Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

DMV may work for us but then you have the situation where the car is long out of the system and there is no current title showing another number was the official VN and was the proper one to be used for registration. The annual renewal slip kept in the car does not seem to count at all.

You run across an inspector set in his ways and no matter what argument is raised he is going to do it his way. His way is every single ID plate or number on the car except the embossed body ID or thief proof number on the firewall is removable. The car WILL be re-registered using the non removable number or not at all -- Period! End of discussion. The friend I bought the car from in 91 had argued this point with an absolutely unwavering inspector a few years earlier when he had bought the car.

A few years down the road if the car escapes the junkyard and goes to another Packard person this situation is sure to be revisited. That new owner will probably be on a forum somewhere wanting to know why the car has a strange number on the title.

As far as numbers goes, it does kind of make you wonder about the thinking of the time. Packard and others went to length to prevent theft or causal hotwiring by using the armored cable on the coil etc but if someone actually did steal a car important numbers could be swapped with some from a junkyard car by using a screwdriver.

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That's the problem with going to the DMV to have a verification done. As a mobile VIN verifier, I am far more lenient but also not free as the DMV is. AAA also does verifications for members but not typically on older cars although they can assist with the paperwork once it's been verified.

Co-incidentally, the first car I verified after getting my license was a 1940 Packard 120 which had a 1948 engine in it and that's the way it was titled. It had no VIN plate and many 1940s including this one don't even have the anti-theft number (I understand that it was a decal that is usually gone by now) so I used the engine number again with a notation in the remarks that it was a later model engine. The verification form does allow for engine numbers and there is a checkbox for the VIN's location with Engine being one of the choices.

Only 1938 used a sticker instead of a Vehicle Number (Patent) Plate. All other years originally had a plate.

Packard went back to the metal place in 1939.

In event, the 1940 that I verified did not have an anti-theft number either. Between the < and > triangles it was empty.

I'll let Dave C speak on that topic. I know there were some cars that left the factory without their TPN stamping.