Model Years

[Frank Howard]

Had a friend who worked at a Renault dealership in Minnesota around 1962.
They had a lot of unsold cars on the lot and when the '63 models came out, they
refused to order any of them until they got rid of the '62s. One day a large
box arrived from Renault. It was full of new (1963) hub caps. Apparently,
that was the only change made that year. The dealer was instructed to remove
the hub caps from the cars on the lot, install the new style hub caps, and sell
the cars as 1963 models.

I had nothing to do with this as I was 10 at the time!

Frank Howard
'71 S4 SE
Minnesota

["Gary Pighetti"]

Greetings:

I'd like to comment on this topic. Up until the Feds got involved with
serial numbers (around 1968), states determined the model year of the
car. For many states without titles (most of New England at the time),
the model year was the date the car was first registered. For
instance, I had an MG Midget which was registered as a 1966 although
it was clearly a 1965 model.

As far as fishy serial number sequence is concerned: Lotus, being a
small British (!) manufacturer with a legendary cavalier attitude and
reputation, probably picked up the nearest chassis or body and put
them in the queue regardless of their serial numbers. Also, I wouldn't
put it past any small manufacturer to pull cars out of
demo service, upgrade them willy nilly, and sell them as new.

I know that in 1967, when Euro manufacturers knew that they would have
to sell Federalized models in 1968, registered a sh*tload of "1967"
serial numbers so they could sell cars in the US until their federal
models were available. Lancia was apparently selling 1967 Fulvias in
1970...

Finally, the American version of Mr. Chapman, Carroll Shelby, had
Cobra 427 chassis with serial numbers registered with the Feds as
1967s on ice for about 20 years when he pulled them out of mothballs
and sold them for, what? $500,000 a pop?

This says nothing about MGs registered with the "body number" rather
than the VIN as the official number. A huge mess to deal with.

Regards,
GP