AutoducksVIN Decoder

Classic cars / Independents

Frazer VIN decoder, 1947-1951

Classic Frazer serial numbers use the maker's own format, which standard decoders cannot read. Ours reads each published format and shows the source for every rule, including where references disagree.

Type it exactly as stamped, with no spaces or dashes. We do not keep the numbers you enter.

Where's my serial number?

Example: F47005407 (an example Frazer serial).

Years we cover

1947-1951.

What a Frazer serial looks like, by year

Each example below is split into numbered groups of characters, with what each group means. Example numbers show the layout; they are not a specific car.

1947-1951

Looks like F47005407 (9 characters)

1 Model prefix letterF: Frazer model number (F-xx), as printed on the plate [AUTOPAPER] [CIRCLEKF3]
2 Model number47: not a code our sources list [KFCLUB405]
3 Serial number005407 [CIRCLEKF]

Two plates: the serial plate on the driver's door hinge post (between the hinges) carries the model number and serial; the body tag on the firewall under the hood carries the body number, paint and trim codes (CIRCLEKF).

Per the Kaiser-Frazer Handbook as quoted by Circle K-F: a car assembled at a plant other than Willow Run, Michigan, has an extra letter on the serial tag, for example K513-J0051284 (J = Kawasaki, Japan). Cars with no letter are Willow Run cars (CIRCLEKF).

Plates are written with the model number, a dash and the serial, for example K-532, F47-005407, F-505-015897, F516-001002. Serial lengths seen are six or seven digits. These layouts come from the examples in CIRCLEKF, CIRCLEKF3 and a museum record cited in earlier notes; no source gives the digit count as a rule, so the pattern accepts both.

The model-year start points of the serial sequences are not published in any source we could read, so the model year is not decoded from the serial. Model numbers listed in the sources: Kaiser K-100, K-101, K-481, K-482, K-491, K-492 and Frazer F-47, F-47A, F-485, F-486, F-495, F-496 for 1947-49 (AUTOPAPER); the meaning of each model number by year is mostly not stated and is not encoded except where the Kaiser-Frazer Owners Club thread states it (KFCLUB405).

Example is built from layouts shown in the sources, not a recorded car.

Frazer plates seen in earlier notes and sources: F47-005407 (1947), F-505-015897 (1949-50 door plate), chassis F516-001002 (1951). A forum post says K49 and F49 serials are 1949 model-year cars sold before 3 November 1949, and that 1950 Frazers were re-serial-numbered (Automobile Catalog, 3,987 units); neither is turned into a range here.

All model number codes (2)
4951949 Frazer Standard [KFCLUB405]
4961949 Frazer Manhattan [KFCLUB405]
All assembly plant letter (blank = willow run, michigan) codes (9)
ALong Beach, California (1949-51 model years, Kaiser and Frazer only) [CIRCLEKF]
BJackson, Michigan (1951 Frazer Manhattans and small numbers of 1951 or 1953 Kaiser Dragon) [CIRCLEKF]
CPortland, Oregon (1951 and 1952 Virginian series Kaiser) [CIRCLEKF]
HHaifa, Israel (1951-54 Kaiser and Henry J) [CIRCLEKF]
JKawasaki, Japan (1951-53 Henry J, perhaps Kaisers also) [CIRCLEKF]
MMexico City, Mexico (1951-53 Kaiser and Henry J; distributor owned and operated) [CIRCLEKF]
RRotterdam, Holland (1949-51 Frazer and 1949-54 Kaiser) [CIRCLEKF]
TLeaside (Toronto), Canada (1951 and 1952 Virginian series Kaiser) [CIRCLEKF]
IBombay, India (1948-49 Kaiser and Frazer; distributor owned and operated) [CIRCLEKF]

Sources: [CIRCLEKF] [KFCLUB405] [AUTOPAPER]

What a serial number cannot tell you

It identifies what the factory recorded in the number: typically the model year, assembly plant, series or body and production sequence, and in some years the engine. It cannot confirm a car is original or numbers-matching. Compare stampings, body tags and documentation.

Sources