Hi all, New member here requiring help with chassis number

[Marky b]

G'day all, I am new to the forum, I have purchased a big wheel moke project here in Blighty that has a partial chassis number & wondered if any Moke guru/God could help fill in some blanks?
Hope someone can help, Thanks in advance

[Terry]

Hi,

if you can provide what details you can, we can see what we can come up with.

Terry

[Marky b]

Hi Terry, Thanks for getting back to me, I have a big wheel moke project which I bought, The previous owner had tried to ID the vehicle but no joy, I have managed to get a little further than he did by getting roughly 9 digits of the chassis number, I believe what is a body number from behind where the ADR plate would be & evidence of the original colour, Mark

[Terry]

Marky B,

there normally isn't 9 digits behind the ADR plate that represent the body number, but if you post up the numbers you have I can see what sense I can make of them.

The fact you have/had an ADR plate says 1970-71 onwards, so a picture of where the plate was, just by the shape of the plate it can provide more clues to the time frame.

If you post/upload some pictures of the Moke then that can save a thoudsand words too.

Terry

[Marky b]

Hi Terry, The 9 digits of the vin number I can make out are from the radiator shroud which I have come to believe would/should be 15 digits, The ones I can decipher on this are:
 - - - - OB - - 09 18259 (dashes where digits are hard to see)
There are also numbers from behind where the ADR plate would had been riveted behind the brake & clutch master cylinders on this Moke (Rhd), Also there is evidence in the stamping that the original colour was red.
Marky b

[Terry]

Hi,

The number would have been O18 FOB 1M09 18259 and was built in July 1977.

The paint colour would have been either Scarlet O'hara or maybe Signal Red, https://www.moke.com.au/about/paint-colours?start=18

Terry

[Marky b]

Thanks Terry, I am kind of shocked that you have come up with the vin number so quick, I have been trying to decipher whether or not the vin started in O18 or O3O & then followed by a C, F or X before OB then 1M or 2M before the 09, I had been gently & painstakingly sanding the rust away from the radiator shroud with a fine grade wet & dry to reveal as much as possible without removing any digits remaining, All I can say is a very big thank you for helping me fill in the blanks.

[Terry]

Marky,

The O18 was 73 to early 78, the serial number was 18,000 so that made it towards the end of production so it was an F and not C, it could have been an X but they are very rare. It could have been a 2, rather than a 1M, but without pictures I went for a 1 as there are very few with 2 in the prefix. And the serial number being 18259, I found 18251 on the Australian Moke Register and it is July 1977, so that gave me the month/year.

O30 is is 'Export' Moke built in the first three months of 1973 and the serial numbers never got higher than 2000, so it was not one of them.

Terry

[Marky b]

Hi Terry, That's a pretty good way of working out the missing digits with the known information available to you & a good process of elimination, Do you know if anyone has any build records etc to find out anymore information as to spec etc at time of manufacture? Thanks, Mark

[Terry]

Hi,

the short answer is no records are known to exist.

The story I heard is that the factory records went back to Rover in the UK when things closed down here, and either before they did or years later when Rover was winding down some local clubs were contacted to ask if they wanted the records for the cost of freighting the three containers and no-one took them up on the offer.

That is the story that I have known for about 15 years but I have also heard the records are all n a factory in Bayswater, Victoria, but I wouldn't bet the farm on that one either.

I have also heard of one of the suppliers that moved a couple of his workshops and threw out a lot of interesting paperwork as well, so whatever is still around is getting less.

Terry

[Marky b]

Hi Terry, If the factory records were sent here to the UK I would imagine they could be at the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust (Used to be Heritage Motor Centre) at Gaydon in Warwickshire, Assuming they were not destroyed & sent here, Certainly could be a good place to start looking if no one has checked with them already.

[moke]

Gaydon doesn't have the records. When the Australian factory closed, BMIHT was in it's infancy (Gaydon didn't open until 1993) and were probably one of the "clubs" that turned the records down.
I doubt there was any interest in them back then (especially if cost was involved).
Fast forward to the Nineties and the same fate was awaiting the Portuguese Moke records as BMIHT were also not that interested. It was only due to the persistence of one or two individuals that saved them and got them taken to Gaydon.
Dean

[Marky b]

Hi Dean, I have noticed that Gaydon was in its infancy but they have records from vehicles built long before they built their business up to which it is today, I am very surprised that after the number of Mokes built & years of being built in Australia that someone similar to BMIHT didn't aquire the build records from Rover as Austin vehicles were still being made when the Australian production ceased, I would like to think British Leyland would have tried to aquire the Leyland build records & therefore made their way through Rover to BMIHT or somewhere similar. Mark