1959 Dodge Coronet secondary vin location .

[Bucket]

I am looking at buying a 1959 Dodge Coronet .
The owner has provided a vin number and import approval for this car .
He is not the original importer and this car has changed hands a few times .
He has been doing some work on the engine bay , tidying things up ready for paint but has become ill and is having trouble remembering things .
I can't find any vin tags (he doesn't know where they are) on it anywhere and he said all i need is the vin on the import approval to register it .
This is not true as i need the identification somewhere on the car .
I have spoken to the person he bought the car off and he said the tags were on it when he sold it .
So is there a secondary vin number stamped somewhere on the car ?
Maybe on the chassis or body metal somewhere ?
I am getting conflicting results of the internet .
Cheers,
Greg

 

[detmatt]

My first guess would be on the driver’s side A pillar near the door hinges.

 

[marko]

these are pics from a 59 dodge i nearly bought, it too is missing the tags. you can see the holes on the driver's front door jamb and right side cowl/firewall where the tags were. i assume the door jamb tag would have been the VIN and the tag on the firewall the body info tag

 

[Bucket]

Marko
That's where i looked first, no signs of holes .
This is why i am being cautious and looking for a stamped number somewhere else .
Cheers,
Greg

 

[413]

I would turn and run from a car with the VIN tag missing,

The VIN is not stamped anywhere on the body on 1968 and older mopars. It is the shipping order number. Then you need the IBM card or tho broadcast sheet to match that to the VIN.

 

[Ttotired]

I have had the same issue with my 60 plymouth. There is no secret sot that the vin was stamped. I have all the paperwork as well. I pleaded my case to the dept of transport here in Perth. They said to check for it being stamped somewhere else again. I sent them a picture of my car on a rotisserie, and they then accepted that the vin was lost. They told me to stamp the vin from the paperwork onto the subframe (chassis in your case). If you havnt, get on the Forwardlook.net forum and confirm the "no second vin" but I am pretty sure there isnt. If the car is still untouched, you might find a build sheet for the car on top of the glove box, in the rear seat springs or under the floor mat if your lucky. Be carefull looking because if there is one, it will be quite fragile. Good luck

 

[patrick66]

The "secret VIN" location was not a thing, pre-1968MY. Go through Chrysler Historical (or whatever they're called now) in Detroit and request the IBM card for your car. It's gonna take a while, but you'll have another source of actual factory documentation of your car, (in addition to what has been previously mentioned) which should help things along.

 

[413]

Read the first post again. He doesn’t own the car and you must provide proof of ownership For the IBM card. So the current owner must do it. And the last owner said the tags were on it when he sold it, so where dis it go wrong For this 59?

 

[Bucket]

I have had the same issue with my 60 plymouth. There is no secret sot that the vin was stamped. I have all the paperwork as well. I pleaded my case to the dept of transport here in Perth. They said to check for it being stamped somewhere else again. I sent them a picture of my car on a rotisserie, and they then accepted that the vin was lost. They told me to stamp the vin from the paperwork onto the subframe (chassis in your case). If you havnt, get on the Forwardlook.net forum and confirm the "no second vin" but I am pretty sure there isnt. If the car is still untouched, you might find a build sheet for the car on top of the glove box, in the rear seat springs or under the floor mat if your lucky. Be carefull looking because if there is one, it will be quite fragile. Good luck

Thanks for this , it leaves a glimmer of hope .
The 59 has been restored previously and the dash and engine is out of the car .
I doubt i will ever find a build sheet .
What paperwork did you have for your car ?
Cheers,
Greg

 

[Ttotired]

Thanks for this , it leaves a glimmer of hope .
The 59 has been restored previously and the dash and engine is out of the car .
I doubt i will ever find a build sheet .
What paperwork did you have for your car ?
Cheers,
Greg

Import papers, Title, Bill of loading that listed a few cars as well as mine and a receipt from the seller that I bought the car from. They can issue a new Vin as well. Contact your licencing department and have a chat with them. This is not that uncommon

 

[Fireflite56]

Check the underside of the glovebox liner too. I don't know about the Dodges, but the 1959 DeSotos (like mine) got a build sheet attached to the underside of the glovebox liner and that has the serial number listed on it.

 

[War Wagon2]

Hi Not sure if this will help or not , but to get a number that would identify the car , you could check the left rear top of the frame (a small handy mirror will work) you may find the engine number stamped there . That's the way it is on both my '58 Plymouths. One was built in Windsor Ontario , the other was built at Lynch road in Detroit so that's both sides of the border indicating to me that it's something Chrysler just did.... I haven't checked my '58 Dodge but I'm going to... We used that info for a friends car where the Vin plate had been pinched by a Vin plate collector , The licensing agency here agreed that the engine number gave the car a unique identity and then issued a new VIN . It's kind of a standard thing for Rodders who drag in some ancient body shell to build a car from.
Your '59 was imported by a private individual so it could have been built at Hamtramck (Dodge Main) , so you would not have had a VIN plate attached to the "A" post , instead you would have had a stamped rectangular plate attached to the cowl with the Vin stamped on that along with other info. Factory exports were shipped TKD (totally knocked down) usually from Windsor Ontario. Those cars would have had the stainless steel VIN plate on the "A" post , with a Model code plate attached to the Passenger side of the cowl. Hopes this helps....

 

[413]

The car has outline marks on the door post of a VIN plate.

on a 1958 Chrysler the engine number and VIN are not the same number. They did change the marking system on engine blocks in 1959. But it wasn’t the VIN then either.

 

[Bucket]

Thanks for all the info fellas .
I was speaking to the person i am looking at buying this car off yesterday .
They have found the original import papers of the person who imported the Dodge back in March 1994 .
It has the vin number on the document .
Seems strange that it is nowhere to be found on the car .
It has been restored so i'm guessing somehow the tags have been lost over the years ,
I used the Max Wedge vin decoder and it came up with this .
1959 Dodge Coronet V8
1049th vehicle scheduled for production at the
Los Angeles , CA assembly plant .
I will look up on the left rear frame rail to see if i can see anything there .
Cheers,
Greg

 

[bluefury361]

I think it wise to back away from this car. There are plenty of 59 Dodges out there that will cost you a lot less to own.

 

[marko]

theres not plenty of 59 dodges in australia which is where the car already isand @Bucket is located