I now have a 1948-1949 Ford Truck. How can you tell a 48 from a 49 pick-up? No serial plate. Do have a plate from a parts one. 98RC377127NR. Help?

 

You might look at bobj49f2's gallery as he has multiple years shown. Also there is a sticky at the top of this forum that indicates what parts are interchangeable on the F1 and other series trucks of that vintage. You could also do a search for each year in the galleries and that will show you additional photos of each year. Hope it helps and welcome to FTE.

 

Check out Bonusbuilt.com. Here's a link

http://bonusbuilt.com/history.html

48/49/50 were nearly identical, only assembly line upgrades like grill color and detailing, wheel color, window divider, etc.

I think it's safe to say the serial plate you have is from a 1950 half-ton pickup with a V8 engine that came from the Norfolk, VA assembly plant.

 

Isn't the serial # stamped on the left side frame rail, near the suspension, like on my 55 F100?

 

Thanks all for the info. I do have the engine number stamped. E026386. I am still looking on the frame.Also, it is a Flathead six engine.

 

I have a 48 F-3 and there was no number on either frame rail. However, there was a number stamped on the front crossmember under the radiator and there was a number stamped in the middle of the firewall just under the windshield. You might try looking there also.

Vern

 

I found a serial number I think. It is 87HC11. It is a 1948 model, with a six cyliner flathead engine.

 

See if it matches your serial number on your pink slip.

 

No pink slip. That is why I am looking to verify the number. What can I tell about the number?

 

The Vin # you found does indicate that it it a 48 (the 8) with a Flathead 6 (7H). It is and F1 - 1/2 ton (C). There should be more numbers beyond the 11 unless you have the 11th truck built in 1948. I suppose this is possible since at some point they had to build #11. Usually there are 6 digits at the end. I don't know if they used 0's to fill out the six digits or added the digits as they became necessary.

There are a number of sites with information on decoding engine #'s, the Vin #'s and the plant specific codes that are sometimes stamped onto the top of the firewall itself (the most mysterious of all the numbers). I've seen discussions where it is thought that the firewall stamping provides paint codes, etc. but this was apparently done differently depending on which plant assembled the truck. Sure would be great to get a hold of some old guy that actually worked the assembly line on these things.

Your VIN # for the truck can be found in three places on the truck.

1 - A data/Vin Plate that was rivited to the fire wall in the engine compartment. It is located towards the top on the passenger side of the truck. After 50+ yers, a number of them have "disappeared" over the years though IU suspecet damn few actually fell off.

2 - On the inside of the glove box door. There were screwed on or rivited on and many have been removed for one reason or another.

3 - Stamped into the top of the frame rail in the engine compartment. They are almost always on the passenger side but I've seen folks report that they have one that was stamped on the driver's side. Some have also reported finding the number stamped furhter back on the frame rail undeer the cab. I have been able to locate this number on about 75% of the trucks that I have looked at. The stamping was not the deep so over time, if the frame rails have coroded, the number may be gone. Some that I have seen without a number stamped were not coroded at all so I am convinced that some of these truck shipped without the frame rail being stamped. This is just my opinion based solely on my observations and others may disagree and I may be wrong.

The engine number is supposed to be stamped into the top of the bellhousing. I can't confirm this as I've never found this number and I have looked.

There are numbers stamped into the engine that will tell you the date the engine was manufactured. I do not know where this number iws located on the six but there was a thread on this subject in the past week and the subject engine was a six cylinder flathead.

Hope this helps a little. The Bonusbuilt site will lead you to a number of other ggod ones. Also search the net for Flathead For information and check out the Flathead Forum here on FTE.

MTflat has your parts truck number already decoded for you. Just an FYI. In 1950, they just continued to use a 9 at the beginning and simply continued on with the sequence. Not sure where the break point was between the 1949 and 1950 sequence numbers but perhaps someome else on here does.

Good luck.

 

texan2004, that's some good information.

I learned something new about these old F1's.

Hope that helps "bendiana".

 

Bendiana, The "serial number" you found sounds a lot like the part number for a part that is specific to the '48 6-cyl (vs V8) -- where did you find it? Almost all the frame pieces have a part number stamped on them, in the same format as your number.

 

I found the number on an old registration slip from a previous owner. It was ratty, that is about all the number I could see. I am still looking for a frame number.

 

Here's a little more info. The 87HC 11______ is the serial number or vin number you're looking for. My source says that '48 six cylinder models started with 87HC 6911 thru 87HC 166979.

As far as I know the date assembly number is only found on the V8's - and not on all of them.

The serial number is not found on the bell housing of the late series 8RT/8BA engines. This was a location only used on the early V8's thru the 59 series flatheads.

Where exactly did you find the EO26386? With Ross, that sounds like a specific part number but doesn't fit quite right.

If you should find any numbers stamped on the cowl/firewall it might help place your truck in the month it was produced.

 

The stamped number on the engine was on the engine block manifold side, just below the valve cover.