There is no VIN on any Ford truck prior to 1948, none on any Ford car prior to 1949.

These older vehicles were registered by the serial number which was also the engine number.

The problem was...if the engine was changed, the numbers would no longer match, excepting what Ford dealers were supposed to do.

When installing new engine blocks, dealers were supposed to stamp the old engine number on the new block, but not evey dealer did this.

The VIN = Vehicle Identification Number, registers the entire vehicle, not just the engine.

 

mprsox

I have a '41 1 ton (not mobile) - on mine the chassis no. is stamped on the top flange of the LH rail, near the front

 

What does that number signify?
I was planning on pulling the wiring in the next couple days, I'll let you know.

 

What Bill says is technically true, but when the state asks you for a VIN it is the "engine" number that they are looking for on these old trucks. You will not be able to get away with the argument that there is no VIN on the truck. Interestingly, since the "engine" number was stamped on the frame and put on a body tag, it does identify the entire vehicle -- the only thing it doesn't do is describe the vehicle the way more modern VINs do. Again the "engine" number was not put on the engine except in a few states that required it to be on the engine, the dealers in these states were supposed to stamp the engines when they arrived. Therefore calling it an engine number is a misnomer, it should be called the transmission number because it only truely identified the transmission.

 

I have a 47 3 tonner , the 5t is the truck camshaft High torque i think, My truck is repowered with a different block and runs a car camshaft i think it a 29AB or somthing.

 

According to a Jan/Feb 1947 Kelley Blue Book I have, it says:

"The engine number and the serial number are the same." This applied to all the automakers vehicles, not just Ford Motor Company vehicles.

In the Ford section, it says: "The number is also stamped on the clutch housing and can be seen when the transmission cover is removed.

My 1934 and 1939 Packards have their original engines, both are registered by their specific engine numbers.

The Kelley Kar Company was...at one time...the largest used car dealer in the world (and a Ford Dealer in the 1930's/40's).

His business encompassed one entire block of Figueroa Street, which was downtown LA's original auto row.

Kelley was the one that came up with the idea of using the VIN system.

 

And this really becomes important for the very early Fords where the number was only assigned to the engine and not put on the frame at all. I don't know for sure when they started to put the number on the frame, but I am thinking about '32. It is also important to understand the difference when dealing with old cars like Chevy where they had an engine number and a different body number.

But because VIN has been in the vernacular since, as you say, the late '40s and it seems like every title needs a "VIN" I am willing to cut the newbies some slack, the engine number is for all purposes the VIN.

 

So when I go to the BMV to register my truck and they ask for the VIN, and I respond saying my truck doesn't have a VIN it has a serial number... will you gentlemen come with me and explain the difference to them?

 

Gosh no, don't confuse them -- they usually have a hard enough time dealing with trying to title something that currently doesn't have one, they are looking for the number that you found on the bell. I would try to clean up the frame some though and see if the same number is found there. Remember if there was any problem in the past they may have swapped out the trans, probably not seeing the serial number fits and it has the BB. I would prefer to register the number on the frame if it was different. That would still give you a number to work with if you ever decide to replace the drive train.

 

I'm going to try to not open a can of worms...lol... but according to vanpelts, the serial number chart and the following info (also found on vanpelts) my truck would appear to be a 42. Please tell me if I'm reading it wrong.

My Serial number (on the frame and tranny bellhousing) is *BB18-6924616*

So wouldn't that be 18-6,924,616, and fall in the range below?

1942 Ford V8 - 90hp 18-6,769,036 to 18-6,925,898

"The serialization applied to trucks and commercial vehicles using these Ford engines. They may have different serial prefixes, but would be inclusive within the serial ranges shown."
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Yes Alicia, your truck falls within the '42 range of serial numbers and it was originally the 90 HP engine "18". For what is worth based on the way Ford classified them you have a truck, the commercials were the 1/2 tons. I have not yet found anything that can confirm what the BB in the serial number means, it is my impression that it refers to the larger trucks, but I am not sure what size they started to use the BB, I was hoping someone with more info would chime in.

 

Thank you for your help