What year is my car?

I just happened onto two different UK auction sites that had my car for sale back in 2000 with the original number plates OBC 715F and chassis number RA2531160782.
They both had it listed as a 1967, but I have it registered as a 1968 as it was represented to me. Does the chassis number give anything away as far as date built?

The F at end of registration plate only indicates it was registered in 1968. The car itself may have been standing around since it was built until it was sold so it could very well have been built in 1967 .

I'm pretty sure that the registration dates changed in 1967 with the "E" plated registrations only being issued from 1st Jan to 31st July. "F" plated vehicles then ran from 1st August 1967 up to 31st July 1968.
This was to encourage new buyers to purchase new vehicles in what was historically a quiet time of the year. We all know how things changed and 1st August was later to become a boom time for car sales.

You can contact the Heritage Centre in Gaydon near Banbury and they will be able to trace your Elf via the VIN details and give you a build date. As Tony mentioned, this doesn't give you the registration date but if built after say mid December 1967, then it's likely to have been registered in 1968.

BTW a bit more anorak stuff, your car was originally registered in Leicestershire.

The Heritage Centre offer for £5.00 a vehicle build date service via
http://www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/store/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29778

Hope this helps.

The number puts it probably September '67 build. As suggested, Heritage can give you the exact date.
The prefix should be 2S, not 25.

This seems to have been quite common. My Elf is registered on a G (1969) plate, but when I first posted pics on the internet, Eduard Preiswerk contacted me pointing out the seats were earlier pattern. So I started investigating, and Cheleker was one of those who helped me at the time - my car is almost certainly a '67 too, as several component dates seem to confirm. One of these days I'll get a Heritage certificate for it...

There must have been quite a stockpile of '67 Elfs at some point!

cheleker wrote:The number puts it probably September '67 build. As suggested, Heritage can give you the exact date.
The prefix should be 2S, not 25.

The number is as stated even on the UK auction sites before being exported, so at least we can't blame anyone on this side of the pond for the mistake! :p