The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Help decoding Vehicle ID

I just purchased a 1954 Chevy pickup. The truck was purchased site unseen from CA and has not yet been delivered so I have not seen it in person. I do have the pink slip and am trying to decipher exactly what I bought.

The pink slip lists the vehicle id as 313300F54XA, the body type model as ZB54PU, the unladen weight as 3,700 the class as AQ. I believe it is a '54 3/4 ton but am not sure. Can anyone help decipher this for me?

Thanks!!!

Hook us up with the vehicles serial number, located in the drivers side door jamb.. that will tell us for sure what it is, provided the truck was made in the U.S.

That isn't an US '54 serial number, but if you ignore the leading numbers, starting at the F it does look like the first five characters from a serial number.

Except F and X don't match anything in my numbers book.

Thats what I was thinking, Sub.. when I saw that F54XA I ran it thru the cruncher.. thinking perhaps whatever agency originally titled the vehicle used a combination of both the engine number and the vehicle serial number.

F54XA came up in the VIN Cruncher as a 1954 made in January, of unknown type, wheelbase, or plant, but that's just because the 54 is in the right "year spot" in that sequence of numbers.

ZB54PU at first looked like it would be usable, again, because the 54 in the "year spot", but it looks like '53 thru 55 first series Serials would have had to start with one of the following letters followed by the '54':

H,J,K,L,M,N,P,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y or Z

In order to be a "pickup" (which IMO would be a 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton) that first letter in a 53 thru 55 1st series would have to be an H, J or K

A 'Z' as the first character would indicate a 2 ton truck.

If you take the 'B' out of ZB54PU you come up with a 2 ton utility with a 212" Wheelbase made in Pontiac, MI of unknown month.

The truck will be picked up on Monday for delivery. Where should I have the "seller" look on the truck to get the correct info?

Thank you for all the help!!! It is greatly appreciated. This is my first "old" truck and I am a novice!!!

When you open the drivers side door, in the door frame somewhere between the hinges that hold the door on the cab there should be a metal plate that says words to the effect of GENERAL MOTORS CHEVROLET DIVISION.

On this plate, twards the "bottom" you will see a serial number stamped. In some trucks, the only thing that remains visable on this plate is the serial number.

Thats the number you need to identify the truck.. and in the case of a '54 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton truck, this serial number should start with a H, J or K

This number will tell you the year & type of truck you have, as well as what plant the truck was built at.

In addition, the size of the truck (1/2 or 3/4 ton) can be determined by the number of stake pockets in the bed.

A 1/2 ton has two stake pockets on each side (for a total of four) while a 3/4 ton has a longer bed, and has three stake pockets on each side (for a total of 6)

Of course, if the bed is missing, or some previous owner has "rodded" the truck to include the filling of these stake pocket holes, this quick method of determining 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton is of little help.

The 3/4 ton trucks also had 8 lug wheels, and the 1/2 ton had 6 lug wheels.. again, if the truck has been "rodded" and the drums switched out this might not help, but in stock vehicles, a 3/4 ton would have 6 stake pockets and 8 lug rims.

Another thing I just thought of.. i've heard that DMV's in California have been known to assign a new VIN number to old bolts.. maybe thats what that funky number of yours is.. a homogination of both the Mfg Serial number and the engine number.

313300F54XA is the engine serial number, and it decodes as follows:

313300=build sequence #
F=Flint engine plant
54=model year
XA=regular production "Thriftmaster" 235 used in the 3600 series (3/4-ton) trucks.

That other number might be something the state stuck on the pink slip. It doesn't look like any type of Chevy number. 54PU probably stands for 1954 pick-up. No idea about the ZB.

I had the seller read the serial number from the door - J54L005911. So, The truck is an 8 lug, 3600 3/4 ton pick-up assembled at the LA plant.

The vehicle number on the title came from the title certificate in 1993 when it belonged to the previous registered owner. Not sure of it's origin. I think Fumblin is right - some sort of CA creation.

Thanks to everyone for your help. As a novice, I’m sure I’ll be back with lots more questions!!!

not a CA creation, and you need to be aware of the reason the door tag and pink slip don't match in case they get antsy when you transfer the reg to PA - as Curt said, 313300F54XA was the original engine #, which was what it was registered w/ in 54, and it may not still have that engine in it - the body type model ZB54PU is for sure CA's code for a certain size 54 PickUp, and the class AQ is their tax code

Bill

Hey.. lets see a pic of that '54!

Good point Bill. Thanks to you and Curt for the clarification. That may very well become an issue when registering the truck.

Can I post pics here? I submitted it to the gallery but it will be a few days before they post it.

yes, but can't upload pics directly to the forum - they have to be hosted somewhere on the net - then you just link to them from here

Bill

Okay, let's see if this works...

http://fordtruckworld.tenmagazines.com/gallery/04bluef250/593376.jpg

http://fordtruckworld.tenmagazines.com/gallery/04bluef250/593377.jpg

http://fordtruckworld.tenmagazines.com/gallery/04bluef250/593378.jpg

I'm drooling!!

wow, too nice for my rusty eyes!
and they let ya post that on a ford site!?

Bill

Thats one clean lookin' truck!

Thanks for the compliments. My wife is originally from a small Texas town and we have a small house there to use when we visit her family. The truck is being shipped there for us to use instead of renting a car. That is why it is a daily driver rather than a fixer upper.

I would like a fixer upper in PA where I live most of time, but we just don't have the room.

The pic was allowed on the Ford site because my daily driver is a Ford. Please don't hate me for that!

Beautiful truck! I have a red '54 that came from Texas, but it sure doesn't look that nice...

Great looking truck!! 1954 is one of my favorite AD years. Although any year in that good shape will always turn heads. Congrats! Hope you get her shipped safely.