Model Years versus Production Years

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@xxxxxxxxx>]

That font of arcana, John Hertzmann, fills us in with more details:

> D'A-T says the Junior was introduced 1966, 1967 saw the addition
> of a brake servo and a new two-spoke steering wheel, 1969 saw a 
> rear anti-roll bar, [...]

Now, as I have a 1967 GT Junior which clearly has no brake servo in it,
I'm reminded of something that baffled me when I first began the
sports-car addiction some 15 years ago.

Books, maddeningly, tend to talk about the *calendar year* in which a
model was introduced, or a running change was made.  

Typically, carmakers' *model years* begin in September, or sometimes as
early as August, of the preceding *calendar year*.

This caused some confusion when I was, many years ago, about to buy my
first sports car, an M.G. Midget.  I'd located one with the equipment I
knew I wanted -- the BMC 1275cc A-Series engine, twin SU carburettors
and chrome bumpers -- which was dated as a 1974 model year.

I was therefore put off when reading M.G. history books that claimed
that 1974 saw the introduction of black rubber bumpers and a very
low-compression Triumph 1500 engine with a single Zenith-Stromberg
carburetor, three things I knew I did not want.

It took some time for me to sort it out, but fortunately the vehicle
numbering system used by British Phlegmsucking Leyland actually worked
to my advantage.  VINs on BPL cars of the Seventies include an alpha
(and yes, as a matter of fact it *did* feel funny to type it that way on
this list) numeric code that indicated various things, including the
model year (for the then-significant smog regulations just coming into
effect) as well as the serial number.  Later research determined that my
car, GAN5UE152914, was built in July or August 1974; the single-carb,
Triumph-engined, rubber-bumpered versions began in September 1974 with
serial number GAN6UE154100.  

This digression into foreign marques is solely meant to demonstrate that
it is common -- in my experience, nearly ubiquitous -- for even the best
of research sources to quote the calendar year in which a running change
was made, not the vehicle model year to which those changes were
applied.  This can make it even more difficult for those of us who are
attempting to be punctilious about what trim levels or performance
options should correctly be on our vehicles, because the books can be
confusing.  

The moral: always cross-check any confusing or contradictory "year"
information to determine whether the book is describing a model year or
a calendar year, particularly when it violates something you can
actually see in a vehicle.  (At the same time, small-volume
manufacturers *are* known to install whatever they happen to have lying
about the shelves when the car gets made; I suspect that a correct,
original restoration of one of the smaller "etceterini" would be nearly
impossible to document for just this reason.)

- --Scott Fisher

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