This may be old news to some, but I thought it might be interesting to some.
(I copied this out of an article by Duncan Haimerl in today's Hartford
Courant):
Vehicle Identification Number
The first position in the VIN identifies the country where the vehicle was
built. A sample of the country codes is as follows: 1, 4, 5 for the United
States; 2 for Canada; 3 for Mexico; J for Japan; K for Korea; S for the United
Kingdom; W for Germany; and Y for Sweden.
The second two positions identify the manufacturer.
The next five positions are for identifying the body style, engine, etc.
For example, Chevrolet uses the eighth position to tell what engine is in the
car.
The ninth position is a security code.
The tenth position indicates the model year. For the past decade, the coding
was as follows: The letter R stood for 1994, S for 1995, T for 1996, U for
1997, V for 1998, W for 1999, and X for 2000. For subsequent years, the coding
gets easier, with 1 standing for 2001, 2 for 2002, 3 for 2003, and now 4 for
2004, and so on.
The letters I and O are not used for indicating model year because they look
like numbers.
The 11th position will tell you what assembly plant or location did the final
work, although you would have to check with the manufacturer to identify the
plant codes.
The last six positions show the serial number of the car or light truck.
Bill Babbitt
TR3A
TVR Tasmin 280i
Gales Ferry, Ct
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