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?
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, 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.
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.