Block # decode
- Thread starter Ramman
- Start date
BRENT in 10-uh-C
Well-known member
The answer to your question is probably better deermined if I/we could inspect your Tudor to look for other clues as to date when your car was built. If there are some mid-year features on the vehicle, my guess it had an engine changeout along the way.
rotorwrench
Well-known member
A person would have to check the frame number. Production build dates are hard to nail down on any model A. The engines were produced before the car so there could be as much as a month delay from the time the engine was completed to the time it was installed in a frame during production build. A lot depends on which assembly plant built the car as well. Engine numbers were stamped on after the bedding in on the electric motor turning test stand so the date is more for the engine than the car. Gas tanks were stamped with a production date on some cars. A person could look for the date in the lower left corner of the upper fire wall. This is only the date the tank was completed and tested so it doesn't reflect the build date either but it could be close depending on what assembly plant built the car.
I would state with relative certainty that an engine with a date in early 1930 was either installed in a 1930 car or it was a replacement engine built in that time frame. Bare blocks would be the only way an engine foundation could be purchased with no number stamped on. Completed engine built after model a production could be purchased with or without a number depending on the needs of the customer. Baldwin Gleaner combines with the model A engine were stamped with a Gleaner engine number. Ford car replacement engines likely had an A prefix model A or AA number.
I would state with relative certainty that an engine with a date in early 1930 was either installed in a 1930 car or it was a replacement engine built in that time frame. Bare blocks would be the only way an engine foundation could be purchased with no number stamped on. Completed engine built after model a production could be purchased with or without a number depending on the needs of the customer. Baldwin Gleaner combines with the model A engine were stamped with a Gleaner engine number. Ford car replacement engines likely had an A prefix model A or AA number.
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Keith True
Well-known member
It just means somebody put an engine in sometime in the last 90 years that happened to come out of an early 30 .
ModelA29
Well-known member
While I'm fairly new to the Model A hobby simple logic will solve a lot of the questions. Did Ford send out replacement engines with a VIN? Did they even send out entire engines to dealers as service parts? The car was registered by the engine #. This would have required the owner to re register his car.
What is the date on your gas tank? The A probably carried the same 90 day warranty on parts as the T. The tank could have also been changed though.
I'm leaning toward that sometime in the last 90 years someone picked up your engine to replace the dead one in your car at the time.
I venture there is less than 1/10 of 1% of the cars today are not mix masters. These were drivers until the late 1950s and parts interchangeability played a big part in their survival until today.
The Judging Standards book can narrow down when certain parts were made due to Ford's policy of making running changes to the parts to either increase reliability or more important to Henry reduce the cost.
Keith True
Well-known member
A title really has no bearing on the date of manufacture of your car.Titles were issued by the state it was bought in,not by Ford.And,the rules were all over the map on just how they were done.N.H. didn't start issuing titles for new cars until 1964.Then,the application for a new car title was filled out by the dealer,and the year typed on the title was the year it was sold in.My uncle bought a 69 SC Rambler from the dealer in 1971.It was titled as a 71.It had been driven by the dealer on a dealer plate for a couple of years,but first title app was in 1971,so that's what is on the title.I bought a new January of 79 Chevy pickup in February of 80,state titled it as an 80.
rotorwrench
Well-known member
Most states require a distinguishing manufacturers serial or ID number for registration purposes. Date of manufacture is part of the ID as well. Most states.published books to ID a year model by the serial number so that the vehicle would not be misrepresented. In the modern era, it's all in computer databases. If a person goes for a builders title then it would be Issued a state VIN stamped into a tag and attached per state instructions. In that case, it may be recorded by the date the builder applied for a registration or title.
Every state has differences but overall, the process is basically the same.
Every state has differences but overall, the process is basically the same.