The Ford Barn

Mr. Nostalgia · 07-19-2011, 02:03 PM

A friend of mine just picked up a '32 Ford 4 Cylinder, Serial Number AB5137493. Can anyone tell us when this car was built besides 1932 or anything else about the car from the Serial Number???? Thanks.

Bob C · 07-19-2011, 02:16 PM

Vince's site shows the last AB number as 5062386 April 32. B5137493 is
July 32. Look here http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/ABenginenumbers.htm

David J · 07-19-2011, 02:20 PM

The sequence # 5137493 is July 1932 production . { DeAngelis p-32 } . The 32 folks can pickup on the rest as my info shows the AB prefix being changed to just B before your car was built .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Nostalgia

A friend of mine just picked up a '32 Ford 4 Cylinder, Serial Number AB5137493. Can anyone tell us when this car was built besides 1932 or anything else about the car from the Serial Number???? Thanks.

DavidG · 07-19-2011, 04:47 PM

The number is, of course, that of the engine/transmission assembly and when it was placed into a chassis could be weeks or even months later in the production year.

Ford's Rouge engine log shows #62386 as the last '32 four to carry the AB prefix and there are lots of fours around numbered well below #137493 that carry only the B (or BB if bound for a truck) prefix. The 'A' could be an unintended exception or perhaps the star before the prefix was read as an 'A'.

John R · 07-19-2011, 10:33 PM

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There have been reports of some cars with AB prefixes on serial numbers later than #62386, even a couple later than #100000. Maybe some of these were misread. However, these numbers were stamped by humans, so a few exceptions to the rules shouldn't be too surprising.

07-19-2011, 02:16 PM	#2
Bob C Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: So Cal Posts: 8,754	Re: '32 Serial Numbers Vince's site shows the last AB number as 5062386 April 32. B5137493 is July 32. Look here http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/ABenginenumbers.htm

07-19-2011, 04:47 PM	#4
DavidG Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: southeastern Michigan Posts: 10,101	Re: '32 Serial Numbers The number is, of course, that of the engine/transmission assembly and when it was placed into a chassis could be weeks or even months later in the production year. Ford's Rouge engine log shows #62386 as the last '32 four to carry the AB prefix and there are lots of fours around numbered well below #137493 that carry only the B (or BB if bound for a truck) prefix. The 'A' could be an unintended exception or perhaps the star before the prefix was read as an 'A'.

07-19-2011, 10:33 PM	#5
John R Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: near Washington, DC Posts: 559	Re: '32 Serial Numbers Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) There have been reports of some cars with AB prefixes on serial numbers later than #62386, even a couple later than #100000. Maybe some of these were misread. However, these numbers were stamped by humans, so a few exceptions to the rules shouldn't be too surprising.

07-19-2011, 02:03 PM	#1
Mr. Nostalgia Junior Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 6	'32 Serial Numbers A friend of mine just picked up a '32 Ford 4 Cylinder, Serial Number AB5137493. Can anyone tell us when this car was built besides 1932 or anything else about the car from the Serial Number???? Thanks.