1934 Export Frame Serial Numbers

Karl

Karl

Well-known member
Did export vehicles have the serial number stamped on the frame? If so and they were RHD is it on the drivers side or passenger side rail ? I don't appear to have a number on either of my frames even when I remove the 84 years of crud from them . I'm sure my car is original but just interested -Karl
 
Karl, your NZ Ford would have been imported from Canada, boxed semi assembled. Serial numbers may have been stamped differently on Canadian Fords.
 
I have a Canadian 34 std phaeton and it has the serial number on top of the left frame rail in the sane spot as a USA car. The vin number is much shorter and starts with a C .
 
Some Canadian model A frames were not stamped. Just the engine, starting with a CA. No idea if that carried over.
 
My late 33, or early 34, depending on viewpoint, has the Canadian number stamped on the top of the right rail, next to the steering. Just like usa cars, but on the right. My car was brought to the usa from south Africa.
The original trans is with my car, and the numbers match.
 
Both my 33 and 34 (both NZ new) have the number on the left hand frame rail right next to where the steering box would be if it were left hand drive.
Lawrie
 
MOST Australian delivered cars had the engine number stamped on the chassis on the RHS where the steering box is mounted. I have also seen a couple of chassis with with the engine number stamped on the left and there were a few with no number stamped at all. I guess it all depended on the assembly plant.
 
Canada liked there short serial numbers. C18 was the prefix for that year. After they reached 9999, they would change the alpha suffix at the end. Ford USA manufactured RHD vehicles were made in knock down form for shipment to South America and likely South Africa too. Canada supplied many of the commonwealth countries that had assembly plants for knock down cars. If the motor wasn't in the frame then the assembly plant may have had to put the number on there that matched the engine/trans. Ford assigned blocks of numbers for overseas shipments that came right from USA sources. DavidG would likely have more insight on this.

This link has some of the Canadian VIN info. http://www.wnyrg.org/canvins.html
 
The location mandated by Dearborn management was for the number to be stamped on the left hand side (three places for passenger cars and one for commercial vehicles and trucks) whether or not the vehicle was LHD or RHD. That practice was pretty well adhered to by the U.S. assembly plants for both domestic sales and exports, including RHD vehicles, and on vehicles produced for domestic sale by Ford of Canada. The right side location was used by some of the Canadian subsidiaries (which were all of the British Commonwealth country companies except those in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland), most frequently in the case of Ford of Australia and Ford South Africa where the local capabilities included some manufacturing and/or assembly.


As indicated above, Ford of Canada-manufactured engines were serialized in batches with their own unique system with either a C18 or CB prefix followed by another letter prefix and then the letter F if destined for a RHD chassis and then a number of up to four digits. The four-cylinder engines manufactured in England at the time used the U.S. serialization with a B or BF prefix and numbers assigned by Dearborn in batches from the U.S. series. (There were no V8 engines manufactured outside of North America at that time.)


Despite the Dearborn mandate and the Ford of Canada normal practice, exceptions abound both in North America and abroad in terms of the exact location where the engine number was stamped (apart from it being on the left or right side) and its degree of completeness with regard to the engine's prefix. (Note that the Dearborn mandate specifically stated that only the forward-most location was to include the prefix.)
 
I had a NOS 34 frame at one time without a number stamped on it. Wish I had it now! Presently, I have a 34 pickup frame with 18B-xxxxx stamped on it. I haven't seen this before and don't know what it means. 18 signified a V8 motor & B signified a 4 cylinder, of course. David?
 
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I have seen a lot of frames where the numbers were VERY difficult to see. It would be easy to assume that they were not stamped at all, but with enough effort, sometimes having to resort to chemical warfare, they can be found.
 
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