Pick up or van?? Body number?

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Bornfree
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Pick up or van?? Body number?

Post by Bornfree »

I'm looking at a 1969 pick up which needs restoring (I'll come on to that in another post perhaps as it needs chassis repairs) but I've checked the reg and it comes back as 6cwt on the DVLA site. It's got a plate screwed on the bulkhead on it which has the letters MAVS-26..... Looking at the Potteries MM website it suggests that this is actually a van and if it was a pick-up it would be MAU. Have I missed something? It's got what looks like a proper cab, then a wooden flatbed.

Any thoughts please?
Last edited by Bornfree on Wed Aug 04, 2021 12:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
simmitc
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Re: Pick up or van?? Body number?

Post by simmitc »

Take another look, it's probably MAV5 not MAVS, the 5 denoting a 1098cc engine, the S was not used in that position.

There have been other examples of pickups with a V number. Even if it left the factory as a van. if the body became rotten, then it's relatively easy to remove the van back and fix a cab back piece to convert to a pickup.
Bornfree
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Re: Pick up or van?? Body number?

Post by Bornfree »

Body number
Body number
Screenshot_20210804-101512-01.jpeg (475.22 KiB) Viewed 1754 times
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les
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Re: Pick up or van?? Body number?

Post by les »

Doesn’t look like a factory stamping to me, I’ve also not seen the S before only 5. Wooden flatbed suggests to me that you could be right in thinking it’s a converted van. Often people don’t trouble to do a proper pickup conversion so just put a wooden back on.
POMMReg might be able to help. I’ve also got a list of van/pickups of old. If you post the reg number I’ll see if it’s listed, and as what.
oliver90owner
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Re: Pick up or van?? Body number?

Post by oliver90owner »

Better to PM than posting on the forum?
les
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Re: Pick up or van?? Body number?

Post by les »

Yes, probably a better idea.
stuffedpike20
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Re: Pick up or van?? Body number?

Post by stuffedpike20 »

There is a pickup for sale at the moment on ebay.
Putting the reg number into Mot History data base, it comes up as 'Austin Minor Van'.

The seller says that the logbook says 'Austin Minor Pickup'.

Is this a converted van?
les
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Re: Pick up or van?? Body number?

Post by les »

I’d say it was a van, the cab back has been modified with a non standard window, not conclusive proof but another thing to cause doubt. However the roof has the timber that supports a tilt, not always added when swapping from van to pickup, so who knows. If I was buying I’d be looking for numbers.
stuffedpike20
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Re: Pick up or van?? Body number?

Post by stuffedpike20 »

When I put the reg number of my pickup, and a pickup I used to own, in the Mot history data base; it just says 'Morris Minor'.

Why do some of them differentiate and say 'Morris Minor Van'? Are these the ones that have been changed from vans to pickups, and the DVLA want to record the fact?
simmitc
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Re: Pick up or van?? Body number?

Post by simmitc »

One has to remember that all Minors were originally registered before computers. Although there was a common national registration application form and registration document, each Local Authority had its own manual registration system. What was recorded depended on what the dealer wrote on the application form and what the clerk then wrote on the registration document. If a field was incomplete, then it was left incomplete. When everything was then centralised, a lot of casual labour was used. I'm guessing that it was paid on a piece work basis, but however yo look at it, reading thousands of documents and typing the details in was bound to lead to a few errors.

Even today, the DVLA will accept registration applications on a form V55 with many of the fields left blank. Add in to the mix that LCVs could be relatively easily changed from one body type to another (and not every owner would bother to notify the change), and it's hardly surprising that some descriptions are going to vary. Of course, one still has to take care to check that the vehicle has the correct numbers associated with it, but that's another matter.
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