Car Numbers and Factory Prefixes
The car number, or vehicle identification number (VIN), is a key identifier that you will need for registering and insuring your car. It also helps identify your car’s year and the factory where it was built.
If the body data plate is still on your car, finding the car number is straightforward: it is stamped on the plate.
The plate has a printed letter before the car number. The letter makes the car number unique, so always include the letter as part of the car number. It also tells you which factory built the car:
| Prefix | Factory |
|---|---|
| C | Oakland, California (Durant, Star and Rugby; DeVaux from 1931) |
| E | Elizabeth, New Jersey |
| L | Lansing, Michigan |
| M | Muncie, Indiana (Durant B-22, 1922–23); Grand Rapids, Michigan (DeVaux, 1931–33) |
| N | New York, New York |
| T | Leaside (Toronto), Ontario, Canada, to the end of 1930 (later Leaside cars: see below) |
M was used twice: by the Muncie plant on the Durant B-22 six (1922–23), and later by the DeVaux factory at Grand Rapids. The model tells you which. Durant sold the Oakland plant to Norman De Vaux at the end of 1930, so DeVaux cars built there carry C, like the earlier Durant, Star and Rugby cars from Oakland.
At Grand Rapids, DeVaux numbers ran from M-1001 in April 1931 to M-7038 in January 1933. The DeVaux 6-75 numbers were one series shared by Grand Rapids (M) and Oakland (C), so each number was used only once. See the DeVaux car numbers.
Leaside letters, 1931–33
From 1931, Dominion Motors at Leaside gave each car model its own letter instead of T, and a new letter when a model was updated. T stayed on Rugby trucks to the end. I and O were not used, because they could be read as numbers, and N was not used either.
| Letter | Model | Years |
|---|---|---|
| T | All cars to the end of 1930; Rugby trucks to the end of 1933 | 1923–33 |
| A | Durant 407 | 1931 |
| B | Durant 614 | January 1931 to January 1932 |
| C | Durant 618 | 1931 |
| D | Durant 611 | 1931 |
| E | Frontenac E (also called E-618) | 1931 |
| F | Durant 618 | 1932 |
| G | Frontenac 6-70 | 1932 |
| H | Durant 407 | 1932 |
| J | Durant 614 | February 1932 on |
| K | Frontenac 6-85 | 1932 |
| L | Durant 633 | 1932 or 1933 |
| M | Frontenac C-400 | 1933 |
| P | Frontenac C-600 | 1933 |
The numbers carried on when the letter changed. Leaside 407s ran from T-1001 to T-3350 in 1930, A-3351 to A-3817 in 1931, and H-3818 on in 1932. Frontenacs ran from E-1001 to E-1301 in 1931 and G-1302 on in 1932. So C, E, L, and M on a Leaside car do not mean Oakland, Elizabeth, Lansing, or Grand Rapids; the factory and the model tell you which. The Frontenac Ace (model 91) uses 91-.
The Hayes body tag, found on many 1931–34 cars, is a separate number. See Hayes body numbers.