Engine Number As Vin Question

Helping a buddy try and research some history on a car. Besides California, did any other states register cars against the engine number? This would have been in the late '50s early '60s time period. I have three '50s British cars and all three use the engine number as the VIN.

Thanks,
Kurt O.

 

Idaho until the mid '50s. Some ***les have both ch***is & engine number, some either/or.

 

Quite a few did. I have some old Arizona registration slips, the 1968 says

ENG. OR I.D. NO

and the 1972 one says

VEHICLE I.D. NO.

so they must have changed sometime around 1970

 

put Oregon in the mix

 

My '57 Nash is ***led in Washington by engine number. I'm currently trying to ***le it in AZ with the ch***is number. Wish me luck.

Mike

 

Washington

 

Texas used motor number up to 54

 

Different makes used different numbers (engine, body, ch***is) for registration purposes until the universal VIN number jazz came along in the 70s(?).

 

My 1950 Nash, that I purchased from Texas, was re-registered by ch***is number in California in 2006. Was supposed to be running and road worthy, but I found a sympathetic DMV employee who did the inspection while the car was on the trailer.

 

New York did it that way too

 

Standardized VIN#s came along in 1981... fyi.

 

Thanks for the answers guys, This helps a lot.

Kurt O.

 

They were around quite a while before that. My 69 Corvette has the standard VIN plate attached so it can be seen thru the windshield. The year, model, and body style can be determined from the VIN plate, and the sequential number of the VIN matches the sequential number on the engine block.

Some of the numbering sequences were changed later on such that the VIN gives more info, but once the tamper resistant VIN plates were in use by all mfgrs in the late 60's, that VIN became the official identifying number for vehicles in all states.