• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Help with identifying morris eight

Share this page

V

venom

Freshman Member
Country flag
Offline
Good morning I recently dug my morris eight out of storage to start building and was wondering if anyone on here can help me identify it further as I don't really know much about the car and the guy I brought it off had no information either.

I've been trying to locate the chassis number and on 1 document I found online states there none stamped on the frame but there should be a brass or aluminium plate on the bulkhead however 90% of my bulkhead has long rotted away and where it details there should be the plate is a gapping hole.

I have however found 2 small plates in the bulk head 1 with P4DEF - 233 and the other with B E F 5767 stamped into it. The only reference I can find online with P4DEF is a 1947 morris eight that went to auction.

So I guess my questions are:

Would I be correct is assuming mine is of the same/similar year?
what is the 233 after?
What does B E F 5767 refer to?
Can any of these be used to track down the missing chassis number so I can apply for the log book and age related plate?

Unfortunately it's not letting me upload a pic of it at the moment but as soon as I can sort the issue out I'll post some to help

Thanks rik

Edited to add pics.
View attachment 20230826_170209.jpgView attachment 20230826_151049.jpg
 
Last edited:
You also might try contacting the British Motor Museum. They have an excellent department for researching cars.

British Motor Museum | Home

The World's largest collection of Historic British cars. A motor museum with over 400 classic cars, free tours and interactive family activities.
www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk
 
venom said:
Thats a good shout. I'll drop them a email now

Cheers
Click to expand...
Let us know how things go.... Hope they can get you the info you need.
 
Oh my, you do have a project. Sorry I can't help though.
 
I sold my Morris 8 but the vin plate was mounted engine side of where the battery stores. My car was a Tourer, but I bet they all mounted the same. It was made of brass and very visible. The vin number was also stamped on the right hand top of the frame rail by the engine. Very hard to read as paint fills in the numbers. I will look for a picture. My car was a 1936. Your engine number may also match a brass plate on your engine but Morris had an engine exchange program. You turn in your old engine and pay a little money and get a a rebuilt engine. Mine had a Morris factory rebuild from 1950.
1693318055640.png
 
found this online it may help shed some light on the subject, ther is a reference to EF xxxx worht a read.

ENGINE/CHASSIS/BODY NUMBERS MORRIS 8 CARS 1934 to 1938
Engine Numbers.
These numbers were stamped on the Bulkhead Plate.
New original engines had these numbers stamped on the engine block usually (but not exclusively) with a
UB prefix.
Early Pre-Series engines may have had the number stamped on a ‘cast in’ raised area on the starter motor
side of the cylinder block.
But generally all engines had the number stamped on a ‘cast-in’ sloping face on the manifold side of the
cylinder block towards the rear and immediately below the cylinder head joint.
In general the numbers roughly correspond with the chassis number within a hundred or two, but do not
always follow consistently.
If your engine is not stamped as described above, then it will be a replacement engine.
Chassis Numbers.
These numbers were stamped on the Bulkhead Plate.
They were also stamped on the top face of the chassis near the front on the offside (driver’s side for RH
drive cars) in the vicinity of the area above the steering column mounting bracket. They are normally hidden
under the felt strip between front wing assembly and chassis and are therefore not immediately in view.
However if you look just forward of the small plate used to access the steering box mounting bolt, and if the
wing/chassis joint felt is not in the way, the number can be seen. Whilst being stamped an indentation was
made by the impact and this sometimes retains water and corrodes, often rendering the number illegible.
On the bulkhead plate only, the added prefix of 35/E, S1/E and S2/E is included dependent on the
specification and year of manufacture.
Body Numbers.
I do not at present have any information on Van body numbers.
On 2- Seater and Tourer bodies the number was stamped into the timber frame and was accessible from
the passenger side cubby hole.
On saloon bodies a body number plate was rivetted to the lower front of the body, immediately behind the
bulkhead/body joint and visible from beneath the running board.
Pre-Series and Series I Saloons.
From detailed inspection of both original Pre-Series and Series I cars, there appear to have been two
different body number plates on each body. The only explanation I can give is that the first plate ( I will call
it Plate A) was to record the numbers of 2 door and 4 door bodies when the bodies were initially built and
welded up, and that the second plate (Plate B) recorded the refinement of adding the drainage channels
and covers and the cut outs for them possibly all carried out later in production in a different factory building.
It appears from recent hard evidence that these two plates were adjacent to each other on the same side of
the car. i.e.Nearside on right hand drive cars.
Plate A was an elongated oval ‘stamped’ brass plate with the number prefixed either E2 (ie Eight 2 Door) or
E4 (ie Eight 4 Door).
Plate B was a lighter oblong sharp-cornered ‘embossed’ brass or possibly aluminium plate with a different
number to that on Plate A and prefixed either E, EF, EL or EFL.
• However my ‘theory’ regarding the purpose of Plate B is that the more complex prefix was used to
differentiate between Sliding Head and the more basic Fixed Head bodies. Sliding Head bodies
required additional processes before painting to accommodate roof drainage apertures and
channels (particularly at the front where they were sealed or lead loaded to the body), and for the
four cover ‘louvres’ to be screwed to the body. I believe that these were the only fundamental
construction difference in the actual body manufacture, and perhaps the factory needed to show
this in the Body Number. So far I have come across several examples of three versions of Plate B,
for instance:- one marked EFL 946 from an Eight Four Door Sliding Head ( Eight; Four; Louvre?).
Also one marked EL 9754 from an Eight Two Door Sliding Head ( Eight; Louvre?). Also one marked
E 9591 from an Eight Two Door Fixed Head ( Eight ?). I do not yet have the fourth variation which
would be marked EF ‘xxxx’ from an Eight Four Door Fixed Head.
Series II Saloons.
It may well be that Series II saloons were dealt with in the same way as Pre-Series and Series I. However I
do not as yet have firm evidence of a Plate A on a Series II body, and all examples seen of Plate B on a
Series II body have been on the opposite side of the car. i.e.Offside on right hand drive cars.
Thanks to some of the sources of information:-
Peter and Elizabeth Larkham for starting me off on this years ago when they showed me the original Plate
A from their Pre-Series Two Door Sliding Head saloon.
David Clitheroe for information confirming that his 1937 Series II Four Door Sliding Head saloon Chassis
Number 170983 has a Plate B embossed E. F.L. 946 (unevenly spaced as I have written it).
Graham Townsend for letting me inspect his very original 1938 Series II Two Door Sliding Head saloon
Chassis Number 199743 which has a Plate B embossed E.L. 9754.
John Sargeant for showing Plate A stamped E2-4118 and Plate B embossed E.L. 2796 from the early
Pre-Series Two Door Sliding Head saloon under restoration 2014.
Plate A was 3.25 inches long by 0.75 inches high approx. with radiused corners and stamped markings.
Plate B was 2.50 inches long by 0.75 inches high approx. with square corners and embossed markings.
General Notes.
I would be interested to hear from anyone with any car that still has its original body number plate(s), in
order that I can establish and confirm further details. In particular those from any body configuration of
Series I saloons, and particularly a plate from a Four Door Fixed Head Series II saloon. At present I do not
have sufficient evidence regarding the precise positions of attachment of these plates to the body.
Please take a look at the body panel on either side of the car below the front door underneath the running
board……..if there is a body number plate please let me know!
I would appreciate any good photographs to add to this article; should any of you have suitable ones
perhaps you would let me know.
(Confession time! The oval plate on the nearside of my car is of my own making to the Plate A pattern, and
is not the original verified number).
No VIN numbers were used in the 1930s, basically the chassis number was used instead.
 
also found this
Frame (Chassis) Number
(1) All the Morris pre-series models up to 1935
The Number is stamped onto the casting, right at
the front end of the dumb iron, (where the spring
fixes to the chassis), on the offside (driver’s side) of
the chassis. The number is stamped just above
where the shackle pin goes through the casting.
(2) Morris 8 cars and vans from 1935 to 1938
The Number is stamped on the top of the chassis
rail alongside the steering box, and there is a cut-out
in the flange of the inner wing so that the number
can be seen without dismantling. The numbers are
often faint, and may be concealed by years of rust,
paint and dirt.
(3) Morris 8 Series E and Series Z van
There is, to the best of our knowledge, no Number
stamped on the chassis

Link https://morrisregister.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Finding-Numbers.pdf
 
Excellent info and I will add: During my restoration, I used the > Welcome to Morris Register < website a lot for information. They have a forum there and many knowledgeable people. One of them is active in the New Zealand Morris 8 club which is very active.
 
Brilliant cheers guys. I've email the British Motor Museum to see if they have any info hidden in there archives. I found the small oval plates mentioned in mezy's post but unfortunately where the main vin plate should be has long rusted away and I only have the shell, chassis with a couple of bit of the glass and doors so im unable to chevk the engine for any numbers either. Once im back from site in a couple of days ill give the front of the frame a bloody good wire brushing and see if anything is lurking under the years of grime and rust👍
 
Back
Top