I bought a 1926 or 1927 Roadster(not sure which) - I have a '27 title and am trying to connect the title number to a car number- I have a brass engine number but it doesn't match the title. Would stars have another location for an assembly number?
The car data plate is located on the engine side of the firewall in the upper right hand corner.
Does your engine have rubber mounts or is it solid bolted to the frame?
Jim;
To some that are new in the old car hobby, especially our era of cars they get confused on the numbering system. The engine number will almost never match the serial number on the data plate of the car. The engine number plate is placed on the engine when it is manufactured and may not be matched to the car until later and it may also cross several different models. From what I've found out, many states did not issue Titles for cars until the 1930's or later so early cars would use registration papers or bill of sales from the dealer etc. Later because many of the old cars have data plates mounted with screws and could easily be changed out, the state licensing people would go by the engine number that was usually more permanently mounted on the cars. I know here in Florida they use the engine number on the earlier cars until later years when VIN plates were permanently mounted to the cars with rivets that could be easily detected if someone tampered with them. Steve Large with the club is trying to pick up where Terry left off to try and get a grasp on the serial number system and to update and correct some errors in our Registry. Another thing is that it looks like all Durant plants started with the number 1000 in their serial number. I wonder why, maybe it was to let everyone believe more cars were made than were really. Factory records are non existent now to tell us when our cars were made.
Where Are You From? Oviedo, Florida
Do You own a car built by Durant? 1928 Durant Model 65 4 door sedan
Thank you for the thorough explanation- however, I am not new to old cars. The issue is my state- here in Illinois our laws are tough with regards to VIN #'s, or what the mucky-mucks like to identify as VIN numbers, so I still have to match a serial number on a car to the title.
I have had some rough experiences with Model T's and titles and so I want to be certain I know both the location of the engine and data plate number. Thus far, my brass engine plate doesn't match my title so I am on the hunt for another option- once I get home I'll check the firewall and see if I am in luck. If I can't match a car number to my title number- that ain't gonna work for Illinois...sigh. Then comes stress.
Jim I didn't insinuate that you were new, as I do not know you. We get these questions all the time so I was merely trying to shed some lite on a subject that comes up often. You may know the answer, but many people who come to our web site and are fairly new do not.
Where Are You From? Oviedo, Florida
Do You own a car built by Durant? 1928 Durant Model 65 4 door sedan
I forgot to add- my motor mounts are hard, not any rubber pads, the plates have all been removed from the car and my door handles are on the inside- they are older vertical levers to open the doors. My radiator ornament is a plain white star without any shadows so that also sounds like it could be an early '24 production car?
Jim,
Star continued producing the previous Model C for a short time into 1924. You have a very early production 1924 F Model that apparently used C Model door hinges until the factory could start receiving the F Model concealed hinges. This probably happened at only one Star factory. Everything else on your car indicates a Model F. With the Model F's, Star started producing a Sport and a Standard Model. The inside door hinges mark your car as a Standard Model F.
Where Are You From? Texarkana, Tex
Do You own a car built by Durant? 1923 Star C touring, 1927 Star M coupe, 1929 Durant D60 Express Wagon