VIN decoding, re: '59 Coronet

[Alan]

Hi all,
I was wondering if the VIN for a 1959 Dodge Coronet is 'just a number' , or if it the number can be 'decoded' and what information I can get from it.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Alan
classicmotoring@yahoo.com

[hemi-1]

Hey Alan. I have a 59 Dodge Custom Sierra four-door wagon. The 59 Dodge shop manual doesn't have this info like some of the later ones do. I've got a book on Plymouths 1946-59, which explains the 59 Plymouth serial numbers. Most of this info applies to Dodges, and from examination of my own serial number I can figure out most of the rest for a Dodge:

Chrysler Corp adopted ten digit serial numbers for 1959 indicating model year, type engine (but not size), model series, assembly plant and six digit sequential serial number.

First digit: M signifies 1959 model year

Second digit: model series; 1 is Plymouth 6, 2 is Plymouth V-8 and 3 must be Dodge V-8 because that's what mine is.

Third digit signifies model series. 3 is Savoy, 5 is Belvedere, 6 is Fury, 7 is all wagons (including Dodge wagons because my 3rd digit is 7), 8 is taxi, and 9 is Sports Fury, police and all special models. I don't know if Dodges other than wagons shared any of these numbers.

Fourth digit is assembly plant. For Plymouth, 3 is Evansville, 4 is LA, 5 is Newark, 6 is Detroit and 8 is Valley Park, MO. Fourth digit on my Custom Sierra is 2. In the 60's, "2" meant Hamtramck; I suspect that is the case for 1959 also.

Fifth through 10th digits are sequential serial number beginning with 100,001 for Plymouth and I think for each assembly plant.

Hope this helps. Maybe someone can fill in the gaps I've left.

[Alan]

Hemi-1

Thanks for the info. It really did help.

[hemi-1]

Hey, Alan, this is an old thread, but if you're still there, I've run across some more info on 59 Dodge vin's.

A 3 in the second digit simply means it's a Dodge.

The third digit (second number) is the model series. They are:

Coronet six: 0
Coronet V-8: 1
Royal V-8: 3
Custom Royal V-8: 5
Wagons (Sierra and Custom Sierra): 7

Don't know why the wagons got a special serial number while the convertibles didn't.

The fourth digit (third number) is the assembly plant. Detroit (I assume Hamtramck) is 2, Newark is 5, and 4 is California (I assume LA).

[Alan]

Hemi-1

Hi. Yes I'm still here.
Thanks for the update.

Here's an other mystery form you.

The car I'm looking at is this 1959 Dodge Coronet, with a 318 cu. in. engine. The owner says it's the original engine.
Sounded good to me, however; when talking to a freind recently, he thought that the 318 wasn't offered in the car, in this year! Thus it isn't the original engine.

What do you think? Was the 318 offered
in the Coronet in '59?

Thanks for you help.
Alan

[hemi-1]

The standard Dodge V-8 for 59 was actually a 318 Plymouth motor bored .040 oversized for 326 cubes. Reason I call it a Plymouth motor is that it was developed for Plymouth and introduced in the 56 models as a 277 (or 303 in Fury). There were also 301 inch version for 57 and also a 313 inch version (the 313, if I remember correctly, was a Canadian motor).

When Chrysler had first introduced its lineup of OHV V-8s in the fifties, each division was given its own unique hemi motor, so that Chrysler, Desoto and Dodge each had their own separately designed motors with virtually no parts or dimensions in common. Hemis were expensive to produce, so Chrysler started to rationalize the lineup for 1955 by introducing polyspherical versions of the hemi for Dodge and Chrysler. These were hemi motors with cheaper-to-produce poly heads. Plymouth's V-8 got delayed by the Korean war, so the first Plymouth V-8 in 55 was actually a Dodge poly motor. Plymouth got its own V-8 in 56, although some 270 Dodge poly motors were put in Plymouths even that year.

Chrysler had realized its mistake in producing separate engine lineups in each of its makes (and also by not designing in enough cubic inch potential for its early V-8s), and began to simplify. When big blocks were introduced for the 58 models, Plymouth, Dodge and Desoto each got their own versions. For that final year, Chrysler kept its hemi and its poly counterpart, while Dodge kept the 325 poly version of its old hemi as its standard V-8, with the new big block optional.

In 59, all the old hemi and hemi-based motors were gone; Chrysler's hemi-based motors were replaced by 383s and 413s, while Dodge got a Plymouth poly as its base motor.

At the time, Dodge was considered a mid-priced car, while Plymouth was a low-price car. Dodges had always had just a little bigger motor than Plymouth even back in the days when they shared what was basically the same flathead six as their only available motors. So for 59, the Dodge motor had a .040 larger bore (3.95) than the Plymouth version of the same motor. This was a one year only deal. For 1960, and thereafter, Plymouths and Dodges just used the same 318.

[Alan]

That's great. I can see you are a wealth of information. I hope you don't mind if I pick your brain a little more?!?
2 questions:

1. Can the engine in the Dodge be oversized even more if the engine is
badly worn? Or is any re-boring not an option because it has already been done (318 to 326)?

2. Would you know what the markings are on the Dodge engine? i.e. would any numbers on the block show that it is a 326,
or would it be stamped 318?

As you can see, my mechanical knowledge is somewhat limited.

Thanks again for your info.
Alan

[hemi-1]

All right, first let me say that my wagon has a 361. I've never worked on a 326. However, according to the 59 service manual a 326 can safely be bored .020. This would give it the same bore as a .060 over 318, and new pistons in such a size shouldn't be too hard to find. (I think poly 318s use the same pistons as a wedge 318).

With a good block (no core shift), you might be able to go a bit larger. Don't know how hard it would be to get pistons in any oddball sizes though.

I'm sure your block will have the cubes stamped somewhere on it, and if it's a 326 it should say so. Later 318's had the CID stamped in the driver's side top front of the block, just below the cylinder head. I'd say yours would be in the same place. If not, ???

I highly recommend buying a service manual. The 59 manual is a two volume set consisting of the 58 manual with a 59 supplement. These are not hard to find; look in the literature section of Hemmings Motor News.

There's a picture of my 59 at
http://www.electro-net.com/~rknerr/nfma/

Go to the pics of the 1999 show. It's the white wagon. There's also a green Coronet 2 door with a tube grill and other mods.

[Alan]

Thanks again Hemi-1.
I see I have some more investigating to do.

Hey really nice looking wheels you have there; a real treasure.

Alan

[tim56]

Was "VT" the prefix used on all truck hemis, both Chrysler and Dodge?

[evangelista]

Originally Posted by hemi-1

Hey Alan. I have a 59 Dodge Custom Sierra four-door wagon. The 59 Dodge shop manual doesn't have this info like some of the later ones do. I've got a book on Plymouths 1946-59, which explains the 59 Plymouth serial numbers. Most of this info applies to Dodges, and from examination of my own serial number I can figure out most of the rest for a Dodge:

Chrysler Corp adopted ten digit serial numbers for 1959 indicating model year, type engine (but not size), model series, assembly plant and six digit sequential serial number.

First digit: M signifies 1959 model year

Second digit: model series; 1 is Plymouth 6, 2 is Plymouth V-8 and 3 must be Dodge V-8 because that's what mine is.

Third digit signifies model series. 3 is Savoy, 5 is Belvedere, 6 is Fury, 7 is all wagons (including Dodge wagons because my 3rd digit is 7), 8 is taxi, and 9 is Sports Fury, police and all special models. I don't know if Dodges other than wagons shared any of these numbers.

Fourth digit is assembly plant. For Plymouth, 3 is Evansville, 4 is LA, 5 is Newark, 6 is Detroit and 8 is Valley Park, MO. Fourth digit on my Custom Sierra is 2. In the 60's, "2" meant Hamtramck; I suspect that is the case for 1959 also.

Fifth through 10th digits are sequential serial number beginning with 100,001 for Plymouth and I think for each assembly plant.

Hope this helps. Maybe someone can fill in the gaps I've left.

On the 3rd digit I have a 1, do you know what it stands for? We have a 1959 Dodge Coronet. There's also a metal plate (I think it's called a "cowl tag"), that indicates paint color, model #, interior fabric, etc.