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I just got a call from a guy in (West?) Virginia. He saw something about my truck on this website, so he looked me up and called me. He answered a LOT of questions for me. It seems he has the twin to my truck!

My truck is a '47 ton dually panel. Chevy didn't make ton dually panels, so it had to be a coach conversion. It also had the rear glass replaced with louvered sheet metal, two vents added to the roof and a hole in the roof near the rear doors. In addition it had a couple holes in the floor. It is orange with murals painted on the sides. I have found older orange paint under the surface.

Except for the murals, Alan's (Allen?) truck was identical when he got it, right down to the way they modified the running boards and rear fenders. I was wondering if mine perhaps hauled a big generator or air compressor around for a D.O.T. or construction outfit. Alan says his was a gasoline tanker from an airport. It still had faded paint that showed where the lettering for Gulf Oil was. (Mine is covered up with murals.)

Alan also explained something to me about the serial number on his truck. I need to go look at my title, but it seems to me that I may have a correct VIN on the title after all. (My VIN plate is missing.)

I would never have hooked up with this guy had it not been for the Stovebolt.

Thank you , Thank you, Thank you!

BradB, in the mid '80's, I knew a guy in N.O. who picked up an early 60's Chevrolet panel that was either 3/4 ton or bigger. No duel wheels. It was Navy surplus. It was used at the navy base in Belle Chase, across the river and south of N.O.
The panel was used to carry some kind of outfit that was described to me as a jet-engine jump-starter. It had all kinds of holes cut in to the sides and top with a bunch of louvres for air flow. All the plumbing was gone from the back but it still had a plate on the dash designating it as a military vehicle. It was battleship grey.
Jacques

Neat stuff huh? My '66 was originally an Army truck. Can still see the olive drab paint on spots in the door jambs.

JS

BradB

Glad to hear that! Now, that is what we are here for!

So here is what I think I have learned from him about my VIN.

According to him, his truck (and mine I'm guessing, since they are modified identically and were the same original color) was a fuel tanker at an airport. It was never titled or licensed to be on the road. He still does not have a title for his. Apparently someone went to the trouble to get a title for mine. He still has his VIN plate (mine is gone) and read the number off to me. His VIN is:

5ES-A2XXX (the Xs are numerals, but I do not recall right now what they are.)
SFSD165S is the VIN on my title.

According to the books I have:

First character is assembly plant. 5 = Kansas City
Second character is model year E = 1947
Third character is model series S = Ton Panel
Fourth character is assembly month A = Jan, D = April

According to the VIN book, the last six are sequential numerals. According to this guy, they did not use leading zeros, so only four digits is more likely than six that first model year.

SO... I'm guessing the correct VIN for my truck is:

5ES-D1655

I think the first and last digits are supposed to be 5 not S, and I think the F for the model year is supposed to be E. I believe the old VIN plate was corroded enough by the time that this vehicle was retired from service, that it was hard to read. Back then, these VIN plates were just photo-etched aluminum templates with hand stamped numbers.

So the only thing I can't explain is why his last four digits, (the sequence number) is higher than mine, while his truck was built in January and mine in April. Could it be that mine is really a '48? It is titled as a '47.

Does anyone know how the sequential numbers went? Take a look at your VIN plates on those early AD trucks, post them in here and let's do some comparing. I would like to see if the sequence numbers are different for different models (ie, 3100 pickup built in January with 5 digit sequence would mean that they issued the sequential numbers uniquely for each model type.) Am I making sense? Anyway, let's examine some VINs and see what we can learn.