Help decoding a VIN for 1954 Mercury Monterey

[Sebrun]

I was hoping someone on here has the Vin chart to decode this vin for me, thanks in advance for any help.

54LA19322M
BR23B 03 454-16B-41
I have been able to find some info on it but not all.
and what i have found may or may not be right, 5 = engine 256 /// 4 = year 1954 /// L =Long Beach CA Plant //// A = body style 4-door //// 19322 = serial # /// M = Mercury
the bottom number all i could find is that the 03 = Paint color Lakeland Blue and the 41 is the number car produced that day

the 16 is the day of production and B = 2nd month of Year

 

[Oldmics]

I can tell you for sure that the engine size (312) is not correct.

The 312 engine was not in production until 1956.

Oldmics

 

[dmsfrr]

A '54 Mercury would have come with a 256ci 4bbl y-block V8 engine with a code # EBY-6015 at the base of the distributor.

http://ford-y-block.com/Block%20identification.htm


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[Sebrun]

Thanks now i know what the extremely heavy engine i have sitting in the edge of the woods is The motor was pulled out of this car in 1976 and it sat since then, I am not going to mess with the engine, I am just going to put a newer motor in it. The original engine sat on the ground beside the car in a field for the last 30 years. before that it sat beside the car in a shed, so it is not in the best of shape lol

 

[dmsfrr]

FYI, most of the engine parts (block, heads, intake) are '54 only' and won't interchange with the '55 and newer ones.
Unless you stumble across a very desperate '54 owner doing a 100% original restoration it's mostly just scrap iron. That being said, I did find a later model distributor on the one in the photo that was worth more than a few bucks.

 

[Sebrun]

Yeah I figured the only way anyone would want the motor is Like you said if they were wanting to go all original. The 3 Speed transmission in it is worth selling from what I have seen, I can drive a 3 speed on the column but want to put a newer motor and transmission in this car.