Need help with serial number 3A

[74J20]

I just brought home a 49 Cj3A yesterday. The serial # on the firewall plate is 3218797. According to the database all are only five digits. Am I to assume my number is 18797 and the 32 is just a prefix number? Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks

[64CJ5]

The book "The Civilian Jeep Model CJ3A"  By Bob Westerman is a really good source of information for the 3A. 

[74J20]

Tag

[SteveKfl]

I found the following paragraph possibly explaining the longer number as productions numbers were just added on...
"Vehicle Serial Numbers The CJ-2A/CJ-3A Parts Book (copyright 1949)  states that the beginning of production vehicle serial number is 10001 with engine serial number 10001. Vehicle serial number tags are attached with 4 screws to the engine side of the firewall near the air filter. The vehicle serial number had a prefix of CJ-3A for the first 2 years of production. During this time the serial numbers continued to climb with no regard for model year. Starting in 1951, and continuing through final production, a new format was used. The prefix was changed to indicate the model and model year and the serial number itself was reset to 10001 at the beginning of each model year. See Willys-Overland Production Figures 1945-61 on the CJ-3B page for a list of serial numbers of Willys vehicles."  I found it here... http://www.cj3a.info/cj3a/date3a.htm

[MikeP]

to me your plate looks fake and made up, my plate on my 1950 cj3a is the original with patents and stamping etc and is serial number 40935 and as far as i know they were all 5 digit and i wanna say your serial could be 32187

[Bob W]

What is the engine serial number?

[stony]

Hmmmmm....  OK, that is not a factory serial number plate.  So we need to figure out exactly what you have.  It has a CJ2A windshield, so first thing is to see if it is in fact a 3A.  Lots of stuff gets changed so there are two easy ways to tell a 2 from a 3.  1)  Position of the ignition switch, to left of oil pressure gauge =3A, center passenger side =2A.  2)  length of flat above rear wheel well 34”=3A, 36”=2A.  Let us know what what you find out, and congratulation on your flatfender it looks pretty good.

[Mark W.]

Well I gave him almost exactly the same answer on Facebook. So hopefully he will follow through.