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DeSoto VIN number - decipher


FINNY56

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I recently purchased a 56 DeSoto Fireflite coupe that was built in Canada. The VIN number is 99507391. Can someone help me decipher the vin. I want to know when/ where the car was built as well the manufacture date and unit number. Thanks.

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For Plymouth, and I assume DeSoto, serial numbers were used until 1958. These are not VIN numbers but rather a sequence number for each car as it came down the line. You can check the serial number to see which plant the car was built in (each plant ran a different series of numbers) and you can get a rough idea of the time it was built (based on how far through the sequence for that plant your car was). But that is about it.

If you want to know more (options installed, etc.) you can send your serial number off to the Chrysler Historical Collection along with a check for $45 and get a copy of the "build card" for the car. The Historical Collection has build cards for all US built Chrysler products from 1930 through 1967.

Walter P. Chrysler Museum

One Chrysler Drive

CIMS 488-00-00

Auburn Hills, Michigan 48326-2778

Attn: Historical Collection

historicalinformation@chryslerheritage.com

http://www.chryslerheritage.com

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Guest imported_Bill-W

In 1956 Chrysler of Canada built Fireflite 2-door Sportsman hardtop, 4-door Sportsman hardtop and 4-door sedan models. No Seville models were sold in Canada and the Fireflite convertible and Firedome wagon were imported.

The serial number span for the Canadian-built DeSoto Fireflite was :

99505401 to 99507600, for a total of 2,200 vehicles. Your car, 99507391, was the 1,991th 1956 DeSoto built.

The Chrysler Museum will not be able to supply a build record for your car as it was built in Canada. They only have build records for American-built cars and trucks from 1930 through 1967. Nobody seems to know what happened to Chrysler Canada's build records. They disappeared along with Chrysler Canada's historical section twenty years ago.

Under the hood of your car there should be a small tag. The information on Canadian cars differed from American. The Canadian tag had :

Model Number

Body Number

Paint Code

Trim Code

The tag did not have information on what options the car had or what engine. By the way, the Canadian 1956 Fireflite came with Powerflite, wheel covers, electric clock, turn signals, outside rear view mirror (hardtops). The Customair heater was a mandatory option - you had to order it and you paid extra for it. Canadian 1956 DeSotos did not come in three-tone paint schemes.

Bill

Vancouver, BC

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