jordan479

Iam having a hard time locating the vin number on my '37 olds. Trying to get my title done and the tag agent says they have to see the vin on the car to match it. Jusst curious where it is at. I have looked almost everywhere

Oldsguy

On my '46 the body tag was on the firewall, right center of the coil. Nice car!

wmachine

I like the '37s!
But aren't the taillight supposed to be further forward, and up on the body? That's one of the cool features of them.

citcapp

Nice car, any luck on the running boards yet? There is a wrecking yard in AZ. that might have you parts.

jordan479

I thinking so

jaunty75

I have two potentially very stupid questions.

First, are you sure you car ever HAD a VIN? According to several websites I've seen, VINs were not required on cars before 1950.

Check this site:

http://www.autoinsurancetips.com/history-vin-numbers


This website points out that, prior to 1950, there was no requirement that the VIN on a car be unique to that car.

http://www.usedcarhistories.com/vin_numbers.html

In other words, the VIN could just indicate such things as make and model but not include something like a production sequence number to make it unique. A VIN that's not unique to the car is not going to be useful as an identifier for that car.

Oldsguy tells us where the VIN was located on his '46, but 1946 is considerably later than 1937, so the fact that VINs were used by 1946 doesn't necessarily mean that they were in use nine years earlier (and pre-World War II).

The base question is, does anyone know for sure that Oldsmobile used VINs in 1937?


Second, if your car would have come with a VIN, is there any chance that any of its previous owners over its 72 years of existence might have removed the VIN plate for whatever reason, stupid or otherwise? From your photos, your car looks significantly modified. Did you do that, or did you get it that way?


If you end up not finding it, print out the articles on the webpages above and show them to your DMV office. Tell them your car never had a VIN because the government did not require them in 1937 and see what they say.

Oldsguy

I said the body tag, not the vin. I agree with you, that is why I specified body tag. My tag does not have an actual vin on it. I just figured he was using the word in a generic sense like "hand me a Kleenex" when one is really asking for a facial tissue.

jaunty75

I'm sorry. You said "body tag" so definitively, as though that was what he was looking for (or should be looking for) and you were telling him where it was on your car, that I thought you meant the tag that held the VIN.

Besides, he's asking for the VIN to satisfy his DMV so he can register the car. Of what value is it to tell him where the body tag is if it doesn't have the VIN on it?

Oldsguy

You are right, I wasn't clear on that. VIN is a standard started in the 80s I think, prior to that serial numbers were used but each manufacturer used their own format. The serial number on my car is found on the body tag on the firewall and the State of Missouri uses that serial number for the title.

wmachine

Okay, so how far back *do* VINs go with Oldsmobile? They go back at least to the '50s.
And prior to that how is one identified? Like for a title?

jaunty75

I was wondering this myself as you see a fair number of pre-1950 Olds's out there, and their owners must register them somehow. I'm guessing it varies from state to state as to how antique automobiles are handled, and I'm guessing that in some of them, the VIN is not required of cars beyond a certain age.

In a slightly related thing, in Ohio, when I registered my '67 Delta with 129,000 miles on it, on the title, they list the five-digits the odometer reads and then print "Exceeds Mechanical Limits" right below that to indicate that the mileage is, in fact, unknown, and what the odometer reads should not be taken as fact.

Olds64

You might contact the Olds Club of America for VIN info on your 37. They have people that are dedicated to a specific "models and years" of Oldsmobiles. I am sure they would have to information you need.

Oldsguy

I do not know. My '46 is identified by the serial number which is not a VIN (Oldsmobile's standard sequence of numbers and letters we are familiar with) and that is the number which is on the title. It is registered in Missouri.

wmachine

Dan, I would think that a car's "serial number" *is* a VIN (Vehicle Identification Number). Over the years the VIN format changed a number of times.

Oldsguy

Kleenex - Facial tissue. You are right, it is all semantics unless someone is misunderstood or someone is confused by generic usage of a term.

jordan479

When I bought the car it was from missouri. So not sure how Oklahoma is suppose to handle this. I think the lady at the title company dosent understand the hole classic car thing. I just hope this title is forsure for my car is my main concern.

jaunty75

They have "model year advisors," and as I recall, they print the list in each issue of Journey With Olds. My guess is that they won't help you unless you are an OCA member. OCA probably won't even tell you who the 1937 advisor is unless you're a member. If you know someone who is an OCA member, maybe you could get that person to ask for you.

Oldsguy

Can you find a match for the title to some numbers on the car someplace?

Olds64

I doubt it. All my dealings with OCA members have been positive. Even the "guy with the red beard" is just annoying and obnoxious.

Oldsguy

Oh, the "guy with the red beard" huh? Haven't heard of him in quite a while, thankfully.

jordan479

no. unfortunatlly it doesnt have the stock frame under it. I heard that there could be numbers on the front wheel frame. That why I just hope this is truely the title for this car

Oldsguy

Ok then you need to check with Missouri. I bet they apply some kind of "builders serial number" since your car has a different chassis. I have heard that many states do it this way. I am not sure if they assign a title based upon a number on the body, the frame, or some other way. Remember that Missouri does not have a Department of Motor Vehicles, the State Treasury operates the vehicle licenses. If you have trouble getting a number I can find it for you but it would be in Jefferson City. But if you can ask them what they base the title number on then you can go from there. Or can the previous owner help you out any?

Ricardo37

Greetings, I am working on my 1937 Oldsmobile F-Series -

I am scheduled for my Vin Insp. this Friday with the NMSP -

The Vin is on a tag on the Top or side of the frame behind the upper control arm bushings on the Drivers Side -

My Tag for example states or reads OMW CF 361000 -
The OMW stands for Oldsmobile Motor Works due to the fact they had not officially joined General Motors yet -

Hope this helps, Good luck:

joe_padavano

Welcome.

We appreciate the info, but you are responding to a thread from 2009. Hopefully the OP found the VIN long ago.

jaunty75

I don't think so. Olds Motor Works first agreed to become part of GM in 1908, but OMW property wasn't deeded to GM until 1910, and it wasn't until 1917 that the deal was full consummated. (All of this history is in the book Setting the Pace.)

Nonetheless, by 1937, Oldsmobile was fully a part of GM and had been for 20 years. The name of the division was kept as "Olds Motor Works" until January 1, 1942 , when it officially became Oldsmobile Division of General Motors Corporation.