Second chassis No.

[Greig Smith]

For what it's worth the original chassis rails on our late '26 Chummy have both the chassis and the engine numbers stamped one below the other. Incredibly after 90 years it's still a matching number car with the original engine.

The chassis we used for the supercharged single seater special was from 1928 and has the chassis number stamped twice, once at the rear engine mount prefixed by C. The other stamp is just behind the nose piece and has no prefix and is a smaller font stamped considerably deeper into the metal

Cheers
Greig

Sunny South Africa

[Peter Clayton]

It would seem that although there is the Std position for the stamping , alternatives can be found  , maybe we could have a competition for the most obscure.

[Tony Press]

It would seem that although there is the Std position for the stamping , alternatives can be found  , maybe we could have a competition for the most obscure.

No number stamped at all is pretty obscure !

[Ruairidh Dunford]

I have a chassis with no number stamped on it, also saw one at our rally that Tony Betts was selling with no number whatsoever. Both were/are late SWB by design.

I also have an early coil engine with no number stampings.

[Zetomagneto]

I have a chassis with no number stamped on it, also saw one at our rally that Tony Betts was selling with no number whatsoever.  Both were/are late SWB by design.

I also have an early coil engine with no number stampings.

Rory, perhaps these were new items, if you bought a new ( not reconditioned) engine, or bodyshell / Chassis from BMC back in the day they were not numbered.
When Austin sold a new Chassis or engine back then there were not the security concerns of today.
If you get a new manufacturer body shell or Chassis these days most of them want the old one back
to avoid the obvious potential for cloning.

[Tony Press]

I have a chassis with no number stamped on it, also saw one at our rally that Tony Betts was selling with no number whatsoever.  Both were/are late SWB by design.

I also have an early coil engine with no number stampings.

Don't tell the 'experts' who claimed the number must have been ground off our un-numbered chassis in Australia !

[JonE]

Another late '29 with no visible chassis stamping, despite matching numbers/original tags and engine etc. It would help to collate them somehow and see if there is a pattern/range.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Surmising as to why these exist is just that.

[Tony Press]

Surmising as to why these exist is just that.

From memory (dangerous) last time we discussed chassis stamping or lack thereof Bill Sheehan noted that these appeared to be around 1929.

As to the replacement theory- unlikely- in Melbourne these were  Austin 7's imported complete with chassis, engine, floor-pan, scuttle, guards and wheels, too many to be replacements.


Unfortunately the Motor Registration Branch only used the engine number as identification but many of these chassis are still on the Longbridge records held at the heritage centre, so I was able to get the chassis number for my 1929 Saloon and a club member for his 1929 Meteor (that I restored in the 50's).

[Ruairidh Dunford]

The designs of the two I mention are similar to other ‘29 chassis I have - this was the year they produced the highest number of cars throughout production, I think, so perhaps it was so busy they forgot to stamp them.

I am, of course, surmising - what else could I do?