Just purchased a model a with an original ***le....have the ***le in hand but have yet to pick up the car/body. On the ***le there is two sets of numbers... an "engine" number and below "make" which says Ford there is another number. The engine number is 7 digits. The make number has a letter and 6 digits. Is it safe to ***ume the the make letter/numbers is the VIN? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Most Model A 'a had the letter A - and 6 didgets ... Frame # , engine # were the same at date of production by Ford ...
You don't say what state you live in. If you or a friend have someone in the tag agency that is a good friend, take the ***le to them and see what you must do to get it brought up to date. Preferably a country tag agent, not in a big city.
if the ***le number on frame matches the ***le you shouldnt have any trouble the motor thats in it is original and matches even better.
There was originally a motor number with same number stamped on frame. Few Model A's still have their original motor, and the frame number is hard to get to. See what's what on the frame...that should be original number. What year is it? Number of digits is completely meaningless, as the Model A started with car number A-1 and the numbers then ran up sequentially as almost 5,000,000 were produced. The numbers can be roughly matched against date on the MAFCA or MARC club sites.
Thanks guys! So im in New Jersey and the ***le is from Virginia.... it's a 1929 coupe.... I'll have to check the ***le numbers against the numbers that are on the body... Just wasn't sure because the engine numbers and the (VIN??) numbers are different. (There is no engine so I wasn't worried about that) So I just wanted to make sure when I switched the ***le I had the right number...6 digits vs 7 digits. The people at DMV had no idea or answers to my questions. .. they were just amazed by the ***le itself.... the woman was walking around showing everyone and it seems to have made everyo day!!! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The number should be on the frame rail under the cowl on the left (Driver's side) a 1929 could have six or seven digits after the 'A' depending on when it was built The only numbers stamped in the body were ***embly plant numbers and are not the same as the VIN or Serial number
". they were just amazed by the ***le itself.... the woman was walking around showing everyone and it seems to have made everyo day!!!" When you make your move, go back to THAT woman! Emotion really helps, and bringing cheer to a DMV employee will get things done. A few years back, I went through hell for 6 months at the DMV when NJ went to the new federalized ID system; I could not get my license renewed because I was born in China during the revolution and the government itself was fleeing the city...so no real birth certificate. One day I went back for the 987th time, but with my daughter, clutching a brand new baby...everyone p***ed the baby around, wham-bam I was driving again!! If I have to do that again, I'll be carrying a basket of puppies and leading a baby giraffe!
Not sure if NJ has an inspection process but as soon as I knew that the number on the frame matched the ***le I'd try to transfer it into my name and even register it or go ***le purpose only or in-opt which ever applies. Then you can build it without worrying about ***le issues later.