Rear cross member spring stamping codes...

Steve Plucker

Steve Plucker

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Another interesting set of codes that one may find on the chassis is in relation to the number or Rear Spring Leaves that were originally used when the chassis was assembled. It has been thought that these stampings were used to correlate the number of leaves in the rear spring with a particular body style for which was going to be assembled to the chassis.

Mr. Carl Biederman from Anoka, Minnesota had found several of these codes on various Model A Ford chassis with some letters followed by a number for which was stamped into the rear areas of the vehicle. The areas for which Mr. Biederman has found these codes are as follows: 1). Rear end axle housings; 2). Top of the rear frame cross member and 3). The right rear corner of the rear frame cross member. Such as "R7" "C8" "T0".

The following list may be incomplete and may not have been implemented by all the assembly plants for all years.

STAMPING​
BODY STYLE​
REAR SPRING LEAVES​
R7
Roadster
Seven (7) leaves
C8
Coupe
Eight (8) leaves
OCPU0
Open Cab Pickup
Ten (10) leaves
T0
Tudor
Ten (10) leaves
TS0
Town Sedan
Ten (10) leaves
FD0
Fordor
Ten (10) leaves
​
Does anyone have any photos of these stampings?

Need a few for an article.

Thanks.

Pluck
 
Shelby078.jpg


Here's one that is still a mystery. Is this a mistake, or is it an option? The "8" appears to be upside down, but that isn't the question. Since the "R" stands for Roadster and Roadsters had a 7 leaf rear spring, why is this stamped with an "8"? Could it be that an 8 leaf rear spring was an option, maybe being the spring of choice if the car came with a rumble seat?

Or, was the "R" a mistake and it should have been a "P" for a Phaeton?
 
Pluck,
Look at Ahooga and you will see another code, which I've never seen before. Richard WV posted a good picture of C S 0 on his Convertable Sedan with 10 leaf spring. I hope he posts the body number to ID the assembly plant.
 
This stamping is on an unmolested chassi. The body was a 1930 or 1931 nevere messed with coupe. Body went on a hotrod and chassi followed me home.

Ahhhhh! Fiddle. I dont know how to post pix on this site. I will send or post pix when I can learn how. Meantime the code is a D C on the right rear crossmsmber - same position as pictures above.
 
My June of '29 Twin Cities 155A Town Sedan has a large "TS" stamped on the rear cross member. Gar Williams
 

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kenparker said:
Did some homework, hope this works.
Click to expand...


I wonder what the D stands for?

I've never seen such large letters used for this stamping and Gar's also has large letters.

I've also never seen just letters without a digit representing the number of spring leaves used.
 
Didn't someone say there's no such Model A as a "Doctor's Coupe".

Well, Ken has it stamped into his rear crossmember! :) LOL
 
I checked our four A's and none of them had any stamps in the rear crossmember.

However, our unrestored 1929 Fordor had a wired on tag attached to the left rear crossmember through the body mounting bolt hole. You can see what's left of the tag in the attached photos. I suspect this tag served a similar purpose as the crossmember stamps, but of course I'm just speculating. I sure wish there had been more of the tag left when we bought the car. I was dry and brittle, and falling apart just to the touch.

Dave Lopes
 

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I like "Doctors Coupe" better that "Deluxe Coupe". Makes for better stories, but when I get thru building on it "Dumb Contraption" may better suit. Ken
 
Off Track from Original Post by Steve

Dudley,

The Fordor I post a lot about was bought new in New Rochelle, New York, with a deposit check written on July 9, 1929, and a balance check written on July 18, 1929. The firewall date is June 28, 1929. It didn't come to California until 1967.

I know our Phaeton resided in Oregon from the late fifties until I bought it in pieces in 1990 and brought it to California. No other history.
Our Special Coupe I have no history other than the prior owner who I bought it from in 1974, lived in Southern California.
I bought our 1930 Standard Coupe in 1969, from an uncle, who bought it in Nevada a few months before, with no known history.

It is neat when we have some history of our cars, but with the exception of the Fordor, I have very little.

Back on Track to Steve's Original Post;

That's another reason why I like threads like this one so much.
Another "Tip o' the Hat to Mr. Plucker for continuing the detail research. (And many other good people)

Dave Lopes
 
Sorry for bringing this thread back from the dead but here it goes. Found this on my frame before I started sand blasting it.

IMG_02351.jpg
 
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