Note: The * indicates that these letters were also used on other model years. The information she gathered doesn’t contain those kinds of stats, and besides, hopefully what I print here will answer your burning questions. I would give out her name and contact information, but I don’t think it’s fair to subject her to a rash of inquires like “how many ‘36 five window coupes were made in Canada and what month was mine built”, etc. But within just a few shorts weeks, she sent me a treasure trove of information on Canadian serial numbers, going back to the Model T! I thanked her profusely and promised to share this wealth of information with the Ford world. So I sent my question to her, not really expecting anything much in return. I was told she was very knowledgeable but also very busy. One web site suggested that I contact the historian at Ford Canada. I wrote to several Canadian Early Ford V-8 members and got maybe two responses - both “Darned if I know” answers. Good info, but not enough to answer my inquiry from cyberspace. So why did it take me so long to find the answer and where did I finally find it? Well, I googled and googled and got nowhere fast! I found an interesting article somewhere that explained the “C” prefix and that the second mysterious letter was used to limit how high the numbers got. It was indeed the serial number of a 1935 Ford! Several months later, I finally got the answer. I wrote back and said “give me a few days and I’ll find out for you”.

It was Canadian, as indicatedby the “C” before the “18”. We received an email from the owner of a 1936 Coupe, who, for some reason, suspected that the frame was from a ‘35. In America, the 1932 model V-8 went from 1 up to 203126. The letter was supposedly used to limit the numbers from getting too long. First of all, they started with *C to indicate Canada, and to make it more complicated, they added another letter after the “18”. Meanwhile, in Canada, serial numbers were treated differently. So we no longer call them “serial numbers”. This classification is used worldwide to identify motor vehicles, trailers, motorcycles, and mopeds. The VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) was introduced in its working form in 1983 as the result of a recommendation of the International Organization for Standardization ( ISO). Our Ford V-8s, made here in America, started with *18-1 and ran consecutively until February, 1942. Henry Ford kept it simple”- start with no.

Ford decode vin number