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MG MGB Technical - Commission Number ?

What is the commission number on MGBs, and how do you decipher the code?
G E Bandy

"The commission number prefixes start with G for MG, followed by a number representing BMC's ADO project code number for each model - 23 on MGB, 52 on MGC, 75 on MGBGTV8. The last letter in the prefix is for the body type, N on a roadster or D on a GT.
Commission numbers were suffixed with a letter indicating where the had been "commissioned", as commission numbers were issued and the plates attached in the body finishing plant, rather than at Abingdon. On MGB's the following commission number letter suffixes may be found :
F Bodies Branch, Coventry (mgb roadsters 1962-69, early mgc roadsters)
P Pressed Steel, Swindon (MGB roadsters 1969-70, later MGC roadsters, MGB and MGC GTs 1965-70)
Z Pressed Steel, Cowley (all cars from 1970-76)
The change from suffix letter P to Z in 1970 is curious as it does not actually appear that earlier bodies were any more "commissioned" at Swindon than later bodies were.
The commission number series each started from 101, and, in the case of the MGB and MGC models, different serie were used for roadster and GT models respectively. A new series of numbers was started for both MGB and MGC roadsters when production of these bodies was moved from Coventry to Swindon/Cowley, but the new series of roadster commission numbers, and the GT number series, continued through the change from suffix letter P to suffix letter Z. Abingdon stopped recording the commission numbers in April 1971, but they were still issued to cars well into the "rubber-bumper" era, certainly to June 1976."
Original MGB by Anders Ditlev Clausager
michel

This thread was discussed between 23/02/2008 and 24/02/2008

MG MGB Technical index

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