The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk GMC Serial Numbers

Have you noticed that while there are several places online where you can insert a Chevy serial number and learn about your truck, there are none for GMC's?

That bugged me so I decided to do something about it. I have a BETA version of an online tool to interpret GMC serial numbers now available online. Please feel free to try it out.

GMC Serial Number BETA

I have only a limted number of GMC serial numbers I can test with, so I don't know if it chokes on anything in particular and the only way I'll find out is trying it.

If you have a '39 to '59 US made GMC please give it a try. If you disagree with its report or have any problems please PM me or email. Once I'm satisfied it works I'll let John and Peg decide if this should be included in the Tech Tips, my first priority is to be sure its working right.

I tried it & it works perfect for me. Mine's a '58 GMC.

Very nice.

F35427Z2010

The information in bold (below) is either information not provided by the "GMC Serial Number Beta" or additional information.

Model = COE (the "F" prefix indicates COE)
Year = 1954/55 (Z=1954/55)
Series = 350
Nominal Rating = 2-ton
Original Motor = 270 (optional 270; 248 was standard)
Wheelbase = 354 = 2-ton with 179" wheelbase
Production = 2010 (should 1000 be subtracted from this number?)

Documentation from Rob English's GMC website.

Thanks Tim, that is helpful!

Knowing where something didn't work gives me something to chase to make it better.

I'm surprised it missed the wheelbase and year on a 'Z' series. I can identify a '55 1/2- or 3/4-ton built in Pontiac or Oakland, but all others are simply 1954, so it should be easy.

I notice there is no plant code in this serial. That surprises me and may be part of my problem. The combination of plant and production number (as opposed to production count) are often required to determine year for a GMC.

Worked for my 51 GMC 1/2 , but did not list the year

Steve -- This is great! When you're ready, let us know and we'll add it to the Tech Tips. What happens after '59 -- too many variations?

Thanks,
John

John with holiday festivities and other things I probably won't get back to this seriously for a week or two. I will let you know when its done.

What really happens after '59 is I'm not very interested in those trucks... I have learned enough about the structure that I could probably extend the tool through '66, but starting in 1960 the serial number structure changes enough that its writing a whole new module. And the structure varies within a year dependent on the size of the truck.

Ideally a tool like like would cover from origin through 1980 and let the VIN tools that read the government standard structure take over for '81 and later. It may take me a few years to extend my effort that far if I ever push it that hard.

I have all the information needed to deal with Canadian serial numbers too. I'm more interested in implementing that than I am the 60s and 70s, but we'll see what happens as time goes by.

Steve ,
I will dig my GMC titles out of the files and try them ,, may take a while but will try to post results . They are pre 59
and I do not know how you think up this kind of thing ... but it has to be good....

Dan

Olsub, do you have anything for Chevy's?

Thanks Oldog.

'37Chevy there is a tool for Chevy's listed in the tech tips already. It should give you anything you need.

Oldsub ,
All the trucks I had to check were 2 tons ..sorry
Dan

Dan, a 2-ton GMC is a 350 series and should work fine in my tool. Its 400 are larger trucks that won't work.

It worked for my 47/8 one ton, but as you know does not work on the big trucks. My fire truck which I think is a 53 has this serial# 453 30 9841

Thanks,
Chris

Yes, I can read that serial, 453 30 9841, but haven't written the tool to deal with it.

One of the challenges of GMC serial numbers is that there is nothing in that serial that explicitly identifies the year. 453 means a 450 series truck with a 161 inch wheelbase. 30 means the truck originally had a 302. In '52 they started at 1001 and continued incrementing the number up until they restarted with the '54 models. 9841 is probably high enough to mean this is a '53 truck.

Most '52-'53 GMC serial numbers also include the plant of manufacture, and I've used the presence of that character to discriminate between a '51 and a '52/3. On some of the larger trucks they don't give that clue.

IT WORKED FOR MY 52.

It identified mine perfectly.


Just a design note: you might want the enter key to fire the clicked event of the button. The first time I entered my vin, I pressed the enter key and nothing happened. The second time I clicked the button and it worked perfectly.

Thanks for providing this.

the beta link is not working... GROUP911

I am sad to say, Steve Hanberg (OldSub) passed away in January 2011. Steve and his contributions to the hobby are missed by all who knew him.

It appears his domains are no longer active so I guess his S/N cruncher is no longer available.

Does anybody know of another early GMC vin # decoder?

Go to oldgmctrucks.com and read through the serial number pages.