We haven't been able to find one on any pillar, door, the firewall, etc---- so I'm going to try to poke around on the engine crossmember this winter. With the engine/trans already in place of course this is a bit more interesting: Can anyone narrow down the location enough that I can try to do it without pulling the engine? It's a 2 door ranch wagon but I suspect the frame vin should be in the same spot for all of the "big" cars? Thanks!
Data plate (will look like the one below) is on the left front hinge pillar. Go here for decoding :http://www.dearbornclassics.com/door_dataplate_57-59.html
EXCELLENT information, thank you! I wonder if there is enough space to be able to see either of the rear two while the body is still mounted?
I can see the front passenger frame rail pretty clearly next to and behind the exhaust manifold. Nothing in the way! Should the number in this place be stamped into the frame, or on a separate tag? I see two holes like what could mount a tag but suspect that I should be looking for something stamped. Thanks!
Ford's wonderful idea was to put the tag on the left door below the latch. So not only are they often missing, you run the risk of a car having had the door changed somewhere in it's lifetime and has the wrong tag on it. You might have to dig out the frame number with a wire brush, I can't imagine it's anything but stamped in there.
Its stamped on my '59, and yes you'll probably have to dig for it as its a place that is a grease and dirt catch-all. The front one anyways......At least the two I looked for were.
Regarding the front frame number, look at the outside top of the passenger frame rail in the area above the idler arm bracket. If the inner fender seal is still there you might have to tuck it under the inner fender to expose the number. Picture shows back part of the seal tucked under enough to see the first half of the serial number. If your frame is rusty the number may be very hard to find. I've seen some numbers stamped so lightly they are hard to see even on a clean frame.
Found it! The third digit is basically.... not there..... I hope they can find it anyways, they'll be digging through the microfiche since it's not been reg'd or anything since the mid/late 60's.
Back in those days, the number was hand stamped with one blow to a fixture that held all the numbers and letters. If the guy doing it had a light hammer, or a sore arm, you got a light stamp. The guy doing that job where I worked wound a whole roll of tape around the hammer handle to give it more heft and make it easier to grip. His name, - - - -Hammer.
The state has yet to come up with records from the microfiche archive on this one. Plan B is to do a bonded title, in which case we'll need to pull the body to find a better stamping with the 3rd digit, or make it up and fix it later? The 3rd digit that is missing would be for assembly plant----- I wonder how many of their ~20 assembly plants in 1958 would have been building 2 door ranch wagons, that could narrow it down greatly!