MGB 1980 MGB LE or not??

[mk2sprite]

Is there a way to tell if a car was a LE from the factory by the serial number? It's a 1980 and fits inot that years numbers but is the only way to tell is by the LE options on it?
Thanks
Mike

 

[tony barnhill]

Sure...look in Clausinger's "The Original MG" & he has the list of LE VIN's.

 

[mk2sprite]

Tony, That's the first place I looked and was sure it was in the chart of production numbers but that does not tell exactly what numbers were LE's. I just looked under the LE section of the book and in a small paragraph he gives the number range of the LE's, although still confuses me a bit. I know there were alot of 1980 models produced that were not LE's but will go by that number range stated. Thanks

 

[tony barnhill]

He give's the number range of LE VIN's in that paragraph....my book is out in the garage & I'd have to reset the alarm...I'll list the VIN's tomorrow.

 

[tony barnhill]

Okay.....6682 LE's built "from March 1979 {car number 492071), the last Californian car was 500344 (December 1979) and the last Federal car of all was 523000 (August 1980)". Just look at the last 6 digits of your VIN.

Can't really tell by LE options as some PO's have added them to other cars.....however, all LE's were black & the black painted by the factory had a tiny bit of metal flake in it where aftermarket blacks do not..so, it's easy to see if it's the original paint.....the LE front spoiler - black hard rubber, not thin fiberglass) - goes on over the valance, not in lieu of the valance.

 

[Joe Reed]

But....there are over 30,000 cars in that VIN range, and only 6682 were LEs, so it's still possible that a car in that VIN range was converted into a bogus LE. Unless, of course, the original color is black - that was only used on the LEs.

 

[mk2sprite]

Right, that's what confused me. Tony does point out a couple of tell tale items that will help identify.
Mike