108 or 116?

[John-T-53]

Ok, so my VIN says 108" but I measured the other day (just curious) and center to center of each wheel is 116". What's up with that? I do have the longer bed, I think; it's just shy of 8' deep. Is my vin tag wrong?

[Scruffy49]

Cab swap or number plate swap. A parts truck I looked at several years ago was titled as a 55, had a 48-50 front end on it, and the old style windshield. And cycle type fenders. And a 218/floor shift 3 spd.

Number plate had been swapped at some point, pretty common.

[John-T-53]

I found and finally cleaned off the VIN area on the front part of the frame, and it doesn't match the serial on the door jamb plate. They differ only by a couple hundred, though.

The truck is pretty much all original, just the head has been changed.

I wonder why someone would do this? Maybe it's a 'hot' truck..

[Reg Evans]

I owned this truck in the late 80's and discovered the same thing. The vin plate said B1B-108 but it had the longer bed.

Plugh your vin# found on the frame into this decoder and see what it says and then keep it a secret.... except from us. http://www.t137.com/registry/help/decode.php

[HanksB3B]

Maybe it's a 'hot' truck..

Maybe we should look into it....

NOT!

Hank

[Dave72dt]

May have been done simply to get it registered. Which number does the title go by. Newer cars have a disclaimer on their door tags "not to be used for official registration". Doors get changed for any number of reasons.

[John-T-53]

I plugged it in:

Serial Number 85325529

Year 1953

Make Dodge

Model B-4-B

Engine 217.76 Flathead Six

Wheelbase 108, 116

Rating 1/2 Ton

Engineering Code T306

Plant San Leandro, California

Build Number 3529

All the same as the tag serial number except the build number.

[townwagon]

Maybe a fleet truck, and something got swapped at some point? Remember your truck is nearly 60 years old, anything could have happened!

I have checked enough trucks to trust that Dodge put the same number on the frame and the door tag from the factory in nearly every case. The idea of something making it out the door with the wrong tag seems off, as there could be registration problems with some states. It could have happened, but it is much more likely that something got swapped around sometime in the last 50 plus years.

Is there any other evidence the truck had a cab swap, or something?

There is a guy on eBay right now trying to sell a 1957 W100 for over $10K, and his listed VIN is for a 1955 C-3-B8, not a 1957 W100. I wonder what happened there? The number of trucks I have seen with swapped tags over the years (like a 1947 WC tag on a 1948 B-1-PW-126) make me think it was a pretty common thing to swap tags around to save on registration fees, or get a title for a truck.

I can imagine the 1/2 ton 1947 was a lot cheaper to register than the 1948 1 ton, and back in the day people failed to order second tail lights to save about $3, so I can imagine a farmer saving $2 a year on his registration fees by making the 1 ton 4wd truck a "1/2 ton".

In your case it was most likely to get the truck titled, or someone really screwed up on the assembly line?

The important question is what is the number on your title?

One way to figure this out would be to order build tags for both numbers from Chrysler, just tell them you have two trucks, but only a title for one. If you talk nice they should do it for you. Then with the build cards you can see which number has your body tag and engine number. If it is the frame number I would guess the tag was swapped. If it is the tag number than someone screwed up!

I did once see a 1958 W100 with a frame number of L8W3L, which would have been a 1 ton 4wd, not a 1/2 ton 4wd. Totally different frames, impossible to mix them up. I am guessing the guy just used the wrong stamp, but who knows?

Eric

[John-T-53]

Yeah I imagine just the tag was swapped to get the truck titled, who knows how long ago. There's no evidence of a cab swap, this thing is all original except for the 30 year old paint job, tires, and the work I've been doing to it.

My title has the tag vin as the number it's registered under.

I'd like to get build tags from Chrysler. I read somewhere on here how to request them and I'll have to look it up again. I think it was through the WPC museum? Or now we might have to contact Fiat ...

Fix It Again, Tony!

[ggdad1951]

http://wpchryslermuseum.org/newsroom.do;jsessionid=D5B1C63D93A4CAABB219CE0B5E41D2BD?id=390&mid=135

here is what I got from them when I contacted them:

Our build records for trucks is actually up to 1954. I have attached a build card request form for you. The fee for this service is $25.00, payable in check or money order to Chrysler Group LLC. We also require proof of ownership. A photocopy of the title or registration is acceptable. The documentation must show your name and the correct serial number. It may take up to 4-6 weeks to process your request once it is received by our office. If the build card happens to be missing from our files, your payment will be returned.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you for your inquiry!

Danielle Szostak-Viers

Chrysler Historical Collection

CIMS 410-11-21

12501 Chrysler Freeway

Detroit, MI 48288-5000

Fax: (313) 252-2928