Here's another hint for those considering buying a BJ8. The BJ8 Registy (sbyers@ec.rr.com) as of today has a record of 7,338 BJ8s (worldwide) out of the 17,712 cars originally manufactured. An aggressive attempt is made to identify and document the complete ownership history of each car in the registry, as well as to record current and original identifying numbers, such as VIN, batch/body, engine, gearbox, and rear axle numbers. The registry uses many sources to accomplish this, inluding access to BMIHT archives.
It frequently happens that a new owner submits the details of his car to the registry (
https://www.britishcarforum.com/bj8quest.html) only to learn that the VIN, body, engine, etc. numbers do not match and that his car is a collection of parts (including I.D.plates) from several other cars. He might have wanted to know that before choosing to buy the car and could have known it if he had checked with the registry first. Buying a car from a "well-known" restoration shop is no guarantee that all numbers match, if that is important to you.
In response to the "number on the shock tower" issue: I believe that only applies to BJ8s, but I would like to hear from anyone who has a car prior to BJ8s that has such a number.