Odd 150 chassis (lubricant) plate

I came across a 150 chassis plate at a local flea market (probably saved from a junked car) and noticed something odd. It had the 4 usual stamped numbers, but for the trans. number it had a 4 speed/OD number stamped on, and the plate was printed for an “automatic transmission no.”. So they used an automatic plate for a 4SP/OD car. If that was on a show car, how would you explain that to a judge?

Phil.

love to see good quality photo/scan
terry

A plate issued at conversion ?

Does the main number end BW for auto?

Is there an N for Normanville?

It was the usual plate put on all the cars at the factory, and after a half century of abuse the car was probably parted out and the plate removed with a pry bar as a novelty flea market item. I work at a Jag rest. shop and I record these numbers of the cars i’ve worked on, so i’m very familiar with the plates. I knew it was from an early 150 cp., not an S model, and the manual trans number ended in CR as a close ratio but the plate was printed for an automatic trans. The guy was asking $40 for it which was more than I was willing to pay for something I really don’t need.

As for the N , there was no N anywhere. I’ve seen M pre-fix on 150 automatic numbers before, but not an N .

Phil.

Phil, I recall this exact situation being mentioned by someone else on the Forum within the past year. It may not have been an XK150, possibly a saloon.

Maybe the vendor selling it was trying to get more info on this plate. When I talked to him, he had no knowledge of any British cars.

Phil.

BW stands for Borg Warner. My 150 is fitted with a DH250 auto tranny.

Pat H

phil,
can we see a photo of the plate?

Probably the factory worker in charge of stamping plates grabbed one from the wrong box, or they were all out of the right ones that day.
Here’s one with a Borg Warner automatic but the plate is printed for SAE 90 gear oils.


What’s going on there? I thought all Moss boxes used SAE 30 motor oil.
Maybe an ignorantly made repro?

Here’s a correct one for BW automatic.

If I see that vendor next week, i’ll get a photo.

Phil.

rob,
the top one of your 2 pics for 837100 is a repro plate

Yes, I thought it probably was a repro. Is it for a 1965 and later car with a Jaguar all-synchro box?