1940 Chevrolet 12-cwt Ute

[Lang]

Mike

I too noticed 1939 long numbers.

Production lines did not start and finish on the first of January. Entire shiploads of engines from the previous year would take many months to reach port and work their way through storage and production into a finished motor vehicle. Almost the entire vehicle up until February or March might be constructed from materials born in the previous year. I think they should be talking about "Model Year" not "Production Year". Look at the situation now where manufacturers start advertising the new 2024 model in July or August of 2023!

I think the GM (and probably Ford and Chrysler) system was so convoluted that nobody can say truly what numbers were what.

1. Canadian built engines for multi-international use eg UK.
2. Canadian built engines for specifically Australian use.
3. Canadian engines with no numbers as replacements or local foreign numbering. (All replacement engines had no numbers in Australia until 60's eg GEM and REPCO Holden engines stamped by the mechanic to match existing paperwork)
4, US built engines supplied to gap fill Canadian shipments or vice-versa.
5. Possibly thousands of engines in various long and short term storage being picked by the fork-lift drivers months out of sequence, Many people say engine numbers are unreliable and the date should be the body/chassis line production number stamped during assembly.
plus numerous other combinations.

Lang