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1961 - 1966 F-100 & Larger F-Series Trucks Discuss the Slick Sixties Ford Truck

Where's the VIN?

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Old Apr 22, 2012 | 05:40 PM
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From: THIS IS SPARTA!, ...Mo.
Where's the VIN?

So I took the body, engine and transmission off the frame of this '66 F100. Someone mentioned that the VIN was under the balancer on the crossmember. Well, not on this truck it wasn't. Any other place it may be?



As you can see, it wasn't ground off. It was never there. I can see the factory press marks where they stamped the crossmember out, but no number was ever stamped into the crossmember.
 
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Old Apr 22, 2012 | 05:59 PM
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I found the VIN below the balancer when I pulled the engine (352) in 1981 to rebuild it. AFAIK, no one else has found it in this location.

The hidden frame VIN is stamped atop the right (Passenger) side frame rail, either partially under the cab, or in front of it.

The Warranty Plate is located on the left door face below the latch. Has the VIN and other codes stamped on it, but...

Compare the VIN on the Warranty Plate with the hidden frame VIN, the VIN on the registration to see if it matches.

Peeps replaced damaged left doors with used doors. 99.9% of the time, they failed to install the original Warranty Plate on the replaced door.
 
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Old Apr 22, 2012 | 07:31 PM
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Warranty plate is missing all together.

I found a number on the passenger side frame rail right about in the middle in between the cab and bed. The owner has the title, so I can't compare the numbers, but it looks like it could be right. The numbers are smaller than you'd expect for a VIN, though.
 
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Old Apr 22, 2012 | 09:01 PM
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Originally Posted by earthquake68
Warranty plate is missing all together.

I found a number on the passenger side frame rail right about in the middle in between the cab and bed. The owner has the title, so I can't compare the numbers, but it looks like it could be right. The numbers are smaller than you'd expect for a VIN, though.
If it is the original frame it will have the VIN 2 times on right frame rail.

They were in specified locations (range)

The forward one was in area from front edge of front crossmember to 8" forward of that. The VIN should take up no more than 3 1/4" including stars.

The rearward VIN number is usually just forward of trans crossmember between that and body mount. Top side of course. Wirebrush and some soapstone will help you find them.

A interesting tidbit is the 2011-12 Trucks still have VIN's on right frame rail, again in 2 locations.
 
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Old Apr 23, 2012 | 01:07 AM
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My 2011 F150 has its Certification Label glued to the left door face, at the bottom of the door. In years to come, the same thing will occur that occurred 1963/80. The doors will be swapped, the VIN's will no longer match.

Why in the hell would FoMoCo do this? One would think they would have learned their lesson by now.
 
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Old Apr 23, 2012 | 04:50 AM
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Originally Posted by NumberDummy
My 2011 F150 has its Certification Label glued to the left door face, at the bottom of the door. In years to come, the same thing will occur that occurred 1963/80. The doors will be swapped, the VIN's will no longer match.

Why in the hell would FoMoCo do this? One would think they would have learned their lesson by now.
Mr. Bill, I question what lesson FoMoCo has to learn. If the said label is in place at the time of sale & delivery responsibility has ended. Afterwards it becomes the owners problem. IMHO

I have to agree with Boss, I have always found the vin on the passenger side frame rail under the cab & in the engine bay just ahead of the axle, but they prolly did it different over on the left coast.




John
 
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Old Apr 23, 2012 | 05:59 AM
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Originally Posted by NumberDummy
My 2011 F150 has its Certification Label glued to the left door face, at the bottom of the door. In years to come, the same thing will occur that occurred 1963/80. The doors will be swapped, the VIN's will no longer match.

Why in the hell would FoMoCo do this? One would think they would have learned their lesson by now.
My wife's Lexus has the VIN on all four doors. The salesman claimed that if one of the doors had been replaced due to crash damage, the replacement door wouldn't have the VIN on it.
 
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Old Apr 23, 2012 | 06:57 AM
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From: THIS IS SPARTA!, ...Mo.
Originally Posted by 66f-100
My wife's Lexus has the VIN on all four doors. The salesman claimed that if one of the doors had been replaced due to crash damage, the replacement door wouldn't have the VIN on it.
On the newer cars, darn near EVERY panel has a VIN on it. It was more to track stolen parts than anything else. Now-a-days, when you rebuild a car after a wreck, you have to supply the VIN from the donor vehicle. If you got parts from several different parts cars, you have to supply the state with ALL the donor cars' VINs. They're trying to cut down on chop shops and parts trafficking. (I've done alot of insurance repairs in my shop)
 
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Old Apr 23, 2012 | 08:54 AM
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Originally Posted by 66f-100
My wife's Lexus has the VIN on all four doors. The salesman claimed that if one of the doors had been replaced due to crash damage, the replacement door wouldn't have the VIN on it.
If a new door is installed, that's correct, but if a used door is installed, it will have the VIN that the car it was removed from has.

The VIN being marked on multiple parts began in the late 1980's, mandated by the NHTSA.

But the Certification Label on my 2011 has more than just the VIN. It contains the same info 1961/80 Warranty Plates do, plus multiple other codes for springs, mouldings, tape stripes and other fall-der-all.

Gluing it onto the L/F door will create problems if the door is swapped, because none of the info will match.
 
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Old Apr 23, 2012 | 08:44 PM
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Bill, you are not supposed to fix things anymore. They just total it and you get a new one.

Throw away trucks.

Garbz
 
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Old Apr 30, 2012 | 02:24 AM
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Originally Posted by NumberDummy
My 2011 F150 has its Certification Label glued to the left door face, at the bottom of the door. In years to come, the same thing will occur that occurred 1963/80. The doors will be swapped, the VIN's will no longer match.

Why in the hell would FoMoCo do this? One would think they would have learned their lesson by now.

That's a simple one Bill. Just install a new certification label its done daily.
Not very often the replacement door is same color so when door is painted they replace the label with the correct one. No issue with a wrong VIN. This is
2012 not 1965
 
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Old Apr 30, 2012 | 05:13 AM
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Yes it's 2012, and it's the same rigamarole peeps had to go thru in 1965. The polizei have to inspect the vehicle, fill out a police report. The registered owner has to sign a statement of facts, as does the shop replacing the door.

The Ford parts manager has to contact FoMoCo and order the label, passing along the police report, statements of facts from the registered owner and shop.
 
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Old Apr 30, 2012 | 08:49 AM
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Originally Posted by NumberDummy
Yes it's 2012, and it's the same rigamarole peeps had to go thru in 1965. The polizei have to inspect the vehicle, fill out a police report. Total Crock of facts The registered owner has to sign a statement of facts,Total Misinformation as does the shop replacing the door.

The Ford parts manager has to contact FoMoCo and order the label, passing along the police report,UTTER BS statements of facts from the registered owner Again, total BS and shop.
Can you show me a SINGLE veh that has the WRONG VIN tag on a late model veh? Plizei have to inspect veh is also UTTER BS!

A lot of vehicles have the tag on the door jamb and not the door itself. Even then its not that difficult to order another. In fact I ordered another tag just to have one down the road when years later it would be difficult to get..
 
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Old Apr 30, 2012 | 08:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Boss9F100
Can you show me a SINGLE veh that has the WRONG VIN tag on a late model veh? Plizei have to inspect veh is also UTTER BS!

A lot of vehicles have the tag on the door jamb and not the door itself. Even then its not that difficult to order another. In fact I ordered another tag just to have one down the road when years later it would be difficult to get..
Originally Posted by NumberDummy
Yes it's 2012, and it's the same rigamarole peeps had to go thru in 1965. The polizei have to inspect the vehicle, fill out a police report. Total Crock of facts The registered owner has to sign a statement of facts Total Misinformation as does the shop replacing the door.

The Ford parts manager has to contact FoMoCo and order the label,UTTER BS passing along the police report statements of facts Again, total BS from the registered owner and shop.
This was the procedure EVERY FoMoCo Dealership had to go thru to get a replacement 1961/80 Warranty Plate, because it was the law.

I personally ordered dozens of these replacement plates, so I know what the procedure was. This was due to the originals being destroyed due to accidents, or if the plates were removed because of vehicle thefts.

The same procedure was used for replacement Certification Labels. These were glued on, some were destroyed due to accidents, but water caused the outer layer to peel off, which removed some/all of the printed info.

The same procedure inre to ordering replacement Certification Labels is used today, because it's the law.

Are you aware that in some states like CA, it is ILLEGAL to install reproduction Warranty Plates/Certification Labels? Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

You were NEVER a Ford partsman, so you have NO CLUE what you're talking about. Get a grip!
 
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