M6 with odd serial number

<p>Hi Everyone<br>

I've had my M6 for three years or so and I just love using it whenever I get the time. I've just found a very tatty M4 in a shop in London that I buy from a lot and even though I can't justify the money I'm going to buy it because I can't resist it!.<br>

I looked up the serial number out of interest and found it was made in 1967 then I looked up my M6 out of interest and according to the list of serial numbers my M6 should be an M4-P made in wetzlar in 1986!.<br>

I just thought this as a bit odd and would like any feedback from you guys.<br>

My wife will probably kill me when she finds out about the new M4 so please make any replies to this post pretty quickly as I would love to read them before she gets to me!!!.<br>

Best regards<br>

Dave Thrower<br>

<p>Hi Everyone<br>

The serial number is 1692602 - forgot the mention that!.<br>

Thanks<br>

Dave</p>

 

<p>Hi, Dave. Very odd. According to Gandy, 1692602 was included in a bunch of M4-P bodies released in April 1986. But he also says that in this batch of 1000 cameras, 270 were in fact M6 bodies! By the way, I saw a nice M4 in London last week. Maybe it's the same one.</p>

<p>Forgot. The Gandy data can be seen here<br>

http://www.cameraquest.com/mtype.htm</p>

<p>It is well known serial number records are not not perfect. The serial of my M6 is 17077xx and it is a very early issue. Black and matches Gandys records.</p>

<p>The other is 1708xxx and is chrome and that does not match Gandy`s records.</p>

<p>Both were purchased new in 1986/7 so there is no chance of altered serials or such. The only service has been light shield replacement by DAG about 5 years ago.</p>

<p>I can`t see why some M4-P were not made at the time of the M6. It is basically the same camera. I bet it is a late one with the M6 style windows rather than the brass top early one. I could take a wild guess and say they made M4-P when they ran out of meters of the M6. They simply used the existing serial block or chassis made for the M6.</p>

<p>You have to understand serials are planned orders and a block is assigned when the planning is done. When they come off the line, they are numbered sequentially and things may not match up if production does not go by plan.</p>

<p>y </p>

<p>One other possiblity is that the hot shoe bracket was replaced off of an M4-P to early M6. I believe the hot shoe design was the same on both of these cameras. The hot shoe on the M4-2 has a slightly smaller inter circle and later M6 has a slightly larger openning. Thanks</p>

<p>Hi Harry Ronald and Tristan<br>

All your comments are very helpful and informative so thank you for taking the time to post.<br>

I bought the M4 today - it's very well used and some of the leather covering has come off. Also there's a spot of fungus in the viewfinder which the shop are going to clean of or me but it's so silky smooth to use. It's much smoother to wind on than my M6.<br>

I paid £370 Pounds for the M4 so even though it's tatty I think that I will get a great deal of pleasure from it - much more than I would from a Canon G10 etc etc that would have cost the same amount of cash.<br>

I just love these M series cameras and can't wait to shoot some film this weekend.<br>

Best regards<br>

Dave</p>

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