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Posted By Discussion Topic: vehicle history     artron9 10-07-2017 @ 5:11 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 76 Joined: Nov 2016 I hope the membership can help me? I recently purchased a 1952 Ford Crestline Victoria. I want to find the history of the vehicle and I'm having a hard time. Since it was made prior to the recording of VIN numbers, many of the sites require a 17 digit number and mine only has 10. I also am looking for a way to find the history of my dad's car with only the registration number. No other info is available other than the make, model and year. Any help would be appreciated. 51f1 10-07-2017 @ 6:35 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 573 Joined: Oct 2009 If there are numbers/letters stamped into the cowl inside the engine compartment, you can sometimes figure out when and where it was built, the build date, the engine type, the paint color, etc.. All cars and trucks don't have this stamping. It was optional with the factory. Other than that, good luck!. Richard trjford8 10-07-2017 @ 8:05 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 4214 Joined: Oct 2009 First I would purchase the V-8 Club's 1952-53 two volume book set. It will answer a lot of your questions regarding build dates, factory, and decoding your VIN number. It's the best investment you can make in giving you tons of info on your car. If you are trying to trace the history of ownership you are probably out of luck unless you have some past registration information. Privacy laws today do not allow any DMV to give out that information. artron9 10-07-2017 @ 5:22 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 76 Joined: Nov 2016 Thanks Richard and Trjford. I have the two books which are excellent. I also have all the info I need from the data plate on the right side of the vehicle. What I really want is the history of my car based on the vehicle ID. A ten digit number which was used prior to the use of VIN numbers. There must be a site that will give me this info. Also in regards to my dad's car, I have a registration plate from 1955 that I hope will lead to some info on that car. Thanks for your time and interest! 4dFordSC 10-08-2017 @ 4:12 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 266 Joined: Oct 2009 The following article may help explain your challenges: https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2006/02/27/tracing-vehicle-ownership-history artron9 10-08-2017 @ 6:01 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 76 Joined: Nov 2016 4dFordsd, thanks for the article. Very interesting and informative. I will let the forum know if i have any luck! My sincere appreciation! Ron deluxe40 10-09-2017 @ 10:48 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 413 Joined: Oct 2009 If you have the previous owner's name on the old registration (and it's not too common), you might find them using Ancestry.com or Peoplefinders. I had good luck finding previous owners of my '51 in the 1930 and 1940 federal census databases. artron9 10-09-2017 @ 12:02 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 76 Joined: Nov 2016 Thanks deluxe40, i'll keep trying. wmsteed 10-15-2017 @ 6:43 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 613 Joined: Oct 2009 Trying to find the "pedigree" of vintage vehicles is a common mission that many people foolishly undertake. You are dealing with what could be described as a "tool" that's only purpose is to transport goods and/or people from point A to B. As most people know, Ford was not very good at keeping records, he/they saw no need to keep a history of each vehicle they built, especially prior to 1949. The serial number on the Early V8 Ford, prior to '49 " is nothing more than a sequential production number that was assigned to the engine assembly when the trans was mated to the engine. Historically, the majority of the States did not issue titles until sometime in the early 1970's. The majority of the states discard, purge registration files at the six year mark. The only exception to this rule is if a vehicle was reported as stolen, and has not been recovered. Some states do not purge records of vehicles that have a lien against them. I was able to secure the history and a copy of the original title for a '54 Chevy from the state of Idaho a few years ago because the original owner had listed the vehicle on a loan for a farm in 1956. Due to an oversight the lien had never been cleared. We found the '54 Chevy sitting in a junk pile on the original owners farm. I have read that the Federal Government mandated to the auto industry in 1946 that they come up with a better way to describe their vehicles, this was partly due to Fords use of "99" as the leading number for the '46 Ford V8's. The number 99 was started by Ford to describe the '39 Merc's 239 CID engine. The correct serial number for a '46 Merc is 76xxxxxx Bill 36 5 win delx cpe artron9 10-15-2017 @ 7:39 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 76 Joined: Nov 2016 Thank you bill!! That response was very informative. My search is becoming more like an exercise in futility! Ron

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