fe numbers

[snuff69]

hi everyone i just ran my numbers through the id page FE 225 11962A TRIM 4 582 PAINT 253-6258 CHASSIS 64227 B  ENGINE L363396 BY THE CHASSIS NUMBER ITS A 56 BUT THE ENGINE NUMBER SAYS JULY 57   SO WOULD I BE RIGHT IN PRESUMING THAT ITS NOT THE ORIGINAL ENGINE   THANKS DAVE

                                                                                                                   

[RET]

Well, it could be the engine or it could be the chassis or it could be the ID plate

Bear in mind the chassis number is stamped on the inner guard, which is a bolt-on part. If the car has ever been in a serious front-end bingle, it may well have had that replaced. Furthermore, the ID plate is only riveted onto the firewall, so they can move too.

Having put that fear of God into you, a licked finger in the air estimate from your ID plate suggests that it would be a late (November?) 1956 build. (My car is early September, #5678. Yours is about as far along again.)

One way to tell if it really is a '56 is to have a feel under the rear wheel arches. If the bodywork there is a single skin of metal, she's definitely an early. If there's a couple of layers, it's a '57 body. There's also a support from the inside of the rear wheel arch up to the rear parcel tray that was introduced in '57 that an early won't have. If you had a later FE or FC to compare to it's a bit easier to identify what changed.

Early FEs also have a body coloured steering column and a few other differences, but if the car has been restored/modified over the years it becomes a bit harder to tell.

Hope that's some help to you.

RET

[snuff69]

thanks RET there is'nt any supports in to the parcel tray just the hinge set up and there only seems one layer of steel in the wheel arch the steering column is black the same colour as the car  so it would seem to be a 56  with a later engine  thanks DAVE

[mcl1959]

Hi Dave, welcome to the forum.  My program indicates that the body and chassis numbers are matching so it would appear the engine is the odd one out.  Brisbane built cars are not as precise as other state cars since the travel aspect mixed up body shells a fair bit and they are certainly not in as neat an order as Sydney cars for example.

That said, the engine number is too far away from correct to be just out of line a bit.

Nice score anyway, black FE's are great - does your car have a black dash or silver dash.  A lot of black FE's had silver dashes and I haven't been able to ascertain a reason for this yet.

Ken

[snuff69]

Hi Ken  the dash is just plain black.