Back in the mists of time as best I can remember one was grateful to find a donor of any parts in a scrap yard to keep an old car running, numbers relative to originality and identity were never a concern. I suspect Morgans were the most modified of old cars given so many folk are encouraged to think they can improve so much of the rudimentary aspects of the design and build..
I have a dull memory of a "passport" created for vehicles taking part in European events, whereby the identity of the vehicle was established and certified for whatever reason. It may be that non-DVLA registered vehicles such as competition machinery were required to be identified by some means. Such issues may be related to the number of vehicles disappearing from the UK into Eastern Europe or perhaps some sort of customs issue... I have no real idea.
I am all for keeping old cars going by whatever reasonably legitimate means possible, and I am in favour of a car wearing it`s history to some degree, as opposed to it looking like the paint has just dried. I remember an imported Model T turning up at a local car show many years ago, it was entered into the concours, the T looked like it was straight out of the box, and the owner provided a very detailed record documenting it`s full professional restoration in the USA. It of course walked off with the trophy, but that seemed unfair to me at the time when the rest of the entrants had been beavering away in their garages to keep their old cars looking smart... Yeah, a lot has changed in the passage of time..
