Chassis number assistance

[ward 57]

Very interesting. Is this VIN in any of the independent registries? You may have stumbled on something. The original poster said the data plate is missing. I had an issue with discerning the build date of my car as both the invoice and data plate were identical but the '8' looked so much like a 'B' and threw me off. A sharp eye on here caught that. In combination with the build sequence confirmed that it was built in November of '56 a very early '57 and the factory installed configuration confirmed that.
Stolen or a rebuilt wreck is a possibility. A great learning and detective experience for both the OP and his students. Thanks for the investigation. There is a huge difference between a D,E or F configuration as to value. Still a worthy learning project. Provenance is very important at an auction.
Waiting for further documentation as to what it is.

[57thunderchicken]

Either way 394888 was made 11y14 end of day as 394893 is 12y13

[MarkR]

TonyWray, You do not have the data plate and are depending on the VIN stampings on the frame. Those stampings are often not the best and usually stamped too lightly on some of the characters. Letters (and numbers) could easily be misread. Especially E’s and F’s.
You stated your car is completely disassembled so the body is probably off the frame? Those numbers are stamped in three different places on the frames. Here’s a diagram showing the locations. Hopefully you’ll be able to verify the VIN.
Did you check with Dave Tulowitzky?
The F code car Thunderchicken uncovered would have been pristine in 2019. There would be no reason for it to be disassembled now. Something is not right.

[Tonywray]

Thanks for all of the information. I do have the frame stamp. All of you are correct in that the stamped numbers are not the best in the world. When I presented that number, it was a best evidence guess as to whether something may have been an 8 or a 3. We are trying to find a better way of determining all of that. We are pretty sure tat the E is an E and not an F. we will let you know when we find a better way of getting them seen.

[ward 57]

There has to be some way to enhance the character stampings. A rubbing to a piece of paper or even filling the stampings with chalk. That's what I did to enhance the timing stampings on the front engine pulley.