[TR] British car keys, letters ​? FNR Possibly Ford/N?/Rootes? MRN.. Morris/Rootes/Numbered?

[John Macartney]

Hi, Pete
B 
As a very young greenhorn Apprentice at Jaguar (1962-65), I well
remember the Wilmot Breedon 'key box' alongside the Final Finish line that was
'stuffed' with WB keys that spanned an enormous range of numbers and prefixes.
Not too ashamed to admit that over the course of a year or two, I 'lifted' a
few at different timesfor friends and acquaintances who needed a 'spare' set.
My own car was a Frog Eye Sprite, and I recall keys from that box at Jaguar
dispensing keys that went into various models from BMC, Rootes Group, Rolls
Royce, Standard Triumph, Aston Martin and a good few others.
As for the code
FNR, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Fred, Norman and Ron might well
have played a larger part than they realised.

Jonmac
http://standard-triumph-books.co.uk


>________________________________
>
From: Pete Groh <pete_groh at yahoo.com>
>To: triumphs at autox.team.net 
>Sent:
Tuesday, 13 March 2012, 17:39
>Subject: [TR] British car keys, letters b?
FNR  Possibly Ford/N?/Rootes? MRN.. Morris/Rootes/Numbered?
>  
>I received a
inquiry from Nick in the UK and also exchanged e-mail with Peter
>Weston.
>Can
anyone provide information on the different key codes. The 1st car key
>blank
that I know of was a Bilfix key, that was cut along the side of the key
>blank.
>
>I will also post the question to the MG and Jaguar list
>
>Pete
GrohBB  B  (KeyGuy)
>
>
>
>
>B B B  
>B B B  
>B B B  
>B B B  
>B B B   Sun,
Mar 11, 2012 at 2:36 PM, Nick
>Walton 
>
>Hi Pete thanks thats
>really good
info... however, I get
>the impression they want to know exactly
>what eg FNR
stood for.
>Possibly Ford/N?/Rootes? MRN...
>Morris/Rootes/Numbered?
>Do you
see
>where I am coming from?
>
>Many thanks for what you have, if I
>can find
out more I will put it into a
>document and froward it to the
>paper if thats
ok with you?
>
>Nick
>
>
>
>
>B B B  
>B B B  
>B B B  
>B B B  
>B B B 
>B B B  
>
>
>Pete, Nick,
>
>Funny old world, isn't it! B The person who
>wrote to the local paper - Express
>& Star - was, wait for it, me!
>I write a
monthly column about locks for the magazine Classic Car
>Monthly, and
>in the
last issue I speculated about the possible
>derivation of the various
>alphabetical-series of old WB keys. B For
>instance, I joked that maybe 'FNR'
>stood for Fred, Norman and Ron,
>forgotten chaps in the drawing office.
>
>I
wrote to the local
>paper hoping someone from the old Josiah Parkes company
>might see it,
>but so far no answers have been forthcoming.
>
>Thanks for
trying
>to help, however,
>
>regards,
>Peter W
>
>** triumphs at autox.team.net
**
>
>Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
>Archive:
http://www.team.net/archive
>Forums: http://www.team.net/forums
>Unsubscribe/Manage:
http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/triumphs/macartney.john@yahoo.co.uk