Desperate For Help Finding VIN #

[knaessens]

Hello,
My name is Kevin (Located in New Jersey, USA) and I am desperate for some help locating a Vin # of a 1962-1964 MG MGB that was originally sold to my wife's deceased father.

He was in the US Air Force and stationed in England in December, 1963. He was driving his MGB down the runway on his way to work when he saw a plane skidding out of control in his direction. He left the vehicle and was stuck by the plane. The vehicle was still operable and was not scrapped.

To my knowledge the vehicle had a removable hard top, which was damaged during the incident but the vehicle was shipped back to the USA to his wife. She immediately sold the vehicle here in the states (probably in 1964) where it has been lost from the family since.

I am searching for a VIN number / chassis number for that vehicle as I am trying to track down the vehicle for re-purchase as a gift for my wife. Without this number, my chances of finding this vehicle are slim.

This was either a 1962, 1963 or 1964 MG MGB. I believe the color of this vehicle was Iris Blue (baby blue as described by relatives) and the vehicle was left hand drive per information I have been given.

Allegedly, there was a plaque on the dash pad reading "Built For Richard Heppner" or "Special Ordered For Richard Heppner" or something similiar.

The original owner of the vehicle was Richard A. Heppner and to my knowledge was purchased while stationed in England, not shipped to England from the States.

If you are able to help in any way or have any ideas on how to locate this VIN with this small amount of information, please let me know. Your help is greatly appreciated.

The department of motor vehicles in Michigan, USA is of no help as they have told me their vehicle transaction records only go back 15 years......

Thank you!

Kevin Naessens
New Jersey, United States
kevnaessens@gmail.com

[Bumpa]

I think what you are trying to do might be impossible, but you could try contacting the MGB Register of the MG Car Club here in the UK. https://www.mgb-register.org/. There is a high likelyhood that the car has been scrapped somewhere along the way. Rust made them uneconomical to repair, and its only in recent decades that folk have been rebuilding them.

[George Wilder]

Kevin
The British Motor Hertitage Trust at the British Motor Museum hold thebuild records for all the MGBs.

The build records list of course VIN numbers LHD or RHD and colour and usually to where the vehice was despatched.

The records are in numerical order. It would be possible to go through the records looking for LHD Iris Blue cars for export but UK delivery but what a task! No doubt it could be done but at a cost.

The real problem is as said earlier, a lot of earlier MGBs have been scrapped becuase when they needed repairs it was cheaper and easier to buy a later one. So even if you know the answer of the VIN it could be long be scrapped.

The other source of information is the North Americam MGB Register NAMGBR who could broadcast your story to its members to see if it rings a bell with anyone

https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/ https://namgbr.org/

George

[Ian F]

Try the MG Experience forum in the USA, there is an MGB section there. If Richard Heppner was able to get a special order with MG then he may be well known in the USA. Finding his car may still be very difficult of course.

Ian F

[knaessens]

Thank you all for the reply. The best case scenario for myself, is to locate this in poor condition so I can begin restoring with my wife. Nothing would make her happier.

I did receive an email back from British Motor Heritage Trust at the British Motor Museum. They were of no help. Not to say they don't want to help, but they told me that the information I provided was not sufficient to find a VIN / Chassis #.

One would think that there is an archive of these vehicles produced that could be identified by a special order, but may be a matter of finding somebody who is willing to search the archives. I would pay for the efforts it takes to find the information, I believe I just need to find the right person who is willing.

I will try to identify the exact year which may sway British Motor Heritage Trust to do some digging.

Was it out of the ordinary for one of these vehicles to be purchased special order? Has anybody ever seen or heard of one of these vehicles having some sort of plaque inside the vehicle stating a name or special order?

So far I have tried contacting...
Michigan Secretary of State - records only go back 15 years. Recommended contacting the insurance company, but I do not know who that was.
MGB register. They were not able to help and suggested contacting British Motor Heritage Trust
This forum - Thank you all for the help.
I am in the process of obtaining his military records hoping that if the USAF shipped it to the US, they may have recorded a VIN or the shipment company, which I could then possibly contact if they are still around.

Thank you for all of your help,

[Ian F]

Just a brief reply - I would think that getting an MGB by special order would be very rare. These were just "bread and butter" cars, not bespoke vehicles ( unless perhaps you were someone very special?).
Others may know better than me?

Ian F

[Bumpa]

Would it be "special order" because it was an export car (LHD) delivered in Britain? You would never normally sell a LHD car in the UK.

[Allan T]

Do you know where he was stationed in the UK?

I know an MG specialist garage that sold several UK-market/RHD MGBs to US aircrew, then converted them to LHD before shipping them to the US when the owners returned home. The plaque could have been added at that stage.

Goos luck!


Allan

[knaessens]

Thank you so much everyone for the reply. I'm still working on identifying the exact year hoping that gets me closer. That would at least narrow down the VIN # to....well, I'm not sure how many cars. I have searched online and have been unable to find specifics on how many were built each year by LHD, RHD, color, etc. I'm not sure if that sort of information is available for these vehicles.

The museum has emailed me back several times. I believe they are being as helpful as they can be without randomly going into the archives and checking VIN by VIN to identify the color and LHD vs RHD, etc. With a specific block of VIN ranges, I could at least cross reference multiple VIN #'s with other resource tools online to identify vehicles that may be or may have been registered in Michigan, USA.

Here is the last reply I received from the museum.

Dear Mr Naessens,

Without an identifying number, either chassis, engine or body number, it is impossible to trace a car's record in the factory records. For export vehicles, all that will be stated is a car was manufactured to US specification. Sometimes it will give a city it was destined for, but more often than not, just 'USA'.

Allan,
What you stated makes more sense than anything so far. Maybe it was a conversion, and maybe that would explain the plaque. Again, I am only going off information provided to me by my wife and her relatives. I can only assume if they mentioned a plaque, there must have been one. That's pretty specific information.

To my understanding he was stationed at RAF Bentwaters and lived in Ipswich.
He was an aviation mechanic in the 91st tactical flight squadron.

I have several old pictures of him and his wife, and more on the way from a distant relative. The only information on the back are for a house called Porchester House in Felixstowe where it appears they spent Christmas of 1961-1962. I don't think that was their address. It was either a friends address or a hotel they were staying at. I don't really understand the "House" names in England. I think it just means that is it a hotel...

Thanks again everyone!

Kevin

[knaessens]

Does anybody know the names of any garages or businesses that may have performed LHD conversions for US military stationed at RAF Bentwaters back this far (1960's)? Perhaps I could contact them and inquire if they have ever seen any type of plaque on these vehicle after converted.

Thanks again,

Kevin