VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION New User Forum Need help weird casting number on Chevrolet 1930

I'm lost..

Here a link too see my casting number and truck
https://picasaweb.google.com/111920967548676741333?authkey=Gv1sRgCO-m94r-q_H_mAE

I tought the letter in my case M would be the month of production
ex.: A = January B = February ..... and L = December .
Than we got the 20 for the day of the month
ex.: A20 would be January 20 ?
Than we got the 9 for the year of production according to the engine range of year me would be 1929
So a A209 code would mean January 20 1929

The mistake I got here is my casting date start with a M .. and it doesn't match a logical month.
M209 = ???? 20 1929
Here a link for Canadian model http://www.gregwapling.com/hotrod/chev-trucks-47 -5...
It help for range of production year but not in my case . The casting serial number 269803 match with the truck number in oshawa no. 487076 and I got a plate in the truck who look like this

GENERAL MOTOR
of CANADA

OSHAWA WALKERVILLE REGINA

MODEL SERIAL no.
UNIVERSAL 487076
Engine no.264803

So if somebody can help me with this M

still need some info on the body type

Thank you

Nic

It might be that they used the actual letter for the month instead of going alphabetically, either by design or mistake. May have been a new guy looking after the casting # job that day, March 20 1929, or May 20 1929. The difference between the 4 and 9 in your engine # is likely a typo.

The engine number of 264803 confirms it is a 1929 engine. 1929 engine numbers ranged from 1 through 1265800. 19230 engine numbers ran from 1365366 through 2100284.
Chevrolet did not use letters for dating casting numbers. In 1946 the letter was usd to ID the assembly month in the serial number.
The 1930 engine probably was replaced with a used 1929 engine so where along the line.

While searching the internet I found that the "M" cast was used when foundries were making a change to the production process. That was in a Corvette forum for v-8 blocks in the 70's. Also some blocks cast in December had the "M" code. Perhaps this was a process that GM used also back in the thirties. The "M" was used to identify the block as a "test" block. If it checked out ok it was used in production.

To narrow the date of casting for the '29 block in question, Chevrolet was likely manufacturing these '29 engines from about September/October 1928 until about September 1929, and during the 12 months of production manufactured about 100,000 per month. Since your block is #264,803 in the run (about 2.5 months into production), it would have likely been cast in Dec 1928, or thereabouts.

Just did more research. In 1929 a letter was used for the month. A was for January, etc. the next number or numbers would be the day date and the last number a 9.
Prefix letters used in 1929 were T for truck R for rigt hand drive and RT for right hand drive truck.
Some 1929 Canadian cars had Walkerville W as a prefix, but only for a short time.
T, R and RT were used for 1930 engines also.
The low engine numbere would indicate an early engine.
Engines built in Dec. 1928 had numbers from 1 to 395 at the Saginaw plant and 3001 - 15,000 at the Flint plant.