Transmission ID - Chrysler Corp. '40s-'50s

[Guest De Soto Frank]

"Calling All Experts"...<P>Am trying to identify a Chrysler Corp. overdrive transmission.<P>we're pretty sure that it's 1940, but wondering what it's out of?<P>Have found a flat boss on the left side of tranny, at the rear of the case, right at the parting line between the tranny & OD housing, with a number stamped there, beginning with "S-7..."<P>My theory suggests that this unit originally went into a 1940 De Soto (model S-7).<P>Does anyone know if Chrysler Corp made a practice of Stamping engines, transmissions, rear axles, etc. with the model code for the original vehicle application?<BR>(Original model codes went: C= Chrysler, S= De Soto, D= Dodge, P= Plymouth).<P>For example, the engine # in my De Soto starts out "S-8", indicating, 1941, model S-8. (Don't know if the practice extended to other drive-line units.)<P>If anyone can enlighten me about this, I'd sure appreciate it!

[ply33]

Chrysler definitely marked the engines with a model engineering code. Sometimes the codes can be misleading. For example the 1934 PG Plymouths were equipped with engines stamped with a 1934 PF code.<P>Sometime (mid-1930s?) Plymouths started having the engine number stamped on to the frame on the kick up over the rear axle. If you don't want to pay DaimlerChrysler for a copy of your build card, this may be a place you can look to see if you have the original engine installed.<P>To muddy the waters somewhat, after WW2 Chrysler sold replacement engines with no engine number stamped on them at all.<P>Often the body numbers had the model code in them too. This seems, at least for the earlier years, to vary somewhat based on which body plant (not neccessarily assembly plant) the body came from.<P>I have not seen or heard of the transmission or rear axles having the model code on them.