Hi guys,

So a mini shell just came into my possession and I am hoping to try to bring it back to life. This shell came from a mechanic of a friend of mine. He told me that its a '75 or '76. I was told that the car used to have a 1275 performance motor that the mechanic removed to place into another Mini. He told me that the car is currently registered with California DMV but he didn't have the title and the car didn't come with plates. So I have nothing to give CA DMV to try to register it.

I can't seem to find the VIN. There should be a plate in the driver side A pillar, correct? It looks as if that's been removed. Should there be another stamping of the VIN in the chassis somewhere? I look everywhere and I can't find anything that looks remotely in the correct format (X-K2S1N-XXX-A) I found three numbers in the engine bay. Could these numbers possibly help me identify the car with DMV? I have figured out two of these numbers from research.

In the picture:
1. Commission Number
2. ?
3. front clip I.D.

Hopefully the VIN wasn't removed to be placed onto another shell. From what I gather from the mechanic this doesn't seem to be the case.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I've already been through this article: http://www.minimania.com/web/Display...n/ArticleV.cfm

 

well I've been waiting for someone with more knowledge then I to reply but since they have not here's my guess (which usually prompts a correction )

first off if you could inbed that picture rather than have it as an attachment it would show up larger and possibly we could help more. But it appears you've a good 'commission' number plate but on the other side where the 'chassis' plate would be is something of a shape I don't recognize; that's where I've always seen original number plates. All the "VIN" plates I've seen look something like this:

early ones say AUSTIN or MORRIS and later the AUSTIN MORRIS GROUP came into being. {Mine -79 - has been moved as the cross member where it was mounted was removed when the front end was replaced with glass but I have documents going well back b4 that which verify this chassis # including several years of MOT stickers}. MINISPORT sells replacements if you want to see a reference picture(s). Also an original plate will be stamped from the rear such that the number is raised on the sufrace, not engraved.

does this help???? not in discovering what the number is I guess

Can Heritage go from a commission number to a vin???? I sorta have the reverse problem. When the front end was cut off the Chassis number plate was saved which makes title and registration easy but for persnl reasons I'm wondering why the commission number was tossed when the mod was done (obviously not by me).

 

The one with the rivets should be the VIN, I've never heard of a "Commision number", was the car originally sold in the UK or?????

 

Look in the channel where the hood closes on the back right side of the engine compartment, near the windshield. It is often stamped there, though it may have been filled with paint.

Dave