VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 1951-1954 Chevrolet VIN

Over the years I have owned several Chevys from 51-54. I have noticed stamping of the VIN on the tag in the door frame varies somewhat. I see the following:



ten numbers and letters in a straight row with no spaces (no photo attached)
after the first letter, a small space followed by 9 numbers and letters (photo attached)
after the 4th letter, a space and then 6 numbers (photo attached)
I know what each number and letter decode is but that is not the problem or my question. 

Which one of the three above is correct? Or are they all correct? Could the difference just be in differences in the factory procedures?

This could very well be year-to-year and factory-to-factory differences. I noticed that even the stamping for the "B" is different than the rest of the stamped characters in the 1953 plate. It is almost as though it was added with a hand stamp.

I assume that both pf these are factory plates. I also noticed that the retaining rivets are different between the 2 years.

I agree. I see all kinds of variations. I am certain there are differences between plants. I would guess that the separation between the 4th and 5th digit is correct for certain facilities and the VIN stamp is done in two different stages.

Any difference in spacing is likely just the difference in the people doing the stamping. If they don't fit the formats below they're not factory. Any difference in the number of digits is probably just the number of cars produced when that tag was stamped.

1951 Scroll to page 8.

1952 Same format, scroll to page 12.

1953 Scroll to page 12.

1954 Scroll to page 12.

Thank you

I think that they should be spot welded on. Most are

Mine was rivetted as are most I have seen in 1951. Be careful. Some states are very picky and will balk if they determine the serial number plate has been tampered with. A fellow member from NC tran into this with an overzealous dmv person.
Do a little more reserach and make sure your plate conforms.

Oh, and it's a serial number, not a VIN. VINs didn't come about until the 60s. The numbers on my plate actually indicated sequence of mfr (e.g. 6504th car made that month!) Letters showed month and plant location.

My seller actually provided a clean KS title which used the body number listed on the firewall. Some states back in the day actually used engine numbers (not much help if it was swapped out). My Vin verifier person here in CA didn't pick up on this and as long as the body # matched what was on my KS title, she was good with it, and the DMV accepted it.

Good luck.

Kansas used the engine number as the VIN. If your car with a Kansas title used the serial number it had been re-titled sometime in it's past. Can't disagree with making sure you do your research. If one has titling questions it's best to get the answers from the people at the state licensing agency.