The Serial Number, or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is a highly valuable and important piece of information about any truck. This number is often necessary to have a truck registered and it is the best way to determine what year a truck was built (for a breakdown of serial numbers by model and year refer to the Serial Number Table).

Dodge changed the tag used to provide a truck's unique identifying serial number and other important pieces of information several times throughout the 1946-1968 production of Dodge Trucks. This page will help to determine what style of tag should be on any 1946 to 1968 Dodge truck, including WDX-WM300.

If the tag is missing, or there is a chance the truck may have had the tag or even the whole cab swapped, then the frame number must be checked for the serial number (for help with locating the frame serial number refer to the Frame Number Location Page).

Here is the basic breakdown:

1945-1956 Power-Wagons all use the same size and shape tag, though some of the data on it changes. This tag is located on the front door jamb on the passenger side in early trucks, and in late 1946 or so it was moved to the front door jamb on the drivers side.

1957 Power-Wagons used the same tag as the earlier trucks in some cases, but more often they used a paper tag mounted in the glove box, which is often missing. If a 1957 has a metal tag, it should be on the drivers side front door jamb.

1958 saw Dodge using a metal tag again, but this time it was mounted to the rear door jamb on the drivers side. Some 1958 Power-Wagons still used the 1957 style paper tag, which often goes missing, so in those cases the frame needs to be used again. The metal tags were mounted to the rear door jamb on the drivers side from 1958 all the way until 1968

1959 Power-Wagons used the same basic metal tag as the 1958 Power-Wagons did in the early part of 1959, later 1959 trucks still used the same basic tag, but a couple items were moved, and the model number was added in.

1960 Power-Wagons use two metal tags, one with the Serial number (the same number as is found on the frame) and the smaller tag with the Parts Availability Number.

1961-62 Power Wagons use the same basic tags as the 1960 Power-Wagons, though the numbers are a little bit different.

1963-66 Power-Wagons use two tags, but now the Serial number has moved to the small tag, and there is no serial number on the larger tag, just Model number and other info. Some 1967 trucks may have also used these tags.

1967-68 brought a new single tag to the Power-Wagon, all the data was now in one place, and more data was added, like engine displacement.

1968 and up, It is not yet known how Dodge did the tags on export post 1968 Power-Wagons.

This tag is on a Detroit built WDX, serial number 83901424.

Some early 1958 Power-Wagons used the same paper tag as the 1957 Power-Wagons, but sometime during the 1958 model year, Dodge went back to using a metal data tag.

This tag was square, and it was located on the rear drivers door jamb, which is where the data tags were located until at least 1968

1959 saw the use of two different tags, though both were the same size, with most of the same data, and both were located on the rear drivers door jamb.

The early 1959 tag was the same tag as the 1958 tag, just with the up to date numbers in the same spots. The later 1959 tag added a spot for the Model number, and moved the location of the GVW. The tag shown is the later tag with the Model number in the upper row, and the GVW moved to the bottom.

1960 is the first year for two tags to be used on Dodge trucks, the small tag is the "Parts Availability Number" this was supposed to be the number used to order parts. The serial number was generally used for titles and the like.

The frame normally had the serial number stamped into it, not the "Parts Availability Number".

The parts books use the "Parts Availability Number" as the number to use for figuring out the model of a truck, and they do not decode the Serial number. Using the '61 and up system to decode the serial number gives an odd answer for the year, but the model code part works. This means that with just a frame number or Serial number, it is hard to figure out where a truck falls in the production sequence. This is a problem because the small tag with the PAN on it is often broken off by the door, or other rough use.

I hope to update this page from time to time as more information becomes available. I am also very interested in suggestions for additional content to include on this page.

Please contact the Registry maintainers at the below email address if you have any suggestions or questions.