A
Allan Woodcock
Guest
The article in the latest Amphicar Newsletter concerning VIN vs YEAR did
not seem logical to me. I am at Gordon Imports at least once a week so
Hugh gave me his understanding on this subject. The first thing he said
was that any variation to the norm could exist because the 9 digit
numbers were stamped on the tags in the USA by the distributor. So, if
a car did not sell one year it could conceivably be stamped with the
next year and sold. The cars before 1966 had the 6 digit serial number.
101XXX was for ?64 and older. 102XXX was not produced according to Hugh
yet that is the number on Paul Rasmussens car (something to be worked
out later ? how many cars have a 2 in the 3rd position?). 103XXX was for
?65.
Next come the nine digit cars. The number 562 was added after the
second number in the original German numbering. Thus all cars after
1965 have a 562 in the VIN XX562XXXX. A 1 after the 562 was for 1966.
A 2 or a 3 after 562 was for 1967.
If we use the system mentioned in the newsletter then all nine digit
cars would have been built in 1962 and a car with a 103XXX German vin
number would have been built in 1963 and not 1965. Since my car (
106521991) has a 1 after the 652 I plan to show the year as 1966 since
the space for year manufactured is blank on the tag. If you look at
the club roster you will see couple of examples of cars that may be from
a different year than listed. Nils Brock(103092) is listed as a 1966
when I might be a 1965. The same goes with Arnold Hite. Sidney
Armistead (106523027) is listed as a 1977 when it in fact might be a
1967. So, it?s the 3rd digit in the German numbering system and the
6th digit in the 9 digit US numbering system that supposedly hold the
key to the year of manufacture.
Allan Woodcock
Red ?67 soon to be a ?66
not seem logical to me. I am at Gordon Imports at least once a week so
Hugh gave me his understanding on this subject. The first thing he said
was that any variation to the norm could exist because the 9 digit
numbers were stamped on the tags in the USA by the distributor. So, if
a car did not sell one year it could conceivably be stamped with the
next year and sold. The cars before 1966 had the 6 digit serial number.
101XXX was for ?64 and older. 102XXX was not produced according to Hugh
yet that is the number on Paul Rasmussens car (something to be worked
out later ? how many cars have a 2 in the 3rd position?). 103XXX was for
?65.
Next come the nine digit cars. The number 562 was added after the
second number in the original German numbering. Thus all cars after
1965 have a 562 in the VIN XX562XXXX. A 1 after the 562 was for 1966.
A 2 or a 3 after 562 was for 1967.
If we use the system mentioned in the newsletter then all nine digit
cars would have been built in 1962 and a car with a 103XXX German vin
number would have been built in 1963 and not 1965. Since my car (
106521991) has a 1 after the 652 I plan to show the year as 1966 since
the space for year manufactured is blank on the tag. If you look at
the club roster you will see couple of examples of cars that may be from
a different year than listed. Nils Brock(103092) is listed as a 1966
when I might be a 1965. The same goes with Arnold Hite. Sidney
Armistead (106523027) is listed as a 1977 when it in fact might be a
1967. So, it?s the 3rd digit in the German numbering system and the
6th digit in the 9 digit US numbering system that supposedly hold the
key to the year of manufacture.
Allan Woodcock
Red ?67 soon to be a ?66