Chassis Number.... what does it all mean?

I found some details somewhere but can't remember where.. just wondered if anybody has a break down of what it all means? :dontknow:

http://portal.campaign…e=viewtopic&t=566&start=0

Use the search feature!!

ahhh! cool  

Tried to use the search feature but I'm crap when it comes to looking for things.. don't look past my nose

http://www.cybertects.co.uk/scirocco/vincheck.html

hope he wont mind you clickign that

gtimadman said

http://www.cybertects.co.uk/scirocco/vincheck.html

hope he wont mind you clickign that

Not at all, that's what it's there for

Hi musicman
Not bad that site for chassis numbers  – shame it hasnt got year of manufacture I've been waiting for 2 weeks for VW to reply.

Cheers TC

If you look at the left-hand side of the VIN plate, you'll see some digits written sideways along the edge - the first three give you the week number, and day number of manufacture, as follows:

Example - 502-xxx (and the VIN is WVWzzz17zDW123456)

The 50 means week 50 - so on a 1983 (D) model year that means the 50th week of 1982 ('83 model year is from Aug '82 to July '83) - during december '82.

The 2 is the day of the week, which starts on a Monday with a 1, so a 2 is Tuesday (duh!).

Using a Google-found calendar for 1982, the date equates to Tues 14th December 1982

PS: Here's the calendar I found - you can change theyear in the URL to see any other year you need: http://www.infoplease.com/calendar.php?year=1982&yview=1

TC said

Hi musicman
Not bad that site for chassis numbers  – shame it hasnt got year of manufacture I've been waiting for 2 weeks for VW to reply.

It certainly ought to. :?

For pre-1980 cars with a 10-digit VIN it's the 3rd character (e.g. 8 = 1978, 9 = 1979, A = 1980…)
for post 1980 cars with a 17-digit ISO standard VIN, it's the 10th character (e.g. B = 1981, C = 1982, etc.)

Tks Type
I'll give that a go when the car comes out of the garage…(sick at the moment)
TC

This link gives a run down of chassis numbers and the year and month they come from. Insert url into this to translate text.

Interestingly appears there were some DW chassis made post Aug 83, but in Germany only. Could some of these have been Campaign spec cars and imported into the UK accounting for some of the 'DW' Campaigns on the register?

Cheers

markwon said

Interestingly appears there were some DW chassis made post Aug 83, but in Germany only. Could some of these have been Campaign spec cars and imported into the UK accounting for some of the 'DW' Campaigns on the register?

Not sure if the August D cars came to the UK, but I can confirm that my late D Campaign (WVWzzz17zDW554***) was made in late May '83 and was already in the UK in August (registered Sat 8th August, Dovercourt, St. John's Wood).

I'm still a bit confused on this one   . My car shows up in the VIN decoder as an '84 model year car with a 335 start to the number sideways on the VIN plate. So to me that means it was built in week 33 o the fifth day of that week, so the Friday.

Thing is though where do I start counting the 33 weeks from? 1st Jan 1983?

In which case my Campaign was produced on 8th July 1983 by my calculations….

Chris

The week number is based on the calendar year, but the model year is based on a August-to-July year

Production years for VW since 1955 run from 1 August to 31 July.

The week number, however is calculated from the beginning of the calendar year.

So for the 1984 production year:

- Cars produced from 1 August 1983 will be week 31, up to the end of December 1983, week 52.
- Cars produced with week 01 (Jan 1984) on the chassis plate up to week 30 at the end of July are all made in the 1984 calendar year.

So yours (week 33, day 5 of the 1984 production year) should have been produced on Friday, 19 August 1983.

Handy link for calculating dates and week numbers: http://www.personal.ecu.edu/mccartyr/isowdcal.html

Useful converter Musicman.

So I have a "Friday" car then  :wink: , lets hope its a Friday AM completed car rather than a post lunch PM Bratwurst und zwei stein Lowenbrau car  8O

Cheers,

Chris

So I have a "Friday" car then

C'mon this VW we are talking about here not British Leyland  

Friday is Friday, wherever you are from in my book - and that means planning your night out, what you are going to do at the weekend…… basically stuff that takes your mind off what you are doing  :wink:

Having said that, even for a Friday car to still be going strong 22 years later speaks volumes for VW's quality control at the time! Not many BL cars from the same era that are still in existance I'll wager. Although there is a dedicated soul down the road from me that must be into BL's finest, as he regularly runs a very nice Triumph Dolly Sprint. Still seems he has a running battle against the tinworm though  :?

Chris

Friday is Friday, wherever you are from in my book - and that means planning your night out, what you are going to do at the weekend

Yes, but surely VW were less likely to have let a 'dodgy' friday car leave the factory - I hope :? . Worked out mine was built Tuesday 10 March 1981. Don't see many Dollys around at all these days, especially Sprints 8) . Strange to think the were still (just) building them in the year my GTI was made.

Cheers

I think thats why VW managed to build such solid cars - the quality control must have been streets ahead of the competition at that time, not to mention the quality of the materials and assembly.

These days I am not so sure there is much to choose between the mainstream manufacturers, and I don't think VW quality is what is was - eroded by years of having to cut costs and build to tighter budgets in cheaper to run factories.

Cheers,

Chris