theft ident

[Guest Randy Berger]

Older cars like our Packards have only the vehicle id on the doorpost or firewall for identification. That and the serial number of the engine. If someone steals the car and removes the data plate and maybe swaps engines, how would you prove the car is yours? I'm not sure about other years but 1951 to 1956 Packards and Clippers have an antitheft number stamped into the firewall in large letters and numbers. This is a unique identification and would be very difficult to remove. Take the time to record that number and make sure that your insurer has it on record also. It could aid immeasurably if your vehicle was stolen.

Do older Packards also have this antitheft number??

[Guest imported_Speedster]

Yes, Packards had them as early as the '20s. I don't know about before that?

I found out that all the antitheft number records were distroyed when they closed the Plants. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

[Guest Randy Berger]

Yes, but it doesn't matter about the records as long as you have yours recorded as belonging to your car. It may be the only way to identify your vehicle.

[Guest imported_Speedster]

Yes, My point was, that if those records were still available, we could more accurately identify cars, (as to where it was made, original owner, etc.), that have had other tags, engines, etc. removed or changed. Since, if the firewall is changed or removed you don't have much of a car anymore. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> and those records matched up all the numbers for every car.

In other words, If we still had the records we could use the antitheft number for more than just a personal antitheft number. Most Packard owners realize the value of the antitheft number, but when you get into a numbers matching question situation, is when the number records would really come in handy, also.

[mrpushbutton]

Is there a Packard theft problem? I read the front of Hemmings every month and they run a stolen vehicle list, and for the most part the cars stolen are:

Corvettes

Mustangs

Cameros

chevelles

GTO's

occasionally a Mopar muscle car or two

55-6-7 Chevy, usually hotrodded.

never heard of a Packard, or any other non-big 3 high production car being stolen, although I'm sure it's happened somewhere out there.

[Twitch]

My 50 has a big raised number on the firewall too.

[Guest 51Patty400]

My ownership has the raise firewall ID for its serial number. Its not the original motor in the car so i'm guessing the previous owner had it changed.

- Mark

[Packard Don]

Does anyone know when these anti-theft numbers were used and when they were not? I saw a 1940 120 Touring Sedan recently that had only the surrounding triangles but no anti-theft number but I don't recall if any of my 1940 110s or 1941 120A had it or not. I understand that some chassis destined for custom bodies or perhaps for export didn't have it but what others did not? All my '51 to '56 cars have it.

Edited March 28, 2015 by Packard Don (see edit history)

[Owen_Dyneto]

I've studied these numbers extensively. The use of theft-proof numbers began in 1929, 000050 the lowest known number to date, and ran thru 1956 in essentially sequential order. The only exception was a period during the beginning of the 1940 production when the numbers were not stamped, for unknown reasons. The 23rd series numbers approached 999999 and thus beginning with the 24th series Packard began with an alpha-prefix, "A" and 5 digits. The highest known number is D59XXX. Contrary to what was said previously in this thread, some very small portions of original records with these numbers do still exist but only for several hundred vehicles. For those with an interest there are two articles published in The Packard Cormorant which discuss these numbers and attempt to draw some conclusions from them. Of the many custom-bodied and export cars I've studied 1929 or newer, they all had a theft-proof number except for 1940 as noted.

For a little more information, see http://www.packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2147

Edited March 28, 2015 by Owen_Dyneto (see edit history)