VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 1934 VIN #'s

Where is the VIN # on the 1934 standard 2 door sedan?

The car serial number plate is attached to the passenger side wood main sill, just forward of the front seat, under the floor mat. Since the serial number plate is tacked in place with small nails, many times the plate is missing.

This post is for informational purposes only. It is in an attempt for people to understand the significant difference between a VIN and other identification numbers on our old Chevrolets. I don't believe it will effect a change is use but hopefully help people understand there is a significant legal difference in the identification numbers on vehicles.

It is common for people to refer to the "car number" or "serial number" as a VIN number. Even state officials use the term for all vehicles which is not correct. The VIN is short for Vehicle Identification Number. It is different in both structure and legal significance from the earlier "serial" or "car" numbers. For example it is a Federal offense to alter a VIN. That includes moving a VIN from one vehicle to another, assigning a bogus VIN or other similar action.

In the early 1980's the National highway Traffic Safety Administration (U.S. Dept. of Transport) required that all road vehicles must contain a 17 character VIN. This established the fixed VIN system for major vehicle manufacturers as it is known today. Thus, establishing a unique "DNA" style number for each unique vehicle which rolled off the assembly line.

The Vehicle Identification Number was originally described in ISO Standard 3779 in February 1977 and last revised in 1983. The ISO-VIN was designed to identify motor vehicles, trailers, motorcycles and mopeds and consists of three sections:

WMI - World Manufacturer Identifier, which uniquely identifies the maker of the vehicle. It occupies the first three positions of the VIN, except when a manufacturer builds less than 500 vehicles per year, in which case the third digit is always a 9 and the 12th, 13th and 14th position of the VIN are used for the second part of the WMI. The WMI is described in ISO 3780.

VDS - Vehicle Descriptor Section. These 6 characters occupy positions 4 through 9 of the VIN and may be used by the manufacturer to identify attributes of the vehicle.

VIS - Vehicle Identifier Section. The last 8 characters of the VIN are used for the identification a of specific vehicle. The last four characters shall always be numeric.