Build date proof › Europe
Heritage Certificate
Build and despatch dates, read from the original factory ledgers. This is an actual archive holding actual records, not a club register - and at GBP 15 for the answer alone it is the cheapest build date anywhere on this page.
- covers
- Land Rover, Range Rover, Austin, Morris, MG, Rover, Triumph, Wolseley, Riley, Standard, Mini (classic), Austin-Healey, Aston Martin, Lagonda, Vanden Plas
- issuer
- British Motor Industry Heritage Trust, British Motor Museum, Gaydon
- cost
- GBP 52 standard, GBP 65 Premier. Postage GBP 7.50 to the USA and rest of world. A Production Record Request - the answer only, no certificate - is GBP 15.
- time
- 28 working days
Build date and despatch date
States when the car was built and, separately, when it left the factory. The best kind of document there is.
What you have to supply
The chassis number read off the car itself, not off the logbook. They may ask for proof of ownership.
Who can order it
Land Rover 1948 to present. Range Rover 1970 to present. Austin 1945-69, Morris 1928-71, Rover 1945-86, Triumph 1946-81, MG 1953-80 and 1993-95, Mini 1959-69 and 1977-81, Aston Martin 1949-85, and others.
Limits and gaps
Minis built 1969-1977 have inconsistent factory records; they issue a Dating Letter with the chassis number and build date instead of a full certificate. The ledgers vary, so not every detail is recorded for every model. Full refund if they cannot fulfil the order.
Notes
Jaguar is NOT covered here, whatever you have read. BMIHT's own FAQ sends Jaguar owners to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust. Ordering the wrong one costs GBP 52 and four weeks. Their insistence that you read the chassis number off the car is deliberate: logbooks are full of transcription errors.
Checked against the issuer's own page issuer page · retrieved 25 September 2026
Marques this covers
Land Rover
Range Rover
Austin
Morris
MG
Rover
Triumph
Wolseley
Riley
Standard
Mini (classic)
Austin-Healey
Aston Martin
Lagonda
Vanden Plas
The Build Date Proof Pack
This page tells you which document to order. The pack gets it ordered — and tells you what to do when the answer is that no document exists.
- A ready-to-send request for every archive, in the language it wants
- Exactly which numbers to photograph, and where they are on the car
- What to ask the seller for before you pay the deposit
- The fallback ladder when the manufacturer has no records
- What US, Canadian and Australian officials each accept as proof