I just picked up what I'm calling a gem. Its a 49, not sure which model yet. Someone put a 283/power glide in it at some point in its life. My biggest problem currently is the ***le. The ***le says 48, its definitely a 49- i think i was given the wrong ***le but cannot verify. I've looked for the tag on the driver's door... missing. The engine/trans isn't original. I also found that somewhere along the ch***is should be a vin (i know its not called a vin), no luck. The only i can find is the fisher body tag under the hood but that doesn't help me with the vin# - having a hard time figuring out how to upload pictures now. Is there a definitive place I can locate it? Once I have this i can file for a new correct ***le, until then I'm screwed.
Posting pictures is ridiculously easy, here is a link to the tutorial https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/how-to-post-images-on-a-thread.922350/
In looking on the web, here is what I found, which may or may not be correct. There should be a metal tag on the drivers side of the A pillar, that you see when you open the door. Another tag may be under the floor mat on the p***enger side of the car. The frame stamping if it has one, would be on the top of the frame on the drivers side under the B pillar. You may have to sand or wire brush the frame top to see the numbers using a mirror. If the number on the ***le starts with a letter, they used the engine number to register the car. The frame and body numbers should match each other and start with a number. Report back if you find it.
A Google search found an old post on the Chevy Talk forum that said: that number should also be on the top of the frame at about the front seat position. You should be able to read it if the frame is well cleaned in that area of crud. The numbers are fairly large and should be well stamped into the frame. The ones that I've seen have had about 1/2 of the numbers so deep that the top of the frame is dinged in.
Where are you and where is the car from? I have said it before registration and ***le laws vary wildly state to state! New York my home state did not issue ***les until 1973 and does not issue ***les on 1972 and older cars and trucks. On 1972 and older you get a New York State registration as proof ownership. In Connecticut the ***le requirement is dropped after 20 years meaning a 2006 car in Connecticut is no longer required to have a ***le! Pennsylvania requires the ***le to be notarized on every sale even on a car going out of sale! I learned that one the hard way! I was able to get it registered in NY, interesting story! Getting back to N.Y. state all 1973 and newer have both a ***le and a registration. Also once a pre 1973 car with an out of state ***le is registered in NY the out of state ***le is surrendered to New York State. Meaning any 1972 and older cars that have been registered in New York State do not have ***les! When my mom and dad moved to South Carolina form New York state in 1980 when he tried to register his 1972 Ford Ranger XLT (he bought new) they asked him for the ***le he told them New York did not issue ***le in 1972 (1973 was the first year) They call Albany (New York's capital) and confirmed that New York did not issue ***les in 1972, South Carliana issued him a ***le on the spot. So, he had a 1980 issued ***le on a 1972 Ford truck sold new in New York state! Now getting to your post- Locally there was a 1929 Model A coupe on model A rails the was registered as a 32! (We have registration stickers on the windshield.) It was that way for years!
I live in Michigan. The ***le is from North Carolina and was issued March 27th of 1956. The vin does start with a W, thats good info to know. Thanks I will look on the ch***is for a number. There is no tag on the door, pillars or anywhere else. The floor has been "patched".
Back in the 40s and into the 50s, some states registered cars and trucks based on the date the vehicle was first purchased. Most of the auto companies were starting their new model year during September of the year before, meaning a new model year car for 1949 could have been first purchased in September of 1948. If the car was purchased in a state that ***led the vehicle by the date it was sold, that 1949 model year vehicle that was purchased in September of 1948 became a 1948 car in that state. Its ***le would forever bear the 1948 as the model year. The reverse thing also happened, especially with large trucks (2 ton - semi tractors). A truck originally build as a 48 model year that sat on a dealers (or the companies) storage lot, may not have sold until sometime in 1950, became a 1950 model year truck in a state that ***led the vehicles by the date they were first purchased. Those two facts made things interesting when the vehicle moved to a different state. A different state would simply transfer the written information, a ***led 1950 truck was a 1950 truck, as far as the paper work was concerned, even if many parts of the said vehicle didn't match up with what parts should have been on that vehicle. other then specific parts, most of the time the dates on the ***le were not a huge concern at that time. The problem with conflicting parts and model years became more apparent as the older vehicles value changed, and as the auto theft became a much larger problem. Back in the 60s, it was not unusual for older cars to be found on farms or in fields, or junk yards, without paper work. It was not uncommon to buy a car one place, and find a ***le that matched the year (or pretty close, or buy a wrecked or junked rusted pile for the ***le), and transfer the found ***le, then put the plates for that ***le onto a better condition vehicle that was found without a ***le. That wasn't much of a problem until some states started checking the serial numbers on the car bodies against the serial numbers on the ***le. Then it became a big problem. Then more states jumped onto the band wagon. Today, most states are on that band wagon. Through that process, a lot of vehicles with mismatching numbers started loosing the easily visible serial numbers on the car bodies. Some stated countered that by looking for the not so easy to find numbers. Other states have jumped onto that band wagon as well. That is pretty much where things stand right now. However. As a side note, that serial number (or the modern VIN numbers) listed on the ***le of your old car that match the numbers on the body of the car you have, is the only true form of proving the vehicle and the matching numbers ***le actually belongs to you. If the numbers on the papers you hold, don't match up with the numbers on the car body you have, that body probably doesn't legally belong to the paper work you are holding. You may find that out real quickly if someone produces paperwork that matches numbers on the body! There may be exceptions, which you would be required to prove, that may make the non-matching numbers work. Some states offer options to make those exceptions legal, but almost all of them require effort to accomplish the task, before you can legally drive the vehicle. That is the number one reason more and more people are not buying vehicles without matching numbers between the paper work and the numbers on the vehicle, before they lay down their cash. If the numbers don't match, you are transferring the paper work for a vehicle body that does not belong to the paper. That paper work you own probably does not belong to any existing body. The body someone gave you that doesn't match your ***le numbers, probably belongs to someone else, and that probably makes you a person in possession of stolen property. Believe it or not, your state probably doesn't want that to happen, so they are trying to make it harder for someone to rip you off. You have to help by making sure the numbers on the paper matches the numbers on the car. If they tell you its easy to get the ***le for the car, have them get a numbers matching ***le for the car, for you before you hand over your money.
This is from the GM heritage center vehicle information kits vehicle information kit archives https://www.gm.com/content/dam/comp...information-kits/chevrolet/1949-Chevrolet.pdf Top image is shows where the serial numbers are or were. plus it tells what they should be for a 49. Second one is the body post tag number info for the 49 The serial number should have a number and a G. then some more letters and then numbers. Third is the 49 engine serial numbers in case they used the engine number as the vin as some states still did in 49. As far as frame numbers I have never seen one on Chevy cars or trucks made before 1955 although Ford guys always swear that Chevy has them. Fourth is the 1948 Chevy info. If the first letter in the vin is an F rather than a G you got screwed blued and tattooed by the seller who handed you a bogus ***le. There were one or two backwards thinking states that ***led cars and trucks as the year they were sold new rather than the actual year model up into the early 50's from what I can find and that may have been counties rather than states as a whole. Meaning that if someone bought a new 1949 in November of 48 they ***led it as a 49 but I think people would probably had a fit and fell in it with the 49 body change from 48. I've seen it on trucks more than cars though. The guy has a ***le that is is a year off one way or the other but the Vin/serial number on the ***le is correct for the truck.
I bought a 1948 Chevy in KS. The ***le was based on the ENGINE number, which is how KS did it back then. When it was time to ***le the car in IL, I called the State Police who came out, ran some numbers, and then issued me a new VIN and riveted a plate to the A-pillar. Easy peasy. I hear that IL no longer comes to your house, so you have to take the car to the police, but your state probably does something similar. I also had a '63 Chevy that I bought in WI. The WI ***le had an extra number, which was clearly a typo. It was fairly easy to fix. I talked to my local PD who ran the existing numbers and got me set up with a corrected ***le.
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