Are the sills colour coded or black?

If black, means it was made at Cowley.

 

Hi,

Follow this link

http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=128120

and go to posting 9.

This will show you how to find out when it was built as well.

Regards

David

 

Welcome to the forum, robwal0.
One easy way to tell a Cowley 75 from a Longbridge 75 is that the Cowley 75s has black plastic sills along the side of the car. (i.e. that bit under the chrome at the bottom of the door)

 

Maybe it's because I'm used to my 16" alloys, or maybe it's the angle the photo was taken on, or that the 75 is parked on the grass... but the alloys don't look harmonious with the car. The profile of the tyres look very low.

I like the alloy design though.

 

Many thanks Andy for your help. Is the Cowley a better build quality ? Your car in the picture is identical to mine apart from the wheels......Looks good. Robin.

 

It is not my car, it is just a photo I picked out of the image gallery to illustrate that sill.

It is Steve Childs' 75, in fact.
http://gallery.mg-rover.org/showgallery.php/cat/3610

 

The easiest way to tell is to look at your VIN Number:

Look at the 11th letter along - if it is:

M = Cowley
D = Longbridge

The VIN number starts with SAR ........

 

Hi.

I have heard about the black sills Versus colour coded for telling where a car was built, but how does this apply when the car is black like mine?

 

ah. just noticed the above re the VIN number.. Thanks!

By the way, what kudos does a car have if on the one hand it was built at Cowley, and on the other it was built at Longbridge? Whats the likely difference?

 

There are so many different schools of thought. Some people think that Longbridge cars are better built, compared to Cowley built cars. I have to agree with that, as I've owned several of both. The Cowley built cars had alot more problems than Longbridge built cars in my experience.

If you have a look closely at your black 75, check the bottom of the sills and bumpers to see if they are totally painted. Cowley built 75's have sills that are natural plastic coloured bottoms, whereas Longbridge built 75's will have the sills colour coded.

By the way, what did yours come out at, when you checked the VIN Number?

 

Hi Ian, thanks for your help on this!
Well according to the VIN formula mine is a Cowley build! For no good reason I have always assumed mine was a Longbridge build, donat as why I thought that !
Yes, the sills are colour coded right through, I ordered the Raven black when buying it new,and although it may be a Cowley buil, its generally very well put together and had no problems at all (yet) Reg 04-2000
apart from one period of poor acceleration top speed, etc. which no amount of dealer updates and tinkering about with could cure...I cured it myself in a lateral thinking moment...took up the slack in the throttle cable.Job done !

 

Thats good to here Stree.

Both of my Cowley Built 75's, were early production models, so I guess they were a bit of an experiment. With yours being built a year later, they would have been built alot better, as the team building them got used to it.

Funnily enough, the Facelift models seem to get a bit of a bashing for quality, but I can't disagree with this more. My facelift ZT is the most reliable and best built 75/ZT that I have owned.