Ford Jeep chassis number location

[johnwardle]

As area secretary of the West Wiltshire MVT I was asked to inspect a Ford Jeep that had been registered as a Willys in 1976, the owner and myself hunted high and low for the chassis number which was not in the usual place on top of the left hand chassis rail but couldn't find anything.

As the chassis was definitely Ford with the square crossmember, we were rather confused. The owner rang the person who had done the restoration of the Jeep and was told that on this particular Jeep the chassis number is on the outside of the left hand chassis rail  behind the  bumper. The stamping seems original and suggests a build date of May 1944. 

Has anyone seen a  Ford Jeep chassis number in the same place or can anyone suggest why it isn't in the usual place?

[Great War truck]

I can see 27,582. What is the first digit in front of the 2?

If it is 227,582 it was made October 1944

If it was 127,582 it was July 1943

If it is 27,582 then it is May 1942

Doesn't really help you though. Could it be a replacement chassis? Were replacement chassis shipped out during the war and would they be stamped with the original number but in a different location? Seems unlikely.

[ruxy]

Is the branding height correct ?   Does the font look time-line correct to WW2  Ford  ?    The font does look period rather than modernish , however - not a problem off eBay.

[Pete Ashby]

Some,  but not all British Army rebuilt jeeps operated post war have had the frame number stamped there 

Pete