Serial Number on a 1950 Ford

Babyboomerboy

Babyboomerboy

Senior Member
I looked at the tag on the passenger side of the firewall and as far as I can tell it is: BOL U1 20561 Can anyone decode this for me? The L might be a 1. Thank you
 
B = V-8, 0 = 1950, LU = Louisville assembly plant. 120561 = sequence number of 1950 engine production at that plant.

Ken
 
I was looking for the vin number for the car but the serial number tag was all I could find. Nothing on the glove box door or anywhere else on the firewall. On the title that came with the car the vin# is: 98RC408449 - year 50 - make Ford - body PK Do you think this title goes with this car? Thanks
 
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On the right side of the frame near the front crossmember you will see an angled brace that runs from the right frame rail to the front crossmember. On top of that brace you will find the VIN number. On my post I should have followed up that the number on the frame should match the number on the firewall. Now with new info that this is a pickup, the number on the pickup is stamped on top of the right frame rail near the radiator.
 
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Boom,

The serial number IS the VIN on these cars.

The serial number shown in your first post is for a 1950. The serial number on the title is for a 1949 V-8 Ford build in Richmond.

Ken
 
98RC prefix was common for the 1949 & 50 Ford F1 pickup. The 8R indicates V8 and the C indicaes the F1 commercial vehicle (pickup). The specific number 9 was carried over after 1949 due to Ford development of a new VIN system. The pickup glove box tag was too easy to remove and transfer. 1948, 49, & 50 pickups had body & trim information stamped into the cowl/firewall sheet metal where it was painted over and it hard to read.

Mercury cars have a firewall or cowl tag for Body ID and exterior/interior trim codes. The 1949 Ford cars were just stamped into the upper cowl/firewall panel and are harder to find sometimes. Body tags showed up in 1950 or so. The Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln frames were always stamped with the basic VIN but locations vary between different model types and years. By 1952, all the cars had body tags.
 
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rotorwrench, thanks for clarifying that this is a pickup ID number. I've corrected my previous post.
 
TJ said:
On the right side of the frame near the front crossmember you will see an angled brace that runs from the right frame rail to the front crossmember. On top of that brace you will find the VIN number. On my post I should have followed up that the number on the frame should match the number on the firewall. Now with new info that this is a pickup, the number on the pickup is stamped on top of the right frame rail near the radiator.
Click to expand...

I thought this location was for 1951 only. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
tubman said:
I thought this location was for 1951 only. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

Tubman are we talking car or pickup? If car, the number was on the angled brace for 49 to 51. In the V-8 Club's 49-51 Ford book the info is on page 1-16. It was only the 50 and 51s that they included the assembly plant in the code.
 
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on my 1950 Convertible there´s a riveted tag on a firewall with a VIN number. However it doesn´t have a stamped codes on the firewall that would give me the original color/plant etc info. Is there another location where this stamping could be ? I don´t understand why it´s not on the firewall
 
Those codes were only on the firewall and may appear above or below the protruding seam, depending on the assembly plant. They may disappear under coats of paint, but they are there.

Ken
 
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