I thought I would past on my numbers for history files.

Glove box tag--- 98RC 321426, model W B C space, space, space with a half size 2 or z after the C . Series F-1

Firewall tag--- 98RC*321426* KC

Right Frame---- 98RC 321426

Firewall above seam--- + 321 ? 315

The ? could be a L with a sixteenth upward hook on the right end or it could be a U with part of the right top side missing. The bottom of the letter was deep punched or tilted stamp with top smooth or missing.

Pickup sold to me as a 1949, raised bed, one wiper and sun visor, plug for right wiper, floor shift cover, Has 302 with C-6. Frame, running gear and all metal complete, needs work. LT green over Dark green paint. Inside cab everything stripped. Evaluation and opinions appreciated, chuck .

 

Bed looks original. It's rusting at the sama rate as the remainer of the pickup. Small rear window. f you think the cowl middle number is KC i'll strip all paint area to see. Chuck n69ec@earthlink.net, 49fordpickumup

 

Chuck,

Here goes.

98RC 321426 KC

9 = 1949/50 Model Years
8R = Origianlly came with a 239 c.i.d Flathead V8
C = F1 model 1/2 ton
321426 = VIN sequence #. One this high would indicate it is a 1950. The cut-off between 49 and 50 appears to be somewhere between 250,000 and 275,000 depending on the enigne and the assembly plant.

KC = Kansas City Assembly plant

Firewall stamping: + 321 ? 315

There should be a KC in there some place. The Kansas City firewall stampings were pretty consistant from shat I've been able to determine. It shouold look somehting like this:

7 KC 21M 321

7 = Paint Code, in this example, meadow green. Could also be two digits. Most plants wen to letters for the paint code in 1950. The KC plant continued using numbers until late in the 1950 model year. I have examples of later VIN #'s with numbered paint codes so I would expect yours will be a number and not a letter. Jeffh's truck on the previous page was in the 358,000 range and built on 3/17/50. Yours should have been built before that but his was an F2 which may have some bearing on the VIN sequence #/build date relationship. Would be great to get your firewall stamping worked out to compare.

KC = Kansas City Assembly Plant

21M = Date Code. In this example it would be December 21st. Ther could be only one digit nad not two if the day of the month was less than the 10th. Letters could be anywhere from A-M, excluding the letter I whch was skipped I presume to avoid confusion with the number 1 or the letter L.

321 = Some sort of plant specific sequence number. Not yet figured out wha this was for. Could be two or three digits. I've never seen ore than tree digits here for the KC plant. I've seen four digits at some other plants.
Would be great if you could clean up the area a bit and get a better read. Better yet, snap a picture and post it. We have been pretty good at reading these things over the net.

Thanks for posting Chuck.

 

My truck. 98RC340313 SP. My dad lost the title but always maintained that it is a 50. With your cutoff between 250,000 and 275,000 I guess he was right. It had the "early" bed style so that's what I replaced it with as well.

 

nothing intelligent to say so i'll just shut up, youall seem to know prettymuch anything and everything,seriously,almost scary, but very cool.I'm thinking if I ever want to decipher my vin at least I know who to ask.

 

nothing intelligent to say so i'll just shut up, youall seem to know prettymuch anything and everything,seriously,almost scary, but very cool. If I ever want to decipher my vin. I'll at least know who to ask.

 

nothing intelligent to say so i'll just shut up, youall seem to know prettymuch anything and everything,seriously,almost scary, but very cool.

 

JD,

Check the firewall for a series of numbers and letters stamped into it. MAy be on the cowl just above the firewall. We can get you the build date, original color, and assembly plant from it.

Carl

 

1. 1949 F-3
2. Vin # 97HY 172415 SOM
3. no bed
4. no bed
5. 4 speed
6. Floor shifter
7. No #

 

9 = 49/50 (Yours is certainly a 49 and a very early one at that)
7H = 226 c.i.d. flathead 6 cyl. engine
Y = F3 (Heavy Duty 3/4 ton)
172415 = Vin Sequence #. This would indicate a rather early 1949. My guess would be as early as February and no later than mid April 1949 build date. Something around this time of year actually.

SOM = Somerville, MA assembly plant.

Just a side note but most references to assembly plants for these trucks do not include or mention the Somerville, MA assembly plant as one that built trucks. I say most but in reality, I've never seen Somerville listed as a truck plant anywhere. Obvioulsy they did build trucks there since you own one of them. We have two others from there on the list as well.

No firewall stamping huh? Too bad, I'd love to get one off a truck from there but if they didn't do one, then they didn't do one. Unfortunately, I don't have firewall stampings for either of the other two Somerville trucks on the list.

Thanks for participating. Really appreciate the info.

 

Ok here goes, I just got this one from an old farmer in mo. He thinks it`s a 1950 truck, but I don`t know, and will let the guru`s on here figure it out.

My glove box tag is in good shape and reads as follows

wt 14000
series F5

ENGINE NO_________ 97HT 232374

MODEL____________9R8T

--------------------------------------------
MY FIRE WALL TAG IS ONE LINE & READS AS FOLLOWS

97HT 232374 CGO
----------------------

It was used as a grain truck, it had a quite long bed which was removed when I got it and it still has duel wheels. it is 6cyl motor with manuel transmission, it has a two piece drive shaft with a carrier brg located at about center way between the tranny and rear end housing.

There are no numbers stamped into the fire wall that I can find just the tag with 4 pin rivits holding it on

 

97HT 232374 CGO

9 = 1949/50
7H = 226 C.I.D. 6 cylinder flathead.
T = F5 1.5 ton (1.34" wheelbase)
232374 = Vin sequence #
CGO = Chicago Assembly Plant

I have never seen a confirmed 1950 truck with a VIN sequence # as low as yours. That said, I would declare yours a 49 and not a 50. The 1950 numbers, depending on the plant and the engine, seem to start nowhere lower that 250,000.

Just a side note, but one of the numbers we have collected is 97HC 232367. mtflat (Tim contributed that one from a set of VIN's he collected prior to the start of this little project. Unfortunately, I don't have any information on that truck or where it is located but the VIN # is only 7 lower than yours.. MY guess would be he pulled it off of ebay but perhaps he will chime in with where it came from.

Take a good look at the firewall or the cowl area just above the firewall. The numbers can be hard to see sometimes. It's alos possible that the nuber just isn't there but if you can find it, we can give you a little more information on the truck and we would certianly be able to confirm the model year with almost 100% certainty. Right now we are proably 90% certain you have a 49.

 

1949? F1 V8 Blue
9 8RC 313834
Branch: AT
#firewall 524B8976
Steel Bed
Trans ?
Shifter ?

 

Apologize for the delayed reply. Here goes:

98RC 313834

9 = 1949/50 (Yours is a 50 but I'll get to that later)

 

Apologize for the delayed reply. Here goes:

98RC 313834

9 = 1949/50 (Yours is a 50 but I'll get to that later)
8R = 239 c.i.d. flathead V8
C= F1 - 1/2 ton

313834 = Vin sequence #: The cut-off between 1949 and 1950 seems to depend on the assembly plant, engine size and perhaps even the model (F1, F2, F3, etc). In general, the cut-off seems to have taken place soemwhere around 250,00 - 275,000. I've not come acorss anything in the 300,000's that is a 1949 so pretty safe to say yours is a 1950. The firewall stamping should helps us to confirm this.

Branch: AT = Atlanta, Ga assembly plant. BTW, this plant was building the Taurs and Sable up until October of last year when it was shut down on 10/27/06. The first Bonusbuilt truck rolled off the line there on 12/3/47. This was a brand new plant at the time (opened in 1947). There had been a Ford plant in Atlanta fron 1914 through 1942. no Ford plant in Atlanta during WWII and up until this new plant was built in 1947. Prbably more than you wanted to know and probably more than I should know

#firewall 524B8976

Te assembly plant code would be included in this collection of numbers firewall numbers had it been built at any other plant except Atlanta. For some reason, it appears that Atlanta left the AT out of the firewall stamping. In any case here goes:

5 = Paint Code = Unkown. I have come acorss this paint code one other tiem and it was also a truck built in Atlanta (VIN #97HC 214531, Firewall Stamping (5 10F 665). Ant information you may have on the original paint color would be of great interest. This may have been a standard Ford color and Atlanta used a different paint code for it. would be inteteresting to know. These plants operated semi-autonomously with regards to record keeping.

24B = Februray 24, 1950 build date

8976 = some sort of unknown plant specific sequence #.

Hope you find this helpful/interesting. Again, I would really like to know what color your truck was originally so I would have a color to match to the paint code #5.

Thanks,

Carl G.