DGL 993

 A nice period picture.

Zooming in we can see a Hi-top van, made by cutting off the roof, weld in ten inches of metal all the way around and stick the roof back on!
One would guess it was used for delivering clothes on hangers.

An ice cream van project for sale.

Check out e-bay for an ice cream van project.

I think this was on e-bay last year.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Morris-J-Ice-Cream-Van-/140900920178?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item20ce596b72

In my last post I mentioned this GPO J type, fleet no 42583, turns out its is MLB 591 which is no longer with us. See these data bases do come in handy for some things.
I still want all the numbers of all your vehicles major components. Additional data also required is not only the body number Jxxxxx but also the Zxxxxx number on the body plate. These Z numbers seem to relate to the drawing number they were working to at the time, as modifications occurred, drawings were updated and changes made to the construction of the body. Please tell me yours.

Have a Vantastic New Year.

The data base and period Post Office vans.

Well the J van data base spread sheet has been started. All known chassis numbers of vehicles that  have been noted in the last ten years are listed. Vehicles that are on the road, projects and even the many that have been for sale in newspapers, magazines and the good old internet.

I doubt the list is complete, vans are still being found, vans are still being scrapped and I bet many are in hiding. I even have a picture of a van at a rally taken less than 5 years ago and know nothing about it so cannot add it to the list yet!

I must point out that many Australian and New Zealand owners have been very quick off the mark and have produced many numbers of the major components. I suppose they were quick off the mark as they have better weather than we do at the moment. I still have to get my own gearbox number and I also want to check the date coding of my glass, to give a better idea when the body was manufactured.

On another note, I love looking at old films, street shots are great, you never know what your going to spot driving around in the back ground.

I have been sent a link to a 1961 video, its only 9 minutes long and for me the shots at the 5 minute marks are just great, the local Post Office yard with all the vans coming out.

Sorry cannot post the link to the video as its under copyright.

 Six minor vans with adverts pasted directly onto the body work, they couldn't be bothered to use the standard issue sign boards. You can just see the n/s/f corner of a J van .

 J van fleet number 42583, are you still about? I have contacted the POVC to see if they can give me the registration number for this van.

 Nine minor vans and two J types. The Minor van with the black wings is a rare "rubber wing" van, these wings were made by Dunlop out of old melted down Wellington boots.

As we have had a bit of bad weather the 52 year old Morris Minor saloon has been my daily transport this week, just too cold for biking. With a couple of nights dropping down to minus seven and a night of thick freezing fog the car was the best option.

I took the picture below at 12:12 on the 12/12/12 and shows we had a slight dusting of snow on top of a hard frost.

I hope the weather where you are is better and also there are No mad armed Americans wandering around your local school. 

The body number data base has been started.

What a marathon job this is going to be. I started off designing a data base and have had to modify it several times already.
To be able to add data as and when, the format of each item is important as most items are a mixture of numbers and letters.
Take the engines fitted to our JB vans, various versions fitted and now many vans have had updated items fitted, reconditioned items and totally non original items fitted.
Thankfully Standard JB van engines are easy to track.

BMC 'B' Series, 1947 to 1981.( First real 'B' series was in 1953.) 

BP, at the front of a JB engine number denotes 'B' series, 'P'ush rod ohv.

The first car to use the 'B' series was the M.G. Magnette ZA, in 1489cc form.

Based on the earlier Austin A40 Devon 1200cc unit.
Engine codes.

ie. BP15M was a 1489cc Morris Oxford. 

     BP15GA  was the ZA Magnette of 1489cc. 

     BP15GC  an improved ZA Magnette, with full flow oil filter. 

    BP15GB was the first MGA 1489cc engine, 

    BP 15GD followed it.

    BC16GB was the MGA Twin Cam, 'B' series, 'C' camshaft. 

1956 to 1970 'A', 'B',  engine Prefix. 

The 'BP' prefix was dropped once BMC had its three engine types, A, B, and C. 

Again, there is a prefix, consisting of a number, then letter/letter/letter, then the 

engine number. 

      Cubic capacity             Make             Compression 

  8   803cc             B  BMC Industrial      H   high comp 

  9   948cc             G   M.G.                    L  low comp 

  10  1098cc          A  Austin                              

  12  1200cc          W Wolseley                           

 12  1275cc           H  miscellaneous                    

 15  1489cc           J   Commercial                       

 16   1588cc          V  Van den Plas          

 16   1622cc          M  Morris                  

 18   1798cc          R   Riley                     

ie,  15W / U / H  1234    1489cc Wolseley 15/50, central gear change, high comp. 

15GE / U / H 1234   1489cc M.G. Magnette  Mk3, central gearchange, high comp. 

16AMW / U / H 1234  1622cc Austin, Morris Wolseley Farina, central gear, high c. 

16GA / U / H 1234  1588cc MGA 1600,central gear change, high comp. 

15AC / N / L 1234  1489cc Austin 15cwt van, column change, low comp. 
If any one out knows of an engine production list thats shows production dates, please let me know.
So the numbers I'm after for this list is engine,gearbox,front and rear axles, chassis, body and a new one, the triplex glass code as this could give an indication of when the body was made. Remember chassis and body numbers are different and the van bodies were made in another part of the factory and delivered in batches.

Triplex Glass date code.

Remember you are only dating the glass of the vehicle and it is best to check as many of the pieces of glass as you can.

First you need to have an idea what age the vehicle might be, well to the nearest 10 years at least.

You now need to look for two dots, one dot will be above the letters T,R,E, or X

 (in TRIPLEX) and gives the quarter of the year the glass was manufactured.

T=Jan,Feb,March

R=April,May,June

E=July,Aug,Sept,

X=Oct,Nov,Dec.

The second dot to look out for is below one of the letters in the word TOUGHENED.

T=1, O=2 etc (if no dot the year is zero).

Therefore a July 1955 J type should have glass with a dot above the letter "E" in TRIPLEX and a dot below the letter "H" in TOUGHENED.

This is only a rough guide but might be of interest to you all.