Engine numbers

[Mike Costigan]

Martin, that's a very small difference in numbers, so it looks like there was nothing major wrong with the engine, but it needed to be pulled from its original installation to keep the production line running. It may have been something as insignificant as incorrect timing or a faulty carburettor.

[Mark R]

Very interesting, thank you both. Nice when details such as this can be verified by paperwork and demonstrate original examples such as this.

[David Stepney]

This is getting quite interesting. I not e Mark R’s comment that he thought that engine numbers were about 1000 ahead of chassis numbers by 1933. My car, also a 1933 car like Martin’s, is a matching numbers car, the engine number being 563 more than the chassis number.

[Tony Press]

Mark,  the history of my car goes blank after it reached Australia as a chassis scuttle unit in June 1929. I was sent this information years ago from the archivist at British Heritage. It was as near as I can tell bodied as a chummy by Properts  using steel pressings for the main body from Holden.  The car was never registered in England.

Stephen

Stephen,

Didn't the information from the Gaydon (British Motor Museum) Factory books give the approximate engine build date ? My 1929 cars are all listed and full details including 'Chassis for Export' were recorded-

Typically Engine Number M 83747, Chassis 83609, Car Number A8 6175, Longbridge build date 26 April 1929.

[Steve Bryant]

No Tony they didn't.
I'll dig out the correspondence to be sure, but I'm fairly certain that information about the engine number wasn't given to me.

Cheers,
Stephen