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With my 53 A1 and 54 parts A1 apart I was looking for the casting #s, serial #s, and dates stamped on all the components out of curiosity. I found the photo gallery that has good pictures showing where to look. I was looking at my tranny that is out of my 53 A1 and the tranny from my 54 A1 to see the plate showing the date below the T90A-1 number on the left side. I found the photo gallery that has good pictures showing where to look. On both plates only the month and date are there with the year missing. Is this common? Is there any other way I can determine the year from any other numbers on the tranny. I have found the date stamped on the rear diff of my 53 and found a date of 4 1 67 so I guess it was replaced at one point in time when the Greeks had it.

My second question is in regards to the serial number of my 53. I have seen all the posts regarding this but my question seems to be a little different. Most people are looking to figure out the Hood # from the Serial #. I have the common problem of missing data plates so I don’t know my serial #. However I do have the Hood # since it was actually stamped into the frame right behind the left front frame horn. So my question is how can I come up with a serial #. I have looked at the database and I don’t see any entries with a hood number close to mine (20999713). I don’t want to use a serial # that is wrong and belongs to someone else. This jeep does not have a title or any documentation that came with it when we bought it surplus from Greece. If there is no accurate way again I am not heartbroken because at least I have the hood number. I would like to have something stamped into my repro plates. Please let me know if there was a post related to this topic that I might have missed

Thanks for the help

Please let me know if there was a post related to this topic that I might have missed

There have been at least a dozen posts on interpolating hood and serial numbers. It is not an exact science since the progression of each set of numbers is not linear.

IE I have in my database MD59839 with 20993652 and MD62578 with 20995667. If you do the match that works out to a total of 2739 MD serials vs 2015 hood numbers.

More important is you will run the risk of using a serial that is already in use in one of these 50 states and eventually the two vehicles will cross paths and voila a serious legal issue. This is not as remote a possibility as you think. This happened here in Wisconsin two years ago to a friend of mine with a MB. The chassis with the stamped serial number was purchased out west and restored here in Wisconsin and licensed with that frame serial. The tub with the matching dash serial plate was restored in AZ and then my freind boughgt it and when he tried to title it here the whistles went off and his AZ title was seized and it took several months to resolve and cost him a state assigned serial number which of course devalued his MB.

You really only have two option s that can be considered safe. Title the jeep with a state assigned VIN number or buy a salvaged wreck and use the title and data plates from it.

Well sorry I missed those posts . Anything I found was trying to make a hood number as well as posts regarding what you explained as #s not being linear. As I explained I want to aviod using a serial # from someone elses Jeep. I was just asking if there was some trick that can be done like with the hood #s starting with 209 then using the serial # to fill in the rest so that you dont use someone elses serial #.

Are you saying that your State DMV office will allow you to choose any number you wish and then they will title it for you? That's a greta deal.

If that is true then just select a serial number you like that is higher than the serial number of the last M38A1 built.

The last of the USMC M38A1's in 1967 were in the MD96000 and the last of the M38A1 CDN2/3's was in the MD10200 range. So a serial around 98xxx should work just fine.