Father & son ( Darryl & Jayson ) ,who will be in Columbus this year, have just taken delivery of a 1956 Victoria 4 dr Hardtop .They bought it from Bruce Crossing MI .It has an I 6 with 3 on the tree plus O/D .( Soon to be replaced with a Y block / FMX combo ) .The question I have for everyone is ,What's with the braces from the firewall to the inner guards ???? They look to be factory fitted ??        A6PG 171435

                                 73B GE 1E2

                                 224022G

Can anyone decode the VIN tag ????????

See you at Columbus

Lon

yblocksdownunder

Lon.  Not sure which braces you are referring to.  Got a picture?

 

Here’s a VIN decode without the actual data plate to look at:

A – 223 six cylinder

6 – 1956 model

P – Twin City, MN

G – All other body styles (tudor, fordor, Mainline, Customline)

 

73B – Customline fordor body type

G – Meadowmist Green color

E – Dk Gray / Lt. Gray trim

1E – May 1^st production date

2 – 2^nd car produced

 

224022G – 124,022^nd car from this facility.  G?

 

Seems to be a discrepancy in regards to this being a Fairlane Victoria as a four door hardtop Fairlane is expected to have a body type of 57A and not 73B and a body style of F, not the listed G.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Lon ,  I have been told those were used on export models ,  dont know if its true ,  but    ...............!!!       Sam

56 victoria

Lon:

Could this be a Customline 4 dr HT?  I'm not sure if they even made any, but if they did, some scheduling clerk, not knowing what to call it, may have coded it an "other" in the vin and a 4 dr sedan in the body style code.  I looked up the codes as Ted did, and since they didn't make sense, I didn't post them.  Maybe the car has been re-titled sometime with a Customline title because the original title was not available???  There is a vin stamped in the frame which can be cross referenced to the data tag and title.

John in Selma, IN

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

The braces from the firewall to rad support is used only on the 4 door HT's

It was to strengthen the body. They should look like about 7/8 inch OD tubes with a real crook in one of them. I forget which side now.

marv .

Thanks everyone for the replies . Car seems to be all original .I guess 6 cyl Victoria's would be pretty low production numbers ?? Looks like the ID plate was factory fitted .Bars under the hood are as Marvh describes them .Should the chassis number ,( Passenger side front ) be the same as the VIN # inside drivers door ??? I will try and get some photos this weekend .Once again ,thanks for the help .Was there such a car as a "Customline Victoria 4 Dr Hardtop " ?? I know there were Customline 2DR Victoria's .Another mates 4dr Vicky Hardtop has engine code marked as "S" .??? Not A, U,M or P .

Regards Lon

yblocksdownunder

Ford didn't build any Customline 4 door hardtops.The 2 door Customline Victoria was kind of a late in the year  after thought.Apparently halfway through 56 production someone noticed that there were more Club Victoria body being assembled than they would have enough trim for,so the Customline Vic was born to use up the extra bodies.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

My reference book doesn’t show any 4 dr hardtop Customlines being produced in 1956 but that doesn’t mean they were not produced as a special order.  If your friends do indeed have a Customline version, it’s certainly one that was produced in very low numbers.  A picture would difinitely help though.

As far as the S code goes, I’ve come across some reference material showing it’s a 368 Lincoln engine and is listed as a police car option in the ’56 cars.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted,you're correct about the Lincoln engined police car.The S is meant to signify Special.They are as scarce as hen's teeth.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO