Re: Tracing history from body serial number?

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2009/11/17 16:26:23

Does the 59I47B stamp from Briggs have any relation to the VIN# or body style or year, if so what? In 1941, was there another set of #'s? (in addition to the Briggs & the VIN plate)

First, the # 59147B isn't a Briggs #, it's a thief-proof number and the last character is an 8, not a B. It's in the range of such numbers for 1941. The thief-proof number has no relation to the VN, body style or chassis type, though it can be correlated to a year except in the extremely rare cases where bodies were started in one year and finished and titled as cars of a later year - this occasionally happened with the Detroit-built RHD cars and some of the Henneys, but it's not a firm, fast thing.

Two answer your second question, your car should have 3 numbers, (1) the actual vehicle number as used by motor vehicle licensing agencies and found on the patent plate on the cowl, and intended to also have the selling dealer and date of sale stamped on it, (2) the Briggs number on a small metal tag often on the upper passenger side of the cowl in 1941, and (3) the thief-proof number, the quite large number actually embossed into the upper cowl.

The thief-proof number, to quote from Packard, was an "identifying number to be used when other numbers are defaces or altered". There was a paper trail record at Packard which did correlate thief-proof numbers with the particulars for a specific vehicle; except for some small fragments I believe these records no longer exist though I intend to show an example in my upcoming article on thief-proof numbers.

Send me a PM if you're still not clear on this, or post some pictures.