - there may be a body number there (see mine below).

Its difficult to see through that black gunk, but I wonder if I can see signs of welded joints on the small floor pans ?

In other words has it has new floors ?

[Simon776]

Looks as though BMIHT may have made a mistake with the Heritage Certificate and it should read 30th December 1959 as the build date.

What is the despatch date?

[roxorboxor]

Inner wing stiffener has 9443 printed on it.

Heritage Document says Dec 29 1960 as the build date and Dec 30 1960 as despatch date.

The plate in the footwell has at least the number 800 at the end. There could be an 11 in front but that could just be gunk. Not really much use from that.

Here are a couple more pictures.

Trying to look at the door sills:


View from front:


Heater (might be original not sure?):


Rear window latches:


I'm not sure how much more I can offer without having to take things apart or remove paint etc. It's certainly been interesting so far to hear your thoughts. Again let me know if I can get you more pictures etc.

Thanks for the help everyone!

Edit: I sniffed around some more and found these interesting tidbits:
The front drain holes in the roof are missing, and the back two are very small. No drip rails.
Both doors have holes in them above the latch, and no extra drain plates etc.

Things are looking very '59 around here.

[bill773mini]

Build date for 9443 is 30th December 59, dispatch to NE USA January 1960

[roxorboxor]

Thanks for the information Bill!

To provide some background:

When the car was posted for sale it had a 1098 engine installed with a remote shift and the previous owner had just installed a new interior. At some point earlier the car was painted red with white roof as it stands now, but not in the best quality sadly. Because of this, I can't be sure that anything from the inside of the car is accurate for 1960 or 59.

When I bought the car I asked for an 850 to be put back in (I belive he got it from a 1962 Traveller) with the wand shift. Seeing as I wanted to drive it more than just look at it, I also had him put in lap seatbelts and the mirrors on the fenders. Had I known more about this car perhaps I wouldn't have done these things!

Since the heritage document states 1960 as the build year it is registered here as a 1960 and probably will for a long time since I don't want to attempt re-registering here in California (local members might understand, the DMv here can be difficult)

For those interested, the heritage document says the car was Clipper Blue Deluxe with a heater.