I just got into an arguement with a gentleman that was looking at my 56. He told me that the VIN plate on the door post was NOT the actual VIN , that it was supposed to be on the motor, not on the body. I told him that I knew they did that on much older cars, but that this was the correct VIN for this vehicle. He told me that over in TX when he tried to title his 55 that they would not allow him to use the title he had because it matched the body and not the motor. Am I losing my mind, or were the tri fives the oddball on VINs?
The problem is until 1968 I believe it could have been either way. Motor or "serial # plate" they didnt consider them vins until then.
Ive got a 52 that was titled by the motor, I just went through getting the title straightend out, its a pain! BUT its my understanding that in 55 they started titling them by a "VIN" number not the motor number. Its 1932 and on for fords. I also have the tx dvm web page that describes what manufacturer and the year the started using a VIN and not the motor number. It states that 55 and newer chevys are titled with a vin on the body and frame rail. When I was getting my vin straightened out (because I swapped engines) I found out that hardly anyone in the state of texas knows what theyre talking about (the vehicle inspectors incuded). After one inspector tried to assign me a new VIN number, I found out that you acutally get a new motor number assigned to your vehicle. The whole process took about two months! Once I found someone at the DMV that knew what was going on, I found out that all I needed to do was fill out a one page application and get a new "T" number and stamp it on my engine block. Sorry for the long reply!
The vin on a tri 5 is most definately in the door jam. Upper driverside windshield post on sedans & wagons and on the lower part of the driverside door jam on hardtops & converts.
I appreciate the replies. I'm 40 and was always raised to respect my elders, so with this guy being older, I was thinking maybe there was something I forgot about VINs on tri fives, but the 55 I had went off of the plate and here I had this guy telling me that it wasn't a real VIN on the 56. FIFTY2, if you could tell me where to find that link I would appreciate it, just so I can show this guy in case he's getting screwed over by his local DMV there in TX.
Little bit of info here. Larry T http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/tvcc/Summer2003news.html "Body: The serial number of the body is recognized as the vehicle identification number on all 1956 and later-model motor vehicles and all 1949 and later Ford products, and the certificate of title should be used to transfer ownership of a body when such body is sold or disposed of (except certain Volkswagens, see below)."
The number on the pillar is the VIN, but that doesn't mean that every state DMV uses the car's VIN on the title...many states used the motor number. In 55 they actually had a serial number on the motor, but beginning a year or two after that, every motor of one type, made on the same day, had the same number stamped on it. So, there could be a few cars with the same motor number, which would make title disputes interesting.
My '57 is titled from the plate on the pillar. Had no engine when I got it. The other one I had a few years back was the same way. Your results may vary.
1956 was the first year that Chevys were titled off the vin plate, 1955 and earlier Chevys were titled with the motor number. Over the years, after 1955, lots of 55 Chevys got titled with the number on the VIN plate so you will see them both ways, motor # and VIN number on titles.
Tri 5 Chevys Vin #'s are in the door jam as others have said. The motors DO NOT have a VIN on them. They do have a number which will tell you that it is a 56 motor (if original) but that is all. they are not numbers matching to the vin on the car. You can get a 56 283 motor and stick it in your car & it'll be original (so to speak)
My 55 is titled by the door plate. I couldn't imagine what it would take toget it changed if it was based off the engine.
I've been looking at tri 5s for the last 3 months now and bought a 55 last Wednesday. The VIN is on the a pillar on the driver side as mentioned above. You can damn near hit your forehead on it getting in the car. I did run across a 56 that I was going to buy until I compared the title with the VIN on the door jam and found them to be different. No deal on that one.
I went to the TXDOT site and pulled up the TXDOT Motor Vehicle Title Manual. 500 plus pages. Lots of interesting stuff. If you have a vehicle titled off the motor serial number, as my '55 Nomad is correctly done per Texas law, and you change the engine, you simply take your receipt for the replacement engine, do a pencil tracing of the motor number, use the standard Texas title application, mark to correct VIN, take your title and new motor number pencil tracing to tax office, pay your money and get a corrected title with the new motor number. Now you are all nice and legal! I've printed off a copy of the pertinent parts of this manual regarding VIN numbers, going to keep in the Nomad in case i ever get hasseled for not having a serial number tag on the windshield/door post. Thanks to Larry T for posting the link. Led me to research TXDOT, now I'm not concerned about possibly getting my car impounded by some overzealous cop. Also made me realize that Ford A's and T's need to be titled by the motor serial number to be in compliance with Texas law. Fords manufactured 3-31-32 thru the '48 models are titled by frame number, '49 fords on up titled with the serial number of the body.
A little off topic for this thread, but it's kind of interesting that, since 32-48 Fords are registered by the frame numbers, that a Brookville or glass 32 on a stock 32 frame can be legally registered as a 32 Ford. Larry T
Impossible to get a 56 -283 engine. they didnt make 283,S until 57. 55 and 56 where 265 engines. Oldwolf
That tag is the body serial number. In Texas in '56 & '57 that would also have been the VIN. 1955 the motor serial number was the VIN in Texas. Different states do things different ways. All 3 years had the body serial number on the pillar, mine is missing on my '55 Nomad, removed when body was blasted, along with a lot of other stuff got lost before i bought the car. Lucky for me Texas uses the motor serial number for the VIN for a '55 Chev so I'm ok. Funky title shit scares me, especially on stuff I got a lot of money in, like the nomad.
I agree, thats the reason I went through the hassle of getting my VIN straightend out. The problem was that no one at the North Texas Auto Theft Task Force knew what was going on either. I went the first time to get my car inspected, and the Inspector told me to bring back the original engine. The only inspect once a month, so the next month I bring back my engine, and the fill out the paper work for me. (Did i mention i live about 40 miles from the inspection). Drive the engine back home, then drive my 52 the 50 miles to the regional DMV only to find out that all I needed to do was fill out an application for a new "T" number... But its done now. Also, they told me that my new "T" number can be put anywhere on the car that I want, so I made a tag and put it on the driver side door next to the latch. So that way I have a number on the body that matches the number on my title. See Page 13-2 ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/vtr/title_manual_book_451.pdf
I've heard about this on Harley's but this is a first for 55's. I do laugh whenever i hear someone say they have a number matched 55-57.
No two states are quite the same. Technically speaking no car was built with a VIN before 1968 (some will argue 1981) - they had an engine number and a body serial number. Some cars had the serial number on the frame (Ford). The two may or may not have matched when new. Each state chose one or the other to use as an ID number, or VIN, for registration purposes, but it was the state that designated what was used for that purpose, not the carmaker. Because the Ford Model T did not have a body or frame serial number, only a motor number, some states then only recognized a motor number as a VIN for that state's purposes. With some 15 million of them out there, it seemed prudent to go by what Ford did for all cars. Eventually the folly of this became apparent and most states switched to using a body serial number, although my Motors manuals show Cadillac using an engine number ID into the 1960s (and the body ID tag on 59-60 is some kind of laminated cardstock, of all things, easily faked). So it boils down to what year your state switched over - and cars registered in other states or retitled since then will use the body number. 55-57 tags seem to have been epoxied on, anyways, I'm not sure using those is any better than the engine number, at least when it comes to removability of the number. But the frame itself has at least one hidden serial stamp, usually left side on the top under the cowl or footwell area (of course, where the floor rots out first on salt belt cars) that can be checked to verify the A-post tag number.
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