I think i have a major problem i bought a beutiful 51 chevy styleline from texas the top has been chopped 4 1/2" right were the vin # was so its no longer there and is missing all together.i did speak and set up an inspection whith the chp. During our conversation i gave him the #s off the title and i was told those were the engine block #s and of course the motor was swaped to a v8. Now chp told me that some 51,chevys built out of the country had a frame vin # and they started puting frame vin #s on all vehicles frames in 1952.how can i tell were my 51 was built and where can i locate the frame vin # if there is one. The person i bought the car from bought it like that, and was not aware of this and is doing every thing he can to make this right.**********UPDATE MAR 1 2011 ******** I WAS ABLE TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THE BUILDER OF THIS 51 CHEVY,I EXPLAINED THIS PROBLEM MIND YOU THIS CAR WAS CHOPPED IN 1998 I ASKED IF HE MAY STILL HAVE THE PIECE THAT WAS CUT OFF THE PILAR .HE SAID HE WOULD LOOK AROUND SURE ENOUGH LORD BE HOLD HE FOUND IT. HE SENT IT TO ME, BY THE WAY THANKS LIZANDRO FROM INDEPENDENT BODY AND PAINT IN HOUSTON TEXAS AND MATT VASQUEZ (HOUSTON RODDER)I GAVE IT TO THE CHP THEY RAN IT THROUGH SACRAMENTO DATA BASE AND THE VIN WAS GOOD .THEY WOULD NOT RE ATTACH THE O.G VIN BUT BLUE TAGGED IT INSTEAD THEY ALSO PUT A SECONDARY VIN SINCE 51 CHEVYS DID NOT HAVE ONE .SO IM GOOD TO "SHAKE RADDEL & ROLL" SAVE YOUR VIN# BUILDERS THANKS JOHN
WOW, this is going on over on Chevytalk too! Look, if the CHP said there should be a number stamped on the chassis, give it to them!!!! There shouldn't be. Vins stamped on the chassis started in 56. BUT, no worry. He is giving you the opportunity to get the car registered. JUST STAMP THE NUMBER IN THE CHASSIS!! Make it look old and shitty and your done. Damn, you looked and sure enough there it is sir! Dom
I've read about guys building brand new frames for Model A's, stamping a Model A vin into the correct location, and getting them through a CHP inspection. But since your car has an existing frame, you're probably best off letting them look for a number. You don't want them to find two numbers on it - Body tag may have some build info if it's still there, should be under the hood on the cowl someplace. If that's gone, there's not much to go on. IIRC the serial should be something like a number, three letters and then 4 to 6 numbers; of the letters one is model year and one indicates if the car is a DeLuxe or a Special (cheap series). I think you can google up the exact information pretty easily.
When I registered my '52 in Australia I had similar problems. I found out that Chevs didn't have chassis numbers until '55 (in Australia at least). Vicroads man wouldn't take that for an answer so he found a number stamped into the back door and used that. I must get around to transferring my "chassis number" to my chassis one day.
The vin use to be on the drivers a pillar held on with 2 sheet metal screws The one on the fire wall is just a body tag I didn't find a frame number on my 50, and I've had other folks look at there's also Mine was missing the vin tag, and had no title. Colorado has a state issued vin system, perhaps you should check for that or return the car Is Boyd still dead? Sent from my iPod touch using TJJ
Like stated , not ure if a 51 even has frame numbers , My 55 had on top of the frame rail right below the front seat area , took a mirror and a sand paper to get them to show up. Might start looking there. WHen the ISP officer showed up here i had the car on jack stands , i had a mirror laying out with flashlights and everything , even a nice comfortable carpet reminant laying there so he wouldnt have to get dirty on the shop floor. ........ Laugh all you want , i had my brand new vin number and title within 2 weeks. Also when i pulled the boy from my 2 door sedan i found the frame numbers in FOUR different places , all on top of the frame rail , one right across from the driver side numbers and then one on each frame rail under the rear seat area. All looked to be factory stampings. But that car had a good title with it so no worries.
49-54 did NOT have frame numbers, only a body serial number on the driver A pillar. However that was just a body serial number, as far as I know the motor serial number was used as a VIN.
Good Luck, John- I hope this works out good for you. And thanks for posting this- when I chop my Chevy, I'll be taking the steps to avoid the hassles you're now facing.
It ain't tough, 1 clutch head driver and 30 seconds LOL Best of luck! Sent from my iPod touch using TJJ
Same with me. I had the same problem when I moved here from TX. My car has all the body tags, but i'm swapped to a V8 and didn't have a VIN. I heard AAA was the way to go when registering a car out here, so I went there and got a membership. The lady walked out to my car, looked over everything and couldn't find the VIN. I just told her it was on the frame and she told me to get down there and read the numbers off to her. I had my VIN memorized so I just pretended to read it off the frame and that was that.
Just do what 52HardTop says. Go to Harbor Freight or a hardware store in your area, buy a cheap set of number stamps and stamp the number on the drivers side frame rail. Rub dirt and mud on it and make it look old then go back to CHP and tell them you found the vin. They will probably glance at it and you are done.
I was told by chp that some 51 chevy's built out of the u.s came with a frame vin#.i hope i have one of those.thanks mac 55
Your probably right, chp asked me to read the vin#off the title it started whith the letters (jad). He replied saying those are engine block numbers. Have a good new year fifty2
I don't wish to confuse matters (here I go anyway), but the information I received from G.M. (Canada) on my Canadian '51 Fleetline includes three different numbers: 1) Body number ##37 2) Engine number ###44 3) Vehicle identification number (serial) #######310 On my car all of these numbers are on the firewall mounted data plate. Note that the engine i.d. and the v.i.n. are different numbers on this car... This won't help most of you, but it's interesting to see the various identifiers used by G.M.. Of course we Canucks often do things differently. -Dave
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