Vin #?

wickcopland

wickcopland

Senior Member
My 39 Deluxe that I have been working on, had a problem with the clutch. Not knowing all I should when I first pulled it down, I did not look at the number Stamped in the transmission. Now that I have it back out I found the number stamped in the housing. That # is 18-338845. Can anyone tell me any thing about this number?
Thanks,
Wick
 
The missing number will prove to be the number 3 if an early 1937, or 4 if as late as 1939. Look closely after the 18, the next digit (missing) is your 3 or 4. Those numbers were hand stamped, which may have been lightly stamped, or accidentally omitted. I see no other reasonable explanation, seeing that the (exterior) ****** cases of those years were identical.
 
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Not much. Only an approximation of when the engine was built. The serial numbers for 1939 engines ranged from 18-4,661,001 to 18-5,210,700. Someone who has a list of monthly or daily s/n lists may chime in with a more precise date. This is just a hint as to when your car was built.

Ken
 
It is not really a VIN as we know them today, it is simply a serial number. Nothing more than a sequential record of when the engine and transmission were put together and marked in the book as the next down the line. When they were eventually mated to a chassis, days or weeks later, that same number was stamped on the frame.
 

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The prefix 18 is indicative of the 221 V8 engine family. The new 99A 239 engine for Mercury and the V8 60- horse engines had their own prefixes so it was largely an engine indicator. Trucks were different than cars so their BB prefix was there too. It's mostly all in the VanPelt Sales information. Canadian Fords were also different.
 
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