Vintage Cars: 57 chevy VIN locations?, vin decode, vin plate

Question
QUESTION: I have a 57 chevy 2 door hard top Bleair that the title looks to have been lost and than was re-issued to in the late 70's. When they reissued the title they assigned a VIN that when decoded shows the car as a 57 wagon vs 57 hard top. The vin plate in the door jam looks to have been changed to match this incorrect vin. Are there other locations on the car that I should be able to find the original, correct VIN? IE on the frame, or fire wall somewhere? Thanks.

ANSWER: There could be a VIN stamped on the frame under the drivers seat, not sure if it is on the side or top, but probably not on the exposed bottom.  here is a page on Hemmings.com that might help you:

http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/chevylist/tech/vin/decode_trifive%20_55_57sj

You may have a real problem getting the VIN changed to something correct, but be sure to double check that you interpreted the code correctly, the above site may help.  Some stamped numbers can easily be misread.  A V for a U a 6 for an 8 etc.

Also the VIN can't really tell you if the car is a wagon or sedan etc unless it is a sedan delivery.  Otherwise it just denotes the 150/210 and Bel Air lines, and doesn't say if it is a hardtop or sedan.

Here is a site that helps you decode the Cowl tag and THAT is what will tell you what body style you are supposed to have.  You don't say, but I hope you still have that tag on the firewall, drivers side, under the hood.

http://chevy.tocmp.com/models/trim.htm#trim57

With that you should be able to tell for sure what you have.

Don

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Don,
 Thanks for the info. I still have the cowl tag attached but I can't find anything in the reference link to tell me what Style # 57-1037 would be. The reference seems to stop in 1954. The cowl tag lists Style 57-1037 Body 2037 trim 654 and paint 811. I found the trim and paint refence codes but nothing on the style number listed above. any ideas?

Answer
You need to look around a little more.

I found another site:

http://chevy.tocmp.com/models/

1037 is a model 210 2 dr HT Sport Coupe
654 is charcoal cloth, ivory imitation leather
811 is India Ivory upper body, Tropical Turquoise  lower
2037 is the production sequence number.

Just need to look around a little, all the 57 info is there.

Don