1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

I am learning more and more about this car as I go long.

My chassis number is 18 24278I4, Yes, I4

Somewhere in all my research I found the December chassis starting number was 18 2427432, no alphabetic character. If my I is really a 1, that would mean my car was produced 391 after the December starting number.

My question is, why the I. Somewhere I think I also saw someone elses chassis number had an H in it.

Am I confused or what?
Steve

Re: 1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

thats how they did it after about 31, the 1 is more like a capitol I . the I8 should have it too

Re: 1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

Thanks, I have already made two trips to the state highway patrol in an effort to clarify the vin number, and received two title corrections. I am not going to go through that again but maybe it will help someone else in the future.

So you are saying "I"s are really the number ONE? I was sure I saw an "H" somewhere. What do other VINS have on them?

Re: 1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

Checkout VanPelts site.

http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/f...ialnumbers.htm

Near the bottom of the page are samples of the fonts.

Re: 1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

Heres what your numbers should look like

Re: 1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

good advise as usual from jseery, but i wish to add, its funny your DOT did not know this. you dont have your state listed in your avitar, which is always a plus when looking for help, but in my state, and i believe most, they too have the ford records. so, the first thing they do when applying for a new title is run the numbers to see #1 if its stolen, and #2 check to see that the 1936 number you gave them...is actually a 36 number. again, these numbers are not a secret, and they should even be aware of the change in the font...but we are talking about the government, so, we can leave that open for debate. the real problem usually comes in that when new, the frame and transmission numbers matched. but now, 80 years later there is a very good chance that some where along the line the trans went bad, and they bought "a goodun" from a junk yard or pulled one out of another wreck on the farm. so, thats when the state should know what they are talking about, and ask you why you are telling them its a 36, but the trans number is a 46! long answer for your short question, but i have played this game many times. if you put your state in, some one here from that state can help, they are all different, but should all have the same database. best wishes, skip

Re: 1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

don, you forgot the star at the start!

Re: 1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

Sorry, Colorado.

And I did go to the State Patrol to have the chassis number inspected. I will have to let him know of this for his future reference but I am not going to have him reinspect the vin and get another title. This has been going on for 2 months now.

Hopefully it will help others who are having their vins inspected for the first time get it correct.

Thanks
Steve

Re: 1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

cas3, I was just trying to show an example of each stamped number. You might also notice that there are too many digits to represent an actual engine number.

Re: 1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

To avoid confusion with the copying of vehicle serial numbers for state, etc., verification it is best to make a "pencil tracing" of the number.
A pencil tracing is made by placing a piece of paper over the number then rubbing over the number with a graphite pencil..
Raised numbers are the easiest to transfer, indented, stamped numbers can be difficult.
On many occasions I have encountered situations where only a "tracing" of a serial (VIN) number will be accepted for verification..

Re: 1936 Ford Chassis Number Question
 

I wouldn't count the local DMVs to know squat about what old vin numbers should look like or be in any number range. Most workers are just writing down whatever is given to them or what they believe something to be... just as I would too were I working there.
All kinds of transgressions were done over the years and most were purely by accident. I recently got a car from FL where some official from FL read the number off the original chassis and issues a title for same... except he/she misread one Ford star as an alphabetic character and another lightly stamped digit for another number. I said nothing and that number went right though my DMV without any hiccups... thank the Lord!