Desperate For Help Finding VIN #

[Bumpa]

According to Clausager in Original MGB

1962 540 UK RHD / 2946 US LHD / Total including others 4518
1963 3020 UK RHD / 15054 US LHD / Total including others 23308
1964 4321 UK RHD / 16753 US LHD / Total including all others 26542
1965 4742 UK RHD / 13815 US LHD / Total including others 24179

Those are the years of interest aren't they? As you can see far more were made for North America than for the home market, and that continued throughout production. I don't suppose that helps at all.!

[Charles Farran]

Looking at Clausager's (which is one of the best sources of material on the various MGB ,MGC & MGB GT V8 cars from 1962 - 80)
he lists the production figures for Roadsters as follows:-

1962 LHD N America 2946 LHD Other export 841 Total Calendar year production RHD/LHD/RHDCKD/LHCCKD 4518
1963 15054 4179 23308
1964 16753 3783 26542

He also records that IRIS Blue was used from 1962 - Oct 1965 (replaced by Mineral Blue from Oct 1965).

There appear to be a couple of options / variations:-
Seat Liners Piping for Seats Mats, Door Hood Hood Cover Hard Top
& Liners Carpets Seals Tonneau
I Blue Black Pale Blue Black Black Blue or Black Black Black/Blue/White
I Blue Blue Pale Blue Blue Blue Blue or Black Blue Black/Blue/White

Sorry - just noted that Bumpa has given production figures , but hope colour information is of help!


Cheers

Charles

[Ian F]

I'm not clear who "Richard Heppner" was?
Was he your relative or someone unknown?

I would have thought if he was unknown to you then the best way to track down his car would be to track down him?

Ian F

[knaessens]

I am working on getting more information from my wife's Aunt. I'm hoping to get a picture of the car with a UK license plate. I'm expecting I will at least be able to narrow down the year of the vehicle.

Richard is my wife's biological father. My wife never had chance to meet him as her mother was pregnant at the time. My wife's mother, Richard and all of their belongings were immediately sent to the US after his death. He was a USAF aviation mechanic stationed at RAF Bentwaters. He passed on December 19th, 1963.

He was killed in the UK while stationed there with the US Air Force. The story is...He was driving his MGB on the runway on his way to work one morning when he saw a plane landing out of control in his direction. He exited his vehicle and he himself was struck by the plane taking his life. The vehicle was unharmed aside from the removable hard top. My wife never had chance to meet him as her mother was pregnant at the time. My wife's mother, Richard and all of their belongings were immediately sent to the US which is why I am trying to find the vehicle if it has not yet been crushed.

I know it's a long shot, but possible.

[knaessens]

Thank you for the production info guys.

Those are the years I currently have it narrowed down to. I should be able to identify the year at some point I am assuming.

I'm still confused by the "built for Richard Heppner" plaque. If this was in fact a RHD vehicle ordered for him by a shop that did conversions to LHD in the UK or a LHD car built but delivered to a military member currently stationed in the UK, I wonder if that would categorize it in the "OTHERS" portion of the build numbers in Clausager's.

[Not_Anumber]

It may be a long shot but have you tried the Bentwaters Cold War Museum which is on the former RAF Bentwaters site. As the sad death of a serving USAF engineer on the runway due to an out of control plane will have been a significant event they are likely to have some sort of record and this might have a note of the registration number that was on the MGB at that time.

[George Wilder]

Following on from Chris's suggestion the the US Air force will have somewhere a full accident report of this incident.

This may have details or a picture of the accident which may give clues to the cars identity.
There are several websites as well as the airforce with such details.

It was practice for British Servicemen to buy new cars when abroad but to UK spec to save purchase tax etc which was ok if they kept them for a period on return to the UK. No doubt a similar arrangment existed for US Servicemen so they could buy an American spec car whilst in the UK and take it back when their tour of duty ended. Could this MGB be one of those?

[knaessens]

I agree with Chris and George,
I am waiting on military documents that have been requested from my wife's aunt; however, that is pending a copy of the death certificate. I expect it may be some time before we see those and I am hoping there will be extensive information on the incident.

We will be calling her today to confirm that this did happen at Bentwater. After I confirm, I will absolutely contact the museum via email and let you know if any information on the incident is available.

Thank you for the suggestions!

Kevin

[knaessens]

I was able to find an archive online where I can order USAF incident reports. I was able to obtain a .pdf of the original report from 1963. Incredible.

Unfortunately, there were no images attached and names of the two deceased were not even documented. But...it appeared that that last page was purposely cut off for whatever reason.

To confirm, no relatives have images of this vehicle and they can't confirm the exact year. They all confirm that it was in fact "robin egg blue" and left hand drive. His sister confirmed there was a plaque on the dash (riders ride) that stated "special order for Richard Heppner or something similar. This leads me to believe that it probably was a conversion car (RHD to LHD) as was suggested earlier in the thread. Also, his oldest sister confirmed it did have a British license plate when it was shipped back to the states but she does not have a picture of the car.

I think my next steps are to message the UK department of motor vehicles to see if they can help and also try the RAF Bentwaters museum as was suggested.

I'm running out of options here unless I can find an image of the car with the British license plate.

[Bumpa]

"Robin egg blue" is probably Iris Blue. Very popular on early MGBs.