p15 Year ?

[old rat 49]

According to the big chart here on forum my car is a Detroit built 1948. Title has engine number and says 1946. What the heck do I have ? Left Front door frame tag # 12072880; Engine # P15*968091; Body tag on firewall # 501 81879. It is a 2 door Super Deluxe sedan, 3speed on column.

[randroid]

old rat 46,

I dunno. My manual is snowed inside my car but with those numbers you could decipher everything you'd ever ask about your car, and the next $30 you spend on it could well go into a manual of your own. In the meantime I bet you'll have those numbers pinned for you by other members before bed tonight.

Welcome to the forum.

-Randy

[old rat 49]

Just got the car home last night. Will be getting all the manuals ASAP. What are the best to get ?

[james49ply]

I read the manufacture dates, and it shows your car to be an early 49, who knows, maybe they all have the same engine build date as they are the same horsepower? older ones have less hp, newer ones have more. I got my owners manual off the internet, try e-bay or just type in 1948 plymouth owners manual, they are for all P15 models. and for a repair manual try Roberts motor parts, they have good stuff there.

Edited February 26, 2010 by james49ply

[Don Coatney]

Follow this link for a possible source on books for your car.

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=20164

.

[B-Watson]

According to the big chart here on forum my car is a Detroit built 1948. Title has engine number and says 1946. What the heck do I have ? Left Front door frame tag # 12072880; Engine # P15*968091; Body tag on firewall # 501 81879. It is a 2 door Super Deluxe sedan, 3speed on column.

The car's serial number is for a 1949 Special DeLuxe, but was built at the beginning of December, 1948. Chrysler declared the Detroit-built Special DeLuxe models became 1949 models at S/N 12066020 on December 1, 1948. The last P15 Special DeLuxe built in Detroit had S/N 12116123.

The P15 engine was the same from the first car in November 1945 to the last in February 1949. The problem is that Chrysler never announced at what point a P15 engine became a 1947, 1948 or 1949 model. They just said that the first engine was P15-1001 and with each new model year simply stated "numbers continued from previous year".

The engine, #P15-968091, is the 967,091st built. Plymouth built a total of 1,014,398 P15 models in the US, plus 18,892 Dodge D25 models that used the P15 engine. So, your engine is definitely not a 1946 model.

The body number is for a Detroit-built 2-door sedan. Bodies from the Evansville body plant would have a "501E" prefix.

So, your car is a 1949 Plymouth Special DeLuxe, model P15C. As why your car's title has 1946 is anyone's guess, although I suspect someone at sometime made the error in registering the vehicle.

Bill

Vancouver, BC

[old rat 49]

That was my conclusion. But I can't change my name from "old rat 46". Darn. Thanks for the input. Just wanted to make sure I was looking for the right parts.

[old rat 49]

Bill. I'm confused. Isn't the 49 a totally different car ?

[Plymouthy Adams]

only on the second series..this was a transistion year...they carried over the P15 for a bit then switched to the P17/18 series so technicaly both are 49 models..

[Uncle-Pekka]

...As why your car's title has 1946 is anyone's guess, although I suspect someone at sometime made the error in registering the vehicle.

Is it common to find this kinda mistakes on the titles?

On the Illinois title of my D24 it was recorded as 1946 model.

I first wondered why it yet had 15" rims, then I realised the serial number was one of the last D24's made. I wrote to Chrysler Historical Collection, address as found on P15-D24.com.

I received very friendly and thorough letter by Mr. Jim Stimac of CHC confirming my suspect: "31229949 was one of the last of the D24 models, could be late 1948 or early 1949". Mr. Stimac had even took time to find out my car's original paint code and enclosed copies of the factory serial number lists with the letter.

Anyway, the title had wrong year on it, also the previous owner belived he was selling a 1946 Dodge. To me it does not matter, but I registered the Dodge as 1948 car in Finland.

[claybill]

for some years (and in some states)? the motor numbers were on the title as vin# other years used the plte on door panel....i have titles with both..and the engine is GONE! now what? my theory..if you have an approved title, do not mess around with it by checking!

claybill

[BobT-47P15]

Riiight! In my opinion, if you have a title with either number, and it

goes thru the state motor vehicle stuff OK, then best not to mess with

it.

I suppose there are times it could cause a problem, but likely those are

minimal. There are a lot of these old cars with different engines (and

numbers) so it might require pointing that out for some reason in the

future.

If you really have the correct title based on engine number, then it should match the

number stamped into the frame, a little ahead of the left rear wheel. Will probably

need to do some wire brushing to find those numbers. I found mine once, but it

took a bit of digging.

Edited February 27, 2010 by BobT-47P15