VIN Numbers

Serial Number Location

"Truck serial number is located on the left front body hinge pillar, except on models with cowl less windshield where the serial plate is located on the left hand cowl side inner panel except forward control chassis serial number plates installed by the body builder".

Serial Number Composition

The serial numbers for 1947 - 1955 U.S. made Chevrolet Advance Design trucks are 8-12 digits long*. They are comprised of two sections. The first section ends with the last alpha character. It is arranged in one of two distinct formats, depending on the year the truck was built, as explained below. The second section, all numeric, is the plant production number, with the first truck built at a given plant receiving the number 001001.


First Section Order 1947 - 1952 1953 - 1955
First Assembly Plant* Series
Second Year (E, F, G, H, J, K)** Year (Decade, always 5)
Third Series* Year (3, 4 or 5)
Fourth Month (A - L for Jan - Dec) Assembly Plant


Assembly Plant 1947 - 1952 1953 - 1955
Atlanta, GA 8 A
Baltimore, MD 14 B
Flint, MI 1 F
Janesville, WI 21 J
Kansas City, MO 5 K
Los Angeles, CA 20**** L
Norwood, OH 9 N
Oakland, CA 6 O
St. Louis, MO 3 S
Tarrytown, NY 2 T


Series*** 1947 - 1952 1953 - 1955
1508 J D
3100 P H
3600 R J
3800 S L
4100 J N
4400 K P
6100, 6100S* V, VS V, SV
6400, 6400S* W, WS W, SW
6500, 6500S* Y, YS X, SX
     

* 1947 - 1952 serial numbers on 1-1/2 & 2 Ton Heavy Duty Specials may contain an extra S character as part of the series code. 1947 - 1952 assembly plant codes may be 1 or 2 characters. 1947 - 1952 plant production numbers did not include leading zeros.

** Except 1947 - 1952 1-1/2 & 2 Ton Heavy Duty Trucks, which used Q, R, S, T, U, V to designate Year.

*** Partial List.  It does not include C.O.E., Forward Control, or School Bus. 1947 - 1948 used Thriftmaster or Loadmaster rather than this series designation or it was not well known, as indicated by a cross reference chart in the 1948 - 1951 Chevrolet truck shop manual. The 6500 & 6500S were first listed in 1951.

**** At least one document for 1947 specifically lists Van Nuys, CA & not Los Angeles as assembly plant location 20.

Thanks to Don Moen for this article.