Toughest Forum Quiz Ever... EDIT: Tag Mysteries

[mbstude]

Alright guys and gals...



The Tag shown in the top of the picture is pretty obvious. It's the cowl tag from a US6 Army Truck. (And is the highest body number I've ever seen. Anyone seen/have one higher? Might it be the last US6? )

The Tag underneath it, is a mystery.

Both of these Tags have been screwed to rusting pieces of metal, up in Indiana, for the past 60 years. Anyone who has been following the Forum lately can probably figure out where in Indiana these tags were.

So, here's the quiz...

The tag on the bottom is unlike any other Studebaker tag I have EVER seen. I know for a fact that it is Studebaker related. It was removed from the remains of what was most likely the cowl of a late '40's Stude car.

Does anyone out there know what this tag might have represented? What it stood for? What it means? Why it was screwed to that cowl? Note the stamped border around the numbers.

Seriously.. This thing has me stumped.

Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA

[Gunslinger]

In many states, if there is no identifiable VIN showing on a used car, will assign their own VIN and attach the plate. This could be an example of that. I know of one 2003 Avanti owner ran into that...he bought it in Arizona and his home state of California wouldn't recognize an Avanti with a Firebird VIN, and intended to assign it a state supplied VIN. If he ever got it straightened out I don't know. He did have some major headaches over it. A somewhat different scenario but strange things do happen.




Poet...Mystic...Soldier of Fortune. As always...self-absorbed, adversarial, cocky and in general a malcontent.

[Steve T]

I haven't the faintest, but will take a swipe at it anyway...could the mystery tag be from one of the mangled Model N hulks in a certain woodlot some forumites were driving round and round the edges of a couple weekends ago??

Or off a Soviet lend-lease truck, maybe? Interesting piece.

S.

[mbstude]

Sorry Steve.. The tag didn't come off a Model N. But it did come off a piece of metal laying pretty close by. Really.

Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA

[Steve T]

Hm. Well...Stude had various Brand-Xs for comparative purposes, which'd surely have been tossed aside once done with. Could the oddball tag be Stude-related, as in off a car from the plant...but a car that was not itself a Stude?? That would account for the apparent irrelevance of the number sequence, and also the stylistic variance of the tag from normal Stude practice...

This is fun. C'mon, everybody, let's make with the wild guesses!

S.

[toyman]

I got it. It is from the 5,752nd 454 ci engine built in Indiana.

toyman

[mbstude]

Where's Dick Quinn and Bob Palma when ya need 'em?

[Studebaker Wheel]

Matthew;

I only visit the forum on an occasional basis and then only read maybe one in twenty of the posts so obviously miss a lot. Someone emailed me today re this particular post and the mysterious plate. I do not recall having seen a number plate of this type so can only speculate to its origin. I am guessing that it might be something placed there by the Budd Company (Philadelphia and Detroit) that made the major body panels for Studebaker. This was a long association going back to 1916. I know for certain that the cowls were made by Budd. They were the most costly and complex panels to produce and required several stamped pieces. I am not claiming that the tag is from Budd but only that it represents a reasonable guess.

Richard Quinn
editor: Antique Studebaker Review

[studelark]

Matthew; Here's my two cents worth! It is obvious the smaller tag is of Studebaker production as noted by the 'I' as a '1'. This was common practice by Studebaker for a long time. Then the miltary tag contradicts that practice by using a '1' for a '1'. Go figure.

I have no idea what the smaller tag means. I know my memory isn't what it used to be, but I have seen a 4 or 5 digit tag of this size on a Scotsman I owned. It was attached under the hood, left side, close to the left hood hinge. It was attached by a thin wire which didn't seem to have the strength needed for longevity. I'll look around to see if I can find it. Thanks for posting this mystery.

The body number is not the highest for a US6. There were 190,000+ of these trucks manufactured by Studebaker. This truck was about 3/4ths of the way through production.[]


Frank Drumheller
Louisa, VA
60S-W6
1948 M16-52 Boyer fire truck

[Roscomacaw]

I have a big box of car ID plates and tags off firewalls for all sorts of makes of cars from the 30s on thru the 70s. This smaller tag is similar to some Mopar tags from the 40s and 50s.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[mbstude]

Thanks for the comments and opinions everyone.

Biggsie, could you post a pic of one of those Mopar tags, for comparison?

Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA

[barnlark]

I asked my local Mopar expert about the smaller tag, Matthew. He said it looks like an early one for sure, that may have been found on Dodges, Chryslers, etc., during that era. He said the difference would be that theirs usually would have had their logo on them.
Studebaker Wheel's very educated guess would make perfect sense since Budd had a long-standing relationship starting way back with the Dodge brothers & others: Similar tag stamping used on those Studebaker cowls, since it was probably from the same manufacturer.
Read down to the blurb about the Studebaker plastic bodied car in 1954, though. [?]

http://tinyurl.com/oaonqt

[mbstude]

Sent you an email Dave. Thanks.

Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA

[studelark]

[quote]Originally posted by studelark

Matthew; Here's my two cents worth! It is obvious the smaller tag is of Studebaker production as noted by the 'I' as a '1'. This was common practice by Studebaker for a long time. Then the miltary tag contradicts that practice by using a '1' for a '1'. Go figure.

I have no idea what the smaller tag means. I know my memory isn't what it used to be, but I have seen a 4 or 5 digit tag of this size on a Scotsman I owned. It was attached under the hood, left side, close to the left hood hinge. It was attached by a thin wire which didn't seem to have the strength needed for longevity. I'll look around to see if I can find it.
Frank Drumheller

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Matthew; I finally found the small tag that I took from my 4E3 Scotsman some years ago. Its larger than I remembered and it really doesn't resemble the smaller tag you pictured. However, I do not know what it means. I've not seen it on other trucks. Perhaps it was an assembly line code which was removed before shipping the vehicle and on this truck someone forgot. I would be interested in hearing comments from others.

Yes, my truck was originally painted Omaha Orange as it was a Virginia Dept. of Highways truck in its first life.

I still haven't taken the time to figure out how to post photos, so I'm sending you a photo of the tag via e-mail and you may post it as a comparison with the photos you've posted. Thanks.

Frank Drumheller
Louisa, VA
60S-W6
1948 M16-52 Boyer fire truck

[mbstude]

Thanks for the pic, Frank.

Here it is:



This is where it gets interesting.

Along with the two tags I pictured in my initial post, my buddy who was in the "Graveyard" also grabbed a few other tags and sent them to me as well.

One of them is nearly identical to the one that Frank has, and removed from his '59 Scotsman.

Here's the one I have, shown with a 'regular' body tag for comparison. I was told it was removed from a '53ish C body coupe, that's in the Graveyard. The digits stamped into it are C 664.



Has anyone ever seen this type of tag before? It's made of aluminum. It was obviously installed on at least two Studes at the factory.