VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Helpful Information & Suggestions Some Help Please 1954 Sedan Delivery

Hi
Steve Roundhill here, English but living in France.
I have just joined the forum as a way of keeping my vehicles on the road here in France. I bought it in Los Angeles in 2016 and used it for a while and had some pretty major work done to enable me to use it as I am handicapped and need an auto box as well as space in the back for my chair. To this end I had a newer engine and autobox fitted. At the same time I had disc brakes installed in the front and had new wheels with radial tyres fitted. The last time I was in the USA I encountered problems with the positioning of my brake servo and needed it moving inside the engine bay, I also had ac fitted and new gauges as well as new fans for the radiator to keep it under control.
I moved here to France and encountered problems with my modifications so I am looking for various bits of information and photos etc to enable me to register as a true 1954 collection vehicle.

First bit of help I need is to find out when my car was manufactured as my title does not have a first registered date just the year and the French being the French need to know date first registered. My Serial number is D 54 O 044023 If it is impossible to get an exact date it would be great to get a nearest guess just to satisfy the bureaucrats.

Thanks in advance
Steve

Steve,
D = sedan delivery
54 = year of car
O = assembled at the Oakland, Ca assembly plant

Alll station wagon and sedan delivery bodies were made at the GM Fisher Body Plant in Cleveland, Ohio and shipped to various assembly plants.

The serial number is the sequence of assembly at that plant. With a number that high it would be a late 1954, probably August of 1954.

If it has some of the original glass in the windows the date the glass was made will be in the lower corner of that window. The glass was made by LOF so those letters will be shown along with a date like 7-54 .....(July of 1954)......and the glass was usually dated a month or so before assembly of vehicle.

gene: are u sure about the 7-54 dating of LOF windshields. GM., at least with the 53 and up corvettes, used an alpha/alpha code system to date the window glass starting in 53. mike

I am not 100 percent sure but it is a starting point. I was also more thinking of the side flat glass.

Thanks for that yes it confirms what I understood about where and which year and I will use August as a date for my forms.
My next hurdle is that of the engine, I have a newer engine fitted but I have to take a photo Insitu as well as a photo of the engine number. As I need to show a 6 cylinder engine of the era in a red car I could find one on the old interweb and use that as the photo of the engine but I would need to find an engine number of the same era.
They demand details regarding the engine such as bore and stroke etc and I have found these so if I can solve the above problem I can reach another step in the registration process

If the engine is a "newer"engine iand is a 6 cylinder it probably is a 235 cubic inch, and that is what all 1954 cars had-up until 1962.

Yes it is newer but because I needed an auto box I fitted a V8 which now is causing me the problems as the French need the vehicles to be exactly as they came out and of the factory. Mine is from a 56 sedan delivery but the powers that be will not accept as a Collection Vehicle so I will have to supply what is required rather than what exists.

So from what I understand you need a picture of an authentic 6 cylinder in a 1954-ish red engine compartment. Preferable with "almost" legible engine numbers. Someone can likely dig up an engine bay picture or two, but engine numbers might be tricky unless someone gets you a picture of a spare or parts block serial#.

The close up shot of the engine serial# could actually be the current engine but up close so not immediately evident it's a v8. That way the registration paperwork will at least match the engine number officially on documentation. 8 cylinder vs 6 cylinder on paperwork could be blamed on a mistake but a totally different serial# could not.

Either way keep in mind that everything typed could be on the internet for a long time...

Thanks for the reminder I keep forgetting just how dangerous it can be. I will try the suggestion and should anyone have a photo of a 6cylindr in a red engine bay then a private message may be the best way to go forward

Great news I've just heard my car's come through customs so now I have to get it registered here in France