VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Engine, vin and casting numbers

Hi Guys,
New member so be gentle, Purchased a 1939 Chev master deluxe in the last couple of months, originally from Canada, Oshawa, Wackerville, Regina.
According to the body plate, serial number XHJA 80061, engine No AF303119, casting No 839400.
Does anyone know what the XH etc stands for and what engine is fitted to my car.I know the JA is a 39 but having read most of the posts on engine numbers etc I cannot find any reference to XH or an engine No beginning with AF.
it would be nice to piece it all together, by the way the car now resides in the south island of New Zealand.
Cheers.

Welcome to the vccachat site.
The X in the serial number identifies it as export model. GM of Canada produced many kits for export to other countries in this era and those leaving North America had serial numbers starting with X.
The second digit identifies the destination country/region or distributor. I expect that H means it was sold to Holden for assembly, but I don't know for sure.

The engine is newer than 1939. I believe Chevy started using letter prefixes in 1941 and by the block casting number this is a 1941 or newer engine.

Cheers Headlighter,

That great info and thanks for the welcome to the VCCA chat site.