41 Buick VIN

[Guest 331]

I have a 41 Buick Super 56C The VIN on the cowl tag is only 7 digits, and the state will not accept this number for titling. There is no engine number, and I can't find a tag on the frame. Can anyone tell me exactly where the plate on the frame is located, and what it looks like?

[Grandpa]

Hi,

The attached image is a 1941 Buick Super 56C VIN cowl mounted tag. It has 8 digits. What number is shown on the bill of sale and/ot title? What state do you live in?

Grandpa

[Guest 331]

The number on the cowl tag is 142---- Only 7 digits. Also, the cowl tag does not have the Buick stamp on it. My particular car was originally owned by the US Navy; there is another cowl tag that says US NAVY 24 January 1941, with the 7 digit number. I assume the Navy switched the cowl tag for some unknown reason. There is no number on the engine, so I assume the engine was swapped out at some later date. There is supposed to be a plaque on the frame with the VIN, but I can't find one. I live in North Carolina, and the previous title was in Texas, which showed the 7 digit number corresponding to the one on the cowl tag

[38Buick 80C]

Dear 331,

Ok I'm glad you mentioned you live in NC. In the state of North Carolina you can register for a Transporter Licesnce plate. You are allowed to do this because by owning an antique vehicle you are "considered in the business of collecting automobiles".

Please see the form http://www.ncdot.org/dmv/forms/vehicleregistration/download/MVR16AA.pdf

This allows you to put this plate on ANY historic vehicle. No where does it state the vehicle has to be titled in the state of North Carolina.

So it's not exactly the answer you were looking for, but you can leave the car titled in TX and still have an NC plate. Also NC is a real pain to get a car titled in regardless becasue they have to do an inspection of the vehicle to verify it isn't modified, so save yourself the headache.

As for your seriel number there is one other location you may be able to look but it will be very difficult to get to for you. On my 1938-80C when I removed the body from the chassis I found on the right rear frame rail the serial number had been stamped into the frame not attached on a spereate tag like the picture from grandpa above. So again on the top of the passenger side frame rail about 18" from the rear most part of the frame was the sereial number. You may be able to do a rubbing of the frame without removing the body.

best of luck!!

BD

[Guest 331]

Thanks for your help! I actually already do have a transporter plate, because I have several other classic cars. Unfortunately I already had the inspector look at my car, and sent in the title. If the state can't verify the car has a correct VIN, they will just issue a new one, but I don't know if it will be correct for the year or not. Perhaps they will just give me back the TX title (yeah, right!) I will try a look for the number in the other place you mentioned.

[Guest DaveCorbin]

Dear 331:

It happens that I have already personally investigated the U.S. Navy car, because I am a personal friend of your seller.

The situaton is this: The U.S. Navy property tag that you see has had deleted by the Navy the last digit of the frame number of the car. Since I know the date that Buick built the car within +/- 3 days, the tag decodes as follows: the lead 1 tells us that the car was built at Flint, which is by definition true since ALL convertibles were built at Flint until sometime after WW2. The balance of the property tag decodes as 421599X, where X is the digit the Navy deleted. This establishes the date.

I have a copy of the 1997 Ohio title issued to the widow of the owner. I also have both the widow's name and then address, her husband's name, his date of death, and his Social Seurity number. He bought the car around 1989.

You may also find it helpful to talk with the curator branch of the U. S Navy Historical Center at 202-433-2318 to get a description of navy practices.

There seem to be only a few likely possible people who would be issued a convertible by the US Navy, all of them very high ranking officers. The list includes James Forrestal, Under-Secretary of the Navy, Adm. Stark, Chief of Naval Operatons, Royal Ingersoll, his son Royal R Ingersoll, who was killed on Hornet June 1942 and an Adm. Wlkinson, killed in an auto accident in Norfolk 2/21/1946, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor and 3 Distinguished Navy Medals.

I would prefer to correspond with you via PM's as my friend (your seller) is quite ill and I wish to respect his privacy.

Regards, Dave Corbin, BCA 2756 (38 year member) and SAH 1917 (12 year member)