It's all in the numbers: Ford's serial numbers 1950-1980

From the earliest days of automotive production, serial numbers were meant more for inventory control than to identify a certain car. Almost from the start, inventor George B. Selden held a patent on an internal combustion-engined vehicle, and went after nearly every pioneer car maker in America and demanded they pay a licensing fee on each car they built. Then came the Manufacturer’s Mutual Association (MMA), which later changed its name to the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM). Its first goal was to challenge the Selden patent, but later, when a scheme was created to share in Selden’s royalties, it became allies with Selden. Because each car meant money in someone else’s pocket, fairly accurate production records were kept on early American automotive production. Then came Henry Ford, who had amassed enough of a fortune that he was able to fight Selden’s claims and break the strangling grip that the ALAM held over the auto industry after a January 1911 court ruling.

Early Ford serial numbers

Ford Motor Co., as with other car makers, kept serial number information simple, usually with a letter to identify the model being produced, and a simple consecutive numbering system. Up into the 1940s, the primary serial number for a Ford vehicle was almost always the engine number. Starting with the 1928 Model A, the engine numbers were also stamped on the frame or chassis of the vehicles, but these numbers were hard to find with the fenders or bodies attached to the frame over the placement of the numbers. With the first V-8 automobiles in the 1930s, the engine number continued to be the main identifier, with the engine number stamped on the top face of the frame, but now they were in places where they were more visible. For collectors of early Fords, finding the serial number can be a challenge. Many a 1928-1931 Model A owner has bought a car only to find the number on the title might have been based on the engine installed by the factory, and that engine has long since disappeared. Meanwhile, the number on the frame is obscured by the body.

To help law enforcement identify stolen automobiles, the National Auto Theft Bureau published annual manuals to help identify certain models, and several volumes were produced to cover the proper registration of vehicles that had engine swaps as nearly each state has different rules and procedures.

The practice of placing the engine number on the frame continued at Ford up to the 1949 model year. Starting with the 1950 model year, a more uniform system of serial numbers was instituted at Ford, a system that made sense and may well have been the basis for the modern 17-digit “Federalized” VIN system in use today.

Ford modernizes serial numbers

For 1950, Ford passenger car serial numbers started with a letter code that identified the engine (at that time the choices were only the V-8 or the six), the model year and a two-letter code for the plant where the car was assembled, followed by a unit sequence starting with 100001. Mercury and Lincoln also used a new serial number system starting with the 1950 model year which started with the model year, the assembly plant and a unit number starting at 5001 for Lincoln and 10001 for Mercury, followed by a letter to identify the make (“M” for Mercury and “H” for Lincoln). For two years, 1956 and 1957, the letter L was used as a suffix on Lincoln automobiles.

Over at Ford, a serial number such as “B1LB123456” would indicate: B=239 cid V-8; 1=1951 model year; two letters representing the assembly plant, as with LB for Long Beach, CA; 123456=23,456th 1951 Ford scheduled for assembly at the Long Beach plant. Notice I said “scheduled for assembly,” as car serial numbers were issued when orders were received at the plant, then those orders were sent to a production scheduling department where it was decided when that vehicle could be fit into a production rotation. This meant that vehicles did not come down the assembly line in numerical order, and this can even apply to Ford vehicles with a 00001 unit number not having been the first car off the assembly line. (As an example, our research has shown that the first Edsel produced at the Los Angeles plant was actually unit #00006, with another example being the #00001 car from the Somerville, Mass., being assembled two weeks after production started.) One other example from Edsel was the #00001 car from the San Jose, Calif., plant, and while production started on July 15, 1957, this “first” car wasn’t assembled until around Oct. 21, 1957!

Those early 1951 serial number plates—or patent plates, as Ford called them—were mounted under the hood, on the firewall. Later, in the 1951 model year, the patent plate was changed and now included the exact body, factory paint color, interior soft trim and a production code that started with a scheduled assembly date code.

For 1952, these data plates were relocated for one year only to the front passenger-side door. The following model year, 1953, saw the plate moved to the driver’s door hinge pillar and a slight change to the composition of the serial number. Rather than using two letters for the assembly plant, now just one letter accomplished that. The fourth character in the serial number would now represent a body type, not the exact model. A sample number such as B3FC123456 would represent the following: B=239 cid V-8; 3=1953 model year; F=Dearborn assembly; C=Convertible body; 123456=23,456th 1953 Ford scheduled for production at Dearborn.

The body code most often seen during this period was the letter G, which represented all sedan and coupe models in the Mainline and Customline series. As more engine options became available, the first letters in Ford serial numbers had many more selections, starting with the letter A (for a base six-cylinder) and up to the letter P (usually the most powerful engine available and often reserved for Police use). In later years, even more letters would be utilized.

During the 1957 model year, the design and size of the patent plates was changed, as was the data included. While the serial number was still placed at the top of the plate, it included the same data, body, color and trim information, but the production code entry was eliminated and replaced with an actual date code entry, and for the first time, an entry for the transmission and ratio code for the rear axle were included. These later plates were put into use at different dates as Ford continued to use up existing supplies.

This 10-character system worked fairly well up to the 1959 model year. A major change was incorporated for the 1960 models in an attempt to further identify a series and exact body style by expanding the serial number to 11 characters. At this point, the serial number became referred to as the vehicle identification number, or VIN. Hence, a VIN such as 0E54Y112345 would break down as follows: 0=1960 model year; E=Mahwah, N.J., assembly plant; 54=Galaxie four-door sedan; Y=352 cid, 300-hp V-8 engine; 112345=12,345th 1960 Ford scheduled for assembly at the Mahwah plant. This composition would continue to be used on all domestically built Ford passenger cars up to and including the 1980 model year. In 1966, with trade agreements between the USA and Canada, Ford of Canada also started to use the 11-character VIN.

Both Lincoln and Mercury continued to use the same system they had instituted in 1950, which would continue up to the end of the 1957 model year. One exception was the Continental Mark II, which was considered its own division, and had a serial number composition totally unique from other Ford products during its 1956-’57 model years. In 1958, Lincoln and Mercury, as well as the new Edsel, adopted the Ford 10-character serial number composition.

With the 1960 model year, Lincoln, Mercury and the short-lived 1960 Edsel also adopted the new 11-character VIN system, and those surviving makes would also continue to use this same system up through 1980.

Location, location, location

As with earlier Fords, starting with the 1928 Model A, Ford continued to stamp an official serial number directly onto the chassis, often in several places on the top face of the frame rail. This would continue on all body-on-frame vehicles through 1962. Starting with the 1963 model year, the data plate was redesignated as a Vehicle Warranty Plate and clearly stated above the plate was “Not for Title or Registration Purposes.” Beginning that year with U.S. production, the official location of the serial number for body-on-frame models was a metal tab located on the fire wall, visible only with the hood open. On those models with uni-body construction, primarily the mid-size Fairlane and compact Falcon, the VIN had been stamped in various locations under the hood since their introduction.

In addition to the “public” or easily found “official” serial number, Ford also placed the number in concealed locations. These numbers were a help to law enforcement in dealing with stolen cars, as thieves would often alter or obliterate the official number.

Starting with the 1968 model year, a new federal mandate required car makers to place a car’s VIN in a place visible from the exterior of the car. That year, all American-made automobiles complied by placing the serial number on the driver’s side of the vehicle, usually on the dashboard, where it could be easily seen through the windshield. Ford did comply with the new rules, but put a little twist on it by placing its serial number on the passenger’s side of the vehicle. This was done for one year only, and starting in 1969, Ford moved the VIN to the driver’s side of the car where it remains more than 55 years later.

With the incorporation of the 17-digit VIN by 1981, several third parties began to track vehicles’ maintenance, accidents, title transfers and more. And unlike the period from the 1950s up to the 1970s, today’s Ford vehicles might have the serial number in up to 17 different locations.

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