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MG MGB Technical - What year did the chassis plate number change

This question come up on the owners club site about what year did the chassis plate change from been stamped from the front to been stamped from behind.
all my cars have been stamped from front 63 mgb/68 mgc and 70 gt but some one said their oct 72 which is start of 73 year model was reverse stamped.
Ive looked on Paul Hunts site but at present it doesnt seem to be on there.
Can anyone narrow the gap down for me please as a lot of the problems could be that previous owners have swapped the plates on some cars and not stamped them up as original.
Thanks Ste
Ste brown

Ste,

My two cars have chassis plates as follows:

1: MGB GT (number 480473) first registered March 1979, has plate stamped from behind (this is the oval shaped plate).

2: MGB Tourer (number 516329) first registered August 1981, has larger rectangular plate, stamped from front.

I purchased the cars in 1980 and 1986 from the first owners and I believe the plates are the original ones.
Brian Shaw

1972 mgb roadster,I am the orginial owner. Stamped from the front and is on the Left (USA)driver rear door post.Rich O
rich osterhout

1972 Roadster
Both Commission and Car Number plates are stamped from the front. The first is original. The second appears to be a later one introduced in the Autumn of '72, so after mine was built.
Can't see anything in Clausager which mentions stamping direction.
Richard Coombs

Ste

I know of this subject and the question of body numbers being discussed on the MG Car Club site - I do not have access to the owners club site.

The best source of this information is Clausager - The Original MGB with MGC - about to be reprinted and available in June - see Amazon

On pages 118 to 124 Identification is discussed.

Assuming you want to know about UK cars.

Up to Jan 67 a small rectangular plate with MG logo was used. These are stamped from the front with a fine stamp.

From Jan 67 a small plate with rounded ends and marked MG Car Company was used - stamped from the front.

From the autumn of 72 and certainly by Jan 73 a similar round ended plate marked Austin Morris Group British Leyland UK Ltd was used until up to 1979. This is the plate punched from behind.

Because of the lag between manufacture and sales it is possible to find 72 and 73 registered cars with either type of round ended plate and thus different stamping. For instance I have a friend with a black tulip coloured midget made in Dec 72 but not registered until August 73. Not a popular colour then!

So difficult to be really precise as it all depends.

George
G R Wilder

In my last note I said I thought my Chassis (Car Number) plate was newer than the car. I've just checked the Moss catalogue and it says the Chassis Plate should have the manufacturer as 'Austin Morris Group' for 1970 on, which is what I have. Also according to Moss, the manufacturer name was 'The MG Car Company' for '66 to '70. However, Clausager says (p. 120) the 'Austin Morris' header did not change until Autumn '72(i.e. the first '73 models). Can anyone confirm one way or the other what should be the manufacturer on the chassis plate for one of the first 1972 models produced in November 1971? Can't believe Clausager has it wrong.
Richard Coombs

My Black Tulip roadster similarly languished, from September 72 to June 73.

Clausager is not perfect, but he only had the factory records to go by. If they are wrong, then so is his book unless someone who was there and can prove something different put him right (which I doubt he would have been pleased about, as someone who worked with him told me he didn't like the English). However my September 22nd 1972-built car has the MG Car Company plate, so even August 72 wasn't universal for the Austin Morris plate, let alone 1970. Austin-Morris wasn't used as the name for the volume car division until 77, Austin Morris Group in 1980.


Paul Hunt 2010

Thanks everyone as I had never really taken any notice before that they changed from front to rear stamping of the plates.
Looks like it was around the end of 72 for the 73 model year that it changed them.

Is this the same for the USA cars or was that at a different time?

Ste
Ste brown

Thanks Paul. I'll go with the 'MG' label when the time comes to fit the new one.
Richard Coombs

Just to add more confusion, whilst my May 75-built V8 has the Austin Morris plate it is also reverse stamped, same as the September 72-built roadster with the MG plate, so the stamping didn't change with the plate type.

USA cars had a different plate in a different place, so maybe not relevant to a question about UK plates
Paul Hunt 2010

Incidentally I have two Moss pages showing decals. One of them shows a plate change in 1970 to two plates, one larger and a different shape to any of the others, the other smaller and rectangular. The first was fitted to the door jamb and the second to the dashtop so it could be viewed through the screen. This is correct for North American cars, but they were never used on UK cars.

The other page shows the correct plates for UK cars, but also quotes 1970 for the change as Richard says. This is an error, presumably an assumption that they occured at the same time. Photos below.

It would be interesting to hear from owners of 67 to 72 cars whether theirs is front or rear stamped. The fixings changed in 1970, maybe it was then.


Paul Hunt 2010

Yet more confusion. Clausager shows a red MGC with what is almost certainly a reverse-stamped plate, but according to the credits this is a 1969 model. The chassis number isn't shown in full, but almost certainly begins with a 2, which puts it as a 68 model as 69 models started from 4236!
Paul Hunt 2010

Paul
I have studied that MGC picture - I am sure it is front stamped
George
G R Wilder

Illogical maybe, Captain, and whilst the prefix could be anything, the one digit of the sequential number that is visible looks much more like the softer rounded rear punched than the thin sharp front punched, as in the blue MGC. This one also has pop-riveted plates, whereas Clausager says this didn't start until 1970. Could have been removed and replaced, I suppose, but would one really change the fixings?


Paul Hunt 2010

This thread was discussed between 01/05/2010 and 06/05/2010

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