1934 ford.vin question
 

I recently purchased a 1934 wagon that i think is a late 34 build?

I do not own a copy of the current out of print 33 34 ford book (published by the efv8 club)

However the 32 ford book lists vin numbers in sequence and establishes an approx date or production based on vin. wondering if this info exists for 34?

I.e if i had a vin like 18-12345 would that vin be jan production
And if i had a vin like 18-98765 would that be a june production..etc etc..

In conclusion anyone have a chart showing what vins were produced in what months?? And.. did 34 production spill into early 35??

Re: 1934 ford.vin question
 

This, by the Year...Still looking for the month chart...

.................................START............ ...................................FINISH

............1932................18-1................................................. ....18-203,126
............1933................18-203,127..........................................1 8-457,477
............1934................18-457,478..........................................1 8-1,234,356
............1935................18-1,234,357.......................................18-2,207,110

SEE > https://myflatheadford.com/early-ford-serial-numbers/

Re: 1934 ford.vin question
 

First, the frame number which was also the transmission/bell housing number is not “technically” a “Vin” number, it was the engine plant log number, which tells the date in which the engine plant completed your assembly for production. It is not a “build” date for your car. one can only reasonably assume an actual build time frame of your car as Ford Motor Co kept no such record. Mac VanPelt has a “general” listing of engine numbers on his web page, VanPeltsales.com which would list the start and end of the 34 numbers, some simple math calculations if you know when the start date of Job1-1934 is and start date of Job 1-1935 will give you a general idea of the month of your engine assembly. Keep in mind that mode years did not start Jan 1,1934 to Dec 31 , 1934. I don’t have my book here to tell you exactly when the 1934 officially started production but i would imagine somewhere around Oct of 1933? There is a frequent Fordbarn member who “I believe” might have the actual Ford Engine Log book to be able to give the exact day from your frame number. Maybe he will chime in here.

Re: 1934 ford.vin question
 

As Pete's chart clearly demonstrates, there's no correlation between the calendar and the engine numbers (vins) as the numbering is continual starting with 18-1 which was manufactured on March 7, 1932, three days before Job #1 of 1932 vehicle production.


In North America, Job #1 for the 1935 models occurred in the fall of 1934. Outside of North America, some 1934 model production continued on into 1935.

Re: 1934 ford.vin question
 

So looking at the number on my 34 i see is 18-8#####

Which at least puts the car in question around the middle of production. I was hoping that i could clearly show it was a late 34 car as the body tag on the car is a number higher than expected per the lorin sorenson book "famous woodies and wagons"

Perhaps my chassis sat for some time before going to assembly. Which as a wagon may make sense?

Re: 1934 ford.vin question
 

The book, “The Early Ford V8, as Henry Built Them,” by George Deangelis and Edward Francis published the engine production data for each month’s production from 1932 through 1938.

Re: 1934 ford.vin question
 

Perhaps as an engine/transmission assembly in inventory, but not as a complete or even as a partial chassis. But, there's no way of verifying that one way or the other.


I would not worry about it as unlike the two preceding model years, there were very few differences in late '34s from early '34s, especially in the commercial vehicle lineup which included station wagons. Spark plugs and spring leaf ends are two minor changes that come to mind.


One open question is whether or not station wagon engines were switched from aluminum cylinder heads to cast iron heads during the model year like some of the other commercial vehicles. Hopefully the Benson Ford Research Center in Dearborn will reopen to the public to permit us to answer that question along with many others.