The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk ID unidentified

There is an ID plate riveted on the right side of the cowel. But the numbers don't fit any scheme I've seen described. It has raised letters, "ID DBA314910."
Can anyone tell me what this means? It's a half ton pickup and probably '46, or at least that's what the California title said when I bought it.

Believe DBA might be the year/model code for the truck, and 314910 would be the unit produciton sequence #...the whole thing would be the vehicle serial number...

By any chance, does this correspond to the engine number ("engraved" numbers on the flat boss immediately behind the distributor) ?

And now that I've written the above, the factory serial plate on my '41 Dump is about 4" wide x 5" high (or 3" x 4")...it is aluminum with black anodizing to create a black background around aluminum (silver) lettering/numbers...
The serial number is usually stamped INTO ("engraved") the aluminum plate, usually within a silver rectangular "space" about 1/4" high x 2" long...
The plate is secured to the right side of the cowl by two sheet metal screws with a comination hex and "clutch" (hour-glass recessed) head. (Makes it easy to swipe a plate!).

The factory tag also has blab about Chevrolet Division, General Motors, Flint Mich.; usually also bears a GVW rating...

Lots of OEM plates have lost their black background, and the only thing still legible is the stamped serial number...


It is possible that your truck was assigned a special California serial number...if this is what matches your title, then this IS your truck's serial number as far as any DMV is concerned...

I own a '55 De Soto whose serial plate was stolen while it was in the junkyard. The yard owner furnished the title, as well as an affidavit asserting that the car serial number on the title was legit (and in this case matched the serial number on the engine). When I went to transfer the title into my name, Maryland's MVA (Where I lived at the time) had a state trooper inspect the car to confirm that it was not cobbled together from wrecks and that it was legit, then he assigned a new state number from their system, and punched-out a new plate and riveted that to the door pillar: it reads "Maryland Special Vehicle Number" and their serial #.

The original manufacturer's number has been retired as far as MD is concerned.

I kept a copy of the old title with the De Soto Division number just for provenance, should I ever sell the car...

In a very recent thread, another stovebolter mentions that his California truck had the original plate replaced with something issued by the California DMV.. and those numbers don't seem to reveal any specific information about the vehicle.

A "stock" serial number would have started with a factory code.. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 20, or 21, followed by a two character Series code (a '46 1/2 ton would have been CK or DP).

Sounds like the number you have is the California issued number, and the original cowl tag with the original factory serial number is lost like a fart in the wind.

Your numbers sound alot like the numbers off my '46 1/2 ton engine.. if I remember correctly, the numbers on the pad just left of my '46 216 engine start with DBA.. could be California used the number off the engine as the serial number.

I believe that the DBA # on your title corrosponds to the original eng. # in the truck. My 46, (titled as a 47) has a title # of DBA556970. The chassis # on the right under hood is 3DP-A 20669. As the 216 was changed for a 235, #0251808 F54Z long ago. None of the numbers match the title # The engine # is located just behind the dist. if you're lucky & the eng. hasn't been changed then it should match your title #. If you change engines, you should be able to have it inspected & change to the chassis # for your vin.