Looks as though there's rather a wriggling tin of worms here!
To scotch one (possible) myth, to the best of my knowledge, overdrive and
non-overdrive cars, regardless of what model they were, did not have
chassis numbers allocated from 'blocks.' At least, they didn't in the mid
sixties when I worked at Canley. What happened from 1970 onwards when quite
a lot of Austin Morris people moved into Triumph is anyone's guess. I do
know from stories repeated to me that some of these infiltrators wreaked
havoc in the name of progress when it came to record keeping. Basically,
they were guilty of fixing things which hadn't broken - and were unlikely
to.
I don't think at any time during my time in Coventry a chassis/commission
number was allocated in blocks by Production Control Department. Numbers
were 'slotted' as soon as a Production Indent was received from either the
Home or Export Sales Departments. Slotting does not mean 'slotted in a
block' but simple slang for when it was expected the car to come off the
line - e.g. 'slotted midweek 25' meant expected completion by Wednesday
shutdown in week 25. Hence, the number existed
even before the car was a 'body in white.' When that indent was sanctioned
by PCD, a copy of the indent together with a 'flimsy' copy of the
Production 'Tally' (the card which stayed with the car as it went down the
line) was returned to Sales for inclusion in the car folder. Only when the
car cleared the line and final inspection, did the main 'Tally' return to
Sales - often covered in upholstery glue, grease, tyre marks, inspection
stamps and the occasional splodge of ketchup from a lunchtime packet
of fries out of the canteen.
John Macartney
Now in the same museum alongside the cars he sold when they were new
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