[alt63bird]

Originally Posted by Mikko_

I'm trying to decode the VIN of the 1953 Customline and I found out this, but earlier in this thread I was told that the San Jose assembly plant didn't open until 1955?

B = Flathead V8
3 = 1953
R = San Jose, CA
G = Body style (in this case Tudor Customline)

Or am I missing something here?

Yes, you're missing something here. When Ford started adding the assembly plant code to the VIN you can see many of the plant codes used the first letter of the city the plant was in, such as 'A'-Atlanta, 'B'-Buffalo, etc.

Think about it - 'R' = Richmond, as in Richmond, California. They probably kept using the same code when the plant closed down and moved in '55 rather than assign a new one - might be same story with 'E'-Mahawa, NJ as well as it came on-line in 1956 to replace another plant (and I'll wager dollars to kroner it's city/plant name started with a 'E'). Dearborn's 'F' probably is 'F' for 'Ford' and its main plant at the Rouge since Dearborn and Dallas both start with 'D'. Why Chicago got 'G' and Chester, PA got 'C' I don't know - probably because 'G' was an open character in the string of what was used. If you pay attention, the 'P' for Twin Cities takes the first letter of the second word in the city's name, i.e. St. Paul, as 'S' was taken by Somerville - why they didn't use 'T' requires some more digging - maybe because there was a truck other plant that started with a 'T' during the '40s-'50s?

The attached plant code list, which appears to be from the '53-'57 Ford Car Body Parts Catalog and found on the Crown Victoria Ass'n's website
( https://thecvaonline.com/howtos/DataPlateDecoder.pdf )
probably doesn't take the Richmond/San Jose change into account.