Stamped Vin No. "Other places?"

[Guest]

Most of us will know to look at the drivers turret top to find the cars Vin no. on both Maestro's and Montego's.

Some years ago it was mentioned that later cars may have had the number stamped in a secondary area as well.

Do we have a definitive date for this happening?

Has anyone ever found a Vin number stamped in any other place than the Turret?.

I know that the "VIN plate" on early cars was on the drivers inner wing, until moved to the passenger B pillar base.

Having recently been mulling over the number of different years and models of the cars that I have owned (Maestro and Montego) I have never found the VIN stamped anywhere else, but am reminded of the discussion regarding a secondary place whenever I think about it...

So the question is : has anyone found it elsewhere stamped into the metal, or is there any documentary evidence that it was ever stamped in two places at any time during production?.

[Guest]

I have just found a DVLA Document online that gives the dates a VIN is required on a car etc but, it has a useful list of "Likely Places" a VIN may be stamped into a cars body/chassis.

For the Maestro it lists the possibles as:

Beside offside suspension top
Centre engine compartment drain channel
Tailgate drain channel

The document can be found here :-
http://www.dvlni.gov.uk/Freedom%20of...0Details.pdf:-

I will check our two Maestro's later today, but out of interest, has anyone found the VIN stamped in those other area's?

Can you check to see if yours has the alternative area's Stamped?.

It would be interesting to see how many cars (if any) have the alternative position for the VIN.

It would also be interesting to see how many have no turret top VIN or other stamped area besides the plate.
As it is not required before 22/06/87 to have two, and before that date a fixed "stamped" plate is sufficient.

[g200mss #146]

My 84 r series MG has no vin on the turret. Only on the vin plate riveted to the drivers inner wing

Ive searched on here and have found posts stating this is correct for early maestros

[normanmg2000]

vin number

Mal, my vin number on my 1990 [h reg] was on center of drain channel as well as the plate n/side passenger.

[g200mss #146]

Mal, my vin number on my 1990 [h reg] was on center of drain channel as well as the plate n/side passenger.

And not on the turret? I assumed all newer maestros had them stamped on the turret which is why I ask

[David3500]

I can partially answer this question as my father designed the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) marking equipment for the Maestro and Montego and the firm he worked for built it. The VIN marker was actually a Roll-Marker design - i.e. a large rotating wheel with the impression of each character and digit on the outer side of the wheel, rather like you would find on a daisywheel printer. Each character was individually embossed into the bodyshell, thus requiring the marker head to rotate round to the right position for the appropriate character/digit - again, similar to a daisywheel printer.

It might sound a laborous process but it was quicker than the system Ford was using at the same time where each character was individually hand-stamped into the bodyshell. The head of the marker was clamped onto the bodyshell before the indentation process commenced.

It was in 1986 when a decision was made to relocate the Maestro's main VIN from the drip channel behind the engine/top of the bulkhead to the offside front suspension turret, to harmonise with that of the Montego. The change-over will have occurred sometime in the Summer of that year although my Father's company would not have received the internal guidance notification from Austin Rover Group of the 'start' VIN for the location change.

Incidentally, my family owned an early build 1986 Model Year MG Maestro EFi with the Montego dashboard and White Diamond paint finish and the VIN was stamped behind the drip rail/top of the bulkhead at the rear of the engine bay. I still have the VIN for it somewhere

Hope this helps.

[Oli]

Pre-1989 had a body number plate mounted on the front headlight panel on the nearside,Post-1989 models had this moved to the boot floor. (This body number also features on some vin plates) The Vin number stamped into the shell used to be on the centre of the rear bulkhead panel and this moved to the NSF suspension turret sometime around 1986-87. Up until this point the VIN plate itself was mounted on the NSF inner wing panel also. Same applies to both Montego and Maestro.

[David3500]

The Vin number stamped into the shell used to be on the centre of the rear bulkhead panel and this moved to the NSF suspension turret sometime around 1986-87.

You mean offside, as in the driver's side?

The change definitely took place within the first six months of 1986. Quite a busy period as my dad's company were also installing the VIN marking equipment for the new XX generation Rover 800 Series.

Body numbers I have no knowledge of, unfortunately, or for additional locations for the VIN as the contract was simply for designing and building the VIN marking equipment for stamping the 'main' VIN into the bodyshell itself.

[Oli]

You mean offside, as in the driver's side?

Yes, sorry David!

[Simon]

The "Offside Rule" is related to kerbs. Where the rule of the road is drive on the left, as in the UK, nearside is nearest the kerb when sitting in the car, in other words the left hand side of the car. Offside is right hand side of the car.

As in, the battery is on the nearside. Got no clue as to the offside rule in football though.

That VIN stamping machine must have had one hell of a clamping force. Sounds really interesting. Any pictures available?

[BIGDAVE]

i think ive got a body number stamped on the rear cross section on top of the spare wheel holder of my y reg maestro ???????

[David3500]

That VIN stamping machine must have had one hell of a clamping force. Sounds really interesting. Any pictures available?

It was quite a machine. In approximately 1982 Austin Rover Group delivered a moulded section relating to the drip channel surface form which sat at the top of thebulkhead behind the engine. From memory this was made of hard wood painted white. From the initial design work my Father did - using traditional draugtsman's method involving heavy drawing paper on a large drawing board - a wooden buck had to be made up to establish the correct constant fixed approach of the head into the engine bay when the body was coming down the assembly track, after it had been painted.

I will ask my Father if he still has any old 35mm photos of either the wooden buck (now long gone) or the TMP VIN marker itself.

[Simon]

Fantastic! I'd love to see any images you might have.