MGA Forum

Started goofing around with A today. It was either that or start mowing the yard. Anyway, I found the body number which is B7166 and the radiator is 7167. Now comes the stuff I'm not too sure about. The engine number is BP15GB 15746 so I know it's clearly not the right engine. FrOm what I can gather it is a very early 1500, is that correct? If it is, are there people looking for that old of a 1500 so I can sell it to get a 1600 or even a 1800? Now the crappy part, I don't have have a VIN plate and I can not find the vin stamped on the RH part of the chassis. Now I have to do the research on what steps I'm going to have to going through to get a new VIN through the state of Virginia. Let the games begin.

use a very bright light and some sandpaper and some steel wool - or maybe even some white paint (brush it on then wipe it off to see if it leaves residue in the stamping) - to search for that number on the frame...they can be hard to read, but should be there. Mine was totally illegible on the frame, but fortunately I had my plate.

You can get good repro plates, but figuring out what number to put on it is tougher.

Do you have an old license plate or reg that came with the car? That will help.

I had a different problem. The PA registration that came with my car reversed the letters on the VIN ("hkd" instead of "hdk". I ended up having to get a NH state trooper to visit the house and read off the VIN and sign the forms if I wanted a non-salvage title.

Good luck with your search.

JIM in NH

I will try that once I really start to tear into it, thanks.

I see your from NH, that is where I got this one from this weekend. In fact, I got the uhaul from the uhaul in your town. The traffic getting from NYC to NH was horrible, 7 hrs. I bought it for a guy in Lyndenborough (sp). Absolutely gorgeous up there. I hope to take the GT up there in a couple of months. I'm wanting to go the British Invasion in Stowe Vt.

there are great driving roads up here - go to Franconia Notch and Crawford Notch

tell me when you come up and I'll give you some more things to try...

JIM in NH

Douglas, I have been looking for the vin on my parts car for about 30 years. On a whim last fall I took a can of aircraft stripper to the right hand floor rail and scrubbed it with a natural bristle brush. I was delighted to see the entire number plain as day....it was farther towards the center of the rail than I expected. A trick is to run your finger across the surface of the rail to look for a very slight indentation caused by the stamping process that dishes the rail.

Good luck!
Jim

Douglas,
If it helps any to locate the number on the frame, here is a picture of it on my spare frame (#37236) likely made in mid 1957, Maybe this will give you a reference. BTW there is also a number on the left side of the chassis, but that is not clear enough to read all of them and I didn't get a picture of that.
I just looked at the picture I posted and the resolution isn't adequate to read the numbers, but I hope it at least helps you locate where yours are.
Regards,
Eric



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-07-30 09:59 PM by ohmite.

Eric, I have heard of the other number but not found it. I have been told that it is an inspection stamp from the frame manufacturer. Could you demonstrate the area to look?
Regards, Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-07-30 10:15 PM by JMGMGA.

Jim,
I will try to get a picture, the frame and body are undercover right now so have to do some work to get to that spot. Will pos as soon as I get the picture.
Regards,
Eric

Jim,
I hope these are clear enough. I shot several different angles and wet the area a little to get some contrast and reflections to show the numbers on the left side. The first picture is a closeup, the 2nd has other things in the picture for reference, but it is impossible to read the numbers without blowing it up and at high resolution which is shown in the 3rd. I read an '8', '7', '4' and I think the last number is a '9'.

I hope this helps.
Regards,
-Eric

Thanks, I'll check my cars this weekend.

Does the number relate to your car number?
Perhaps it reads 3749X. Does anyone else have data for this?
Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-08-01 06:22 PM by JMGMGA.

Jim,
You have better eyes or pattern recognition than I if you see the 'X', but the first number could be an '8' or a '3', not much there to tell, though the '3' in the other number has a sharp line across the top where this seems more round, so it looked like an '8' to me. I know you can't tell from the first picture I posted as the resolution is not the greatest, but if I blow it up (attached) the '3' font seems different than an '8' in the other picture.

I don't think it has anything to do with the vehicle number. This frame does not have a VIN plate as it was part of another project car that had no plate, so I can't tell. Barney's site has some info on this here: http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/buying/buy101c.htm and here is a pdf he refers to in the writeup: http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/buying/pdf/mga_archaeology.pdf
If the pdf document is right, the left numbers had no letters, but don't seem to show an exact pattern with the right numbers.

Armed with this info, I'm not sure it is used anywhere, but it is possible. My '59 NYS VIN number is actually the engine number, and they even got that wrong getting one of the letters wrong. It is sorta academic here in NY as they will not issue a title for anything older than a '74 (found this out when I tried to get a new one). They will register it when I get insurance, but that will be a long time from now .

Regards,
-Eric

Eric, perhaps the weld inspectors used a different font,
The X on the end would represent the final number which is not visible .
I'll be researching this tomorrow on my own cars.
Jim

Jim,
Yes you are very right they could have. Sorry about the 'X' I didn't realize what you meant, there could be a 5th number there. I'm curious what your frame shows, good luck on finding it. I tried to find the chassis number on my '59 but came up empty. I might try to find it again when I go over to work on it tomorrow, I'm more curious now. If I find it I'll get a picture of that too.
Regards,
Eric

Spent a little time with the MGA today (most of the day was dedicated to the Spitfire). I found the right hand side number on the frame, but did not find the left. Both areas are obscured with rust I'm afraid. Better definition will have to wait til it is sandblasted. But if I squint very hard I can make out a ‘5’, ‘9’, ‘7’, ‘8’, ‘2’ but I’m not really sure about the ‘8’ or ‘2’. See the attached blow up of the best picture I could take.

Douglas, sorry for hijacking your thread. Hopefully you have found your numbers and are able to register your car. Question: Do you have a plate, next to the heater box that looks like the 2nd picture below? I have always thought that most folks consider this the 'VIN' number and none of the others (like the engine in my case) are used.

Regards,
-Eric

No that plate is gone, and by the appearance it's been long gone. I done have the 1991 Maine issued plate. I called the Maine DMV yesterday thinking they could or would be able go back in the archives and pull it up. Sadly they did not or could not help me. I'm going to dig more into it next weekend, it's a good thing I don't need it anytime soon.

As far as hijacking this thread, it's all good. Anything to pass on the info and ask questions.