Hood Number Prefix

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 7:54 pm

Wes, what is the correct hood number prefix for M38 with DOD of 9-51? Thanks, Sonny

mckim · Post by **mckim** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:01 pm

Sonny,

Do you know just the last portion of the hood number, or are you trying to contrive the whole thing? There isn't really much of a standard "prefix", but there's a rough idea of what hood numbers may correspond to that delivery date. If you've got the last numbers, you could try and find where the overlap is and that would probably be a good match. If you are trying to make something up, that's frowned upon since it can muddy the research for others.

Your best bet would be to look up the database on the yahoo groups site, but there is an export of that from back in 2006 in the downloads section here under vehicle serial number databases.

Stuart

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:57 pm

I am not trying to "make something up". When no hood numbers are available, the acceptable method is to use the 3 digit prefix for that time frame and finish out the remaining digits with the serial number. That takes care of the research. The data base on this site is no help except that it shows probable 208 or 209. I know that 209 is not correct because according to Wes 209 or 2094 would be for 1952

mckim · Post by **mckim** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:16 pm

Yup, you're good.

I just now pulled the data and filtered to only show results where the delivery contains a '51' and the hood number is known. It looks like 208 is correct for you, although anything past those first three is a mystery due to the limited data. The only 209* data point in that set that has a month on the date is for September, and the last 208* data ends in August.

Stuart

Post by **wesk** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 1:37 am

The 2X prefix represents a light scout car. The hood numbers were assigned by the Army in lots to equal the number of jeeps in a contract. With M38 production there were several different contracts and the contracts were not completed in order. So trying to interpolate a hood number linearly isn't going to work. Even when the jeeps were produced under the same contract a linear progression does not occur because the hood numbers were painted on the jeeps as they rolled out the door and they did not all stay in sequence on the assembly line. The M38's started out in Sep 1950 with the seven digit hood numbers 236XXXX and then thru 238XXXX thru the spring of 51 when they switched to eight digit hood numbers 208XXXXX which transitioned to 209XXXXX in the fall of 51.

Sonny the last 208XXXXX I have is MC30851 AUG 51 and the first 209XXXXX I have is MC33190 SEP 51.

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:29 am

Thanks guys - I appreciate all the help - Sonny