Authenticity of Vehicles

[PAD263]

Hello

I am interested in purchasing a vehicle and would like to know if the vehicle is genuine and has not been altered in any way from its original factory model. Can anybody suggest the best place online where it is possible to check these details about a vehicle. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[Murrayminor]

Hi

A brief description of which model you are interested in may assist.
Do you want a Van, Pick-up, Traveller, 4 door, 2 door, year, engine size etc lots of varying models.

[geoberni]

Hello PAD
In my humble opinion, what you're asking is near impossible.
The Minor was in production for well over 20 years, went through 3 distinct variants with several other tweeks along the way.
A 1971 model will be very different to a 1948, and almost all early cars have received some updates, particularly trafficators/indicators.

There is no single source of knowledge of the sort/depth you're asking about, for a Minor nor any other car really.

(I see Murryminor has just posted too, and our responses are along the same lines)

[Sleeper]

Pad
Have a perusal of this...

Invalid file extension: History of the Minor.doc

Sorry,mmoc won't let me add it , if you pm me I'll send you a copy.


John ;-)

Meanwhile

http://ourclassiccars.co.uk/morris-minor-1000-history/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Minor

https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-ne ... ris-minor/

etc. etc.

[ManyMinors]

The best online guide is probably that produced by The Potteries Morris Minor club. If you google that, it should come up.
Failing that, purchase one of the many books on the subject by respected authors - Pail Skilleter or Ray Newell have probably written the best.

[geoberni]

The best online guide is probably that produced by The Potteries Morris Minor club. If you google that, it should come up.
Failing that, purchase one of the many books on the subject by respected authors - Pail Skilleter or Ray Newell have probably written the best.

Here's the Potteries Link, which is good for identifying key changes, but to know 'everything', you'd have to inwardly digest the entire Workshop manual to know what changes occurred when, and even then some things changed randomly as stock of parts changed over. Whose to say when a particular model of dynamo was fitted for example.
In several cases the Manual simply refers to Early or Later cars for something changing slightly.
http://potteries.mmoc.org.uk/Identification.htm

To be honest, it depends on what you actually mean by your statement

if the vehicle is genuine and has not been altered in any way from its original factory model.

There are a few references in the Workshop Manual of things the Dealer could do to rectify any 'issues' the customer was experiencing; would you count those as breaching your requirement?

[PAD263]

Thank you everyone for your comments. I have come across a Morris Minor Pickup that I would like to purchase; but would like to know if it was originally built as a genuine Pickup and not a Van that has subsequently been remodelled into a Pickup. I have been told that there is a website/group somewhere that can confirm this information, and I wondered if anyone was aware of a website where the information could be checked. Thank you.

[les]

You could check the reg number against the gov.uk website, should say if van or pickup. The van chassis number will include the letter V, the pickup will include U.

[Rasputin]

I have an original pickup and the chassis no. is MAW which should make it a Traveller but I have a photocopy of the original logbook which says the same,so DVLA do make mistakes.

[PAD263]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond, I have now obtained the information that I wanted.

[les]

Is it a genuine Pickup ?

[POMMReg]

Some 1970s pickups fitted with van chassis plates from the factory, think the correct axle weights & the GVW was more important.

[SteveClem]

As years go on, it becomes increasingly difficult to confirm originality/authenticity.
Over the past 50+ years generations of people have done work to these cars, some good and some not so good.
In the absence of definitive information I think the best course is to ensure that a car is sound and honest before buying.
Most buyers want a usable,well cared for,car with a nostalgic ambience.
There are a few impeccably documented cars around for those who care about authenticity