No serial#

[Ddevine]

Okay, I have a 1942 Jeep with a VIN # MB592806, but no serial number. The hood looks like it was grinder down to the metal after I used stripper to find the numbers. The paint was different colors in different areas i.e. Tan, dark green, Aqua, and dark blue. Is there anyway to find the history with just the VIN#.

Thanks in advance!

KCMO

[LarrBeard]

You wrote:

"I have a 1942 Jeep with a VIN # MB592806, but no serial number."

The rest of your post makes it look like this was the "hood number" since you said you stripped paint off the hood to find the numbers. If so, that number is a unit or organization number, probably no relation to the original vehicle's serial number.

Pictures would help - and we're just curious as well.

[Ddevine]

Boy, I was confusing! Sorry, the VIN# I got off the title, there wasn't any numbers at all on the hood. After I carefully removed the paint, layer by layer,I got down to bare metal. The metal looks like it was grinned on. There is a small riveted tag on the front driver side frame but it's hard to make out. Looks like MB1 and then unreadable numbers.

I hope this clarifies things. Thanks again for any and all help. First timer on this:)

Dawn

[LarrBeard]

[QUOTE There is a small riveted tag on the front driver side frame but it's hard to make out. Looks like MB1 and then unreadable numbers.[/QUOTE]

Miss Dawn:

We're all kind of beginners here. If you work around old Jeeps long enough, you realize one of the most common things you hear is "Well; I never saw THAT before..."

I'd suggest you get a KWAS catalog. The first 60 pages or so are an encyclopedia of Jeepology.

We have always learned to take what titles say as suspicious, but in your case the title may have some useful information. If your Jeep really is a '42, and if it is a Willys, it probably is a model MB (Fords were GPW's). Willys MB serial numbers were supposedly stamped (not a plate) "... on the upper left chassis rail between the gusset and the bumper.". I'm not a little Jeep person, but that seems to be the general vicinity of where you have a small riveted tag.

That might be your first clue. Your Jeep could be an MB if the date is correct and if, by some chance the title is correct, the MB###### could be the serial number. Working against that is the MB1#### tag which, it that were the serial number, puts it into a 100-thousand serial range.

You can always say "As far as we have been able to find out....." and tell the story your way after that.

Since this is the 75th Anniversary of the Jeep, there is a lot of interest on the old MB and GPW's. You may have a treasure there.

Good Luck, and post pictures and stories for us.

[Ddevine]

I will order the catalog! Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it. I took a picture of the plate and can make it out a bit better. 13011301

[LarrBeard]

If you google MB Jeep Serial numbers, you will find a link back to a KWAS listing of serial numbers by year and type.

Your plate seems to be stamped "MB195956", the last 5 is blown away a little by a weld and I'm kind of guessing at the "6". But, the "MB1959xx" corresponds to an MB built in late 1942. The first MB serial number in '42 was 108599, the last was 200022; a build of 91,424 units. (Compare this to 1941 when only about 8,400 units were built and you get an impression of how serious our war effort was back then!)

This is one of the first Jeep lessons you will have. Although "everyone knows" that the serial number was stamped on the frame, yours was a metal plate. Imagine that. My '48 truck serial number says it should be a '49 - but it's unmistakably a '48. (It is close to a model year split - so a number of things could have caused the difference).

Your Jeep was probably built in late 1942 and the plate is very likely the original serial number. The VIN number on the title is likely a number assigned by a bureau of motor vehicles when they could not find a serial number when they needed to assign a title. All they knew was that it was an "MB" Jeep, so they gave it an "MB" VIN prefix.

That tag is a keeper, don't let it get lost or sanded away! Here is a link to serial numbers:

http://www.kaiserwillys.com/willys_jeep_serial_numbers#1

[LANYON]

Serial Numbers:
The next issue is serial numbers. The serial number tags and engine serial numbers are in different locations on different vehicles. For CJ2As there are VIN tags mounted on the passenger side firewall and outside front frame horn on drivers side. The engine serial numbers were stamped into a boss on the top of the block behind the water pump. This link will assist in identifying the vehicle.

[LarrBeard]

You wrote:

"The engine serial numbers were stamped into a boss on the top of the block behind the water pump."

But, in a Jeep, anything goes. My F-134 Hurricane has no number on the water pump boss. I found a serial number stamped on the side of the engine block close to the exhaust manifold opening for #1 cylinder .

Best guess - someone shaved the head and block to clean up a warp and restamped the number on the block.