I have a friend with a 1938 chevy coupe that needs to find the vin numbers on. Can anybody help me out Thanks Iceman-29
Chevy used VIN numbers in 1938. But many states titled vehicles using the engine number instead. The VIN on a 38 chevy was on an aluminum tag that was screwed to the pass side of the cowl, they are usually missing. The VIN was not stamped on the frame on Chevys until the mid 50s.
They are right, there are no vin numbers stamped on the frame or anywhere else. My 38 coupe has a vin number on the Washington state title that has the original engine number. The 216 engine is long gone. I stamped the vin number on the frame myself in 3 places.
Everything above is correct, except different models put that aluminum tag in different loctions 33-36 was on the alum tag down by the battery cover, a screw that held the cover on held the tag on over the years from people standinging on it either wore them off or broke them off all together, some have been located on the seat slider passenger side. Ca recognizes the engine #. The # on the tag and engine were different hence the reason for each state recognizing which #. In those years ford had matching #'s engine and tag.
My 38 sedan is as squirrel stated. I found one number on the frame but simply was the frame manufacture date. Which was in 1937.
The number on the cowl tag is not a VIN number. It is a Body Serial Number assigned by the Fisher Body plant. It IS unique to the vehicle, but it says nothing about the engine or other available options like a true VIN number does. A true VIN is the Vehicle Identification Number. Our old cars were identified (on the Title) by either the body serial number OR the engine number. So in effect there were two ID numbers for each car--the body serial number or the engine number, depending on the whims of which State it was registered in. Here is an example engine # I 769648 casting # GM 838710 ID plate style # 38-1217 body # 05913 trim # 69 paint # 229
There were two tags on the cowl on those Chevys, one was the body tag which you are talking about, but there was also a vehicle identification number on another tag. The body tag was riveted to the cowl when the body was made, the VIN tagewas screwed on after the car was assembled. Starting in 1951 the VIN tag was welded on. The image below is from the Chevy engineering document for 1939 cars...you can look for the document for 1938 cars here and see what Chevy had to say about it.
Jim... Not to flog a dead horse here but the point I was trying to make is that there is no "VIN" number on these cars. Its true that the car division attached a plate above the fisher body tag that showed what division (Buick, Chevrolet Pontiac, ect) and depending on the year various other info along with the production sequence number. The Fisher body plate also had the body build sequence number which is also unique to the vehicle stamped into it.Because the division plate was only attached with screws and could be easily changed most states chose to use either the Fisher body build number or the engine number for purposes of registration. I went through the process a couple of times once with a 39 Chevy and again with my 32 and in both cased the number that appears on the registration is the Fisher number. The Division plate is being reproduced by a number of companies and can be easily stamped and installed on the vehicle but the Fisher body plate is riveted on and cannot be easily tampered with.
Whether or not some states used the "Car Serial Number" for registration, it is still the number that Chevy used to identify the car, and it's still the number that eventually was called the "Vehicle Identification Number" by everyone. I don't know why you insist that the number doesn't exist!
This is my final word on the subject. This was never meant to become adversarial. Firstly, I never stated that the number doesn't exist but simply was making the point that both numbers are designated as "ID" numbers one being for the "Body" and one being for the "Car" and that they are equally unique. Information contained in a combination of the two eventually became whats known today as a VIN. The fact that the body plate is riveted on and could not be easily be tampered with is what made it attractive to many state DMV agencies for the purpose of vehicle registration. If your reading something more into this information then that's your prerogative.
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