Chevy Vin, Trim Tag Information and Specifications & Decoding
February 7th, 2010
David C. Atkin asked:
I have written a lot of articles about this subject in the past, but it seems that there is never enough information out there on this subject, this will cover the thirteen digit codes from the 1960’s era of Chevrolet, and GM cars, so let’s dive in haed first.
As I said the vin codes from the 1960’s are thirteen digits long, any longer it would be a newr car, and shorter, it’s an older car, now that we have that out of the way, let’s get right to the numbers, here we go, when l,ook at a Chevrolet vin tag, the first number you see tells you that it’s a Chevrolet.
This is what a refer to as the division code, as you know GM has a lot of divisions, and if the car your looking at is a Chevrolet that very first number that you should see is a “1″, if you see any other number as the first digit, it’s time to suspect a rip off.
The second number in the vin sequence is the model indicator, this number will tell you what model the car is, in this case the vin will start like this “12″, this would tell you that it’s a Chevrolet camaro, the next number in the sequence will tell you the engine, and for a V8 would b a “4″, the very next number in this case is “37″, this tells you that it’s a tow door sports coup, or a hard top.
To this point in time we have a vin code that looks like this “12437N”, spelled out this car is a Chevrolet camaro with a V8 engine, and it’s a two door sports coupe, or a hard top, the very next number in the sequence is the year of the car, and in this case it’s a “9″, indicating that the car was built in 1969.
Below I will give you a list of the number positions and what they mean, this should take you to the next level, and help you gain some confidence in the knowledge of decoding your vin tag before you purchase the car, the vin tag won’t tell the whole story, but it will tell a big part of it.
Number Possitions
The number first is the manufacture id number, the number 1 denotes a Chevrolet
In position 2 is the number 24 this indicates that the car is a V8 Camaro
In position 3 is the number 37 this indicates the the car is a sports coupe
In position 4 is the year in this case a 9 indicating that it’s a 1969 model year
In position 5 is the assembly plant, in this case “N” indicates Norwood Ohio
The last six digits indicate the production number, this was the 125687 TH car built in 1969
In this case you vin code would read “124379N125687″, it’s not a really complicated process to read these numbers, in the long run it will pay off to know how to do it, the fact here is that you can never know to much about the car you want to buy.
That is why I continue to write these articles, I like to help with the purchase all I can, and then make sure that you have all the information that you need to get the car restored, or customized to your satisfaction, I write for you, I want to help with all the information that I can.
Collectable Kitchen Plates
I have written a lot of articles about this subject in the past, but it seems that there is never enough information out there on this subject, this will cover the thirteen digit codes from the 1960’s era of Chevrolet, and GM cars, so let’s dive in haed first.
As I said the vin codes from the 1960’s are thirteen digits long, any longer it would be a newr car, and shorter, it’s an older car, now that we have that out of the way, let’s get right to the numbers, here we go, when l,ook at a Chevrolet vin tag, the first number you see tells you that it’s a Chevrolet.
This is what a refer to as the division code, as you know GM has a lot of divisions, and if the car your looking at is a Chevrolet that very first number that you should see is a “1″, if you see any other number as the first digit, it’s time to suspect a rip off.
The second number in the vin sequence is the model indicator, this number will tell you what model the car is, in this case the vin will start like this “12″, this would tell you that it’s a Chevrolet camaro, the next number in the sequence will tell you the engine, and for a V8 would b a “4″, the very next number in this case is “37″, this tells you that it’s a tow door sports coup, or a hard top.
To this point in time we have a vin code that looks like this “12437N”, spelled out this car is a Chevrolet camaro with a V8 engine, and it’s a two door sports coupe, or a hard top, the very next number in the sequence is the year of the car, and in this case it’s a “9″, indicating that the car was built in 1969.
Below I will give you a list of the number positions and what they mean, this should take you to the next level, and help you gain some confidence in the knowledge of decoding your vin tag before you purchase the car, the vin tag won’t tell the whole story, but it will tell a big part of it.
Number Possitions
The number first is the manufacture id number, the number 1 denotes a Chevrolet
In position 2 is the number 24 this indicates that the car is a V8 Camaro
In position 3 is the number 37 this indicates the the car is a sports coupe
In position 4 is the year in this case a 9 indicating that it’s a 1969 model year
In position 5 is the assembly plant, in this case “N” indicates Norwood Ohio
The last six digits indicate the production number, this was the 125687 TH car built in 1969
In this case you vin code would read “124379N125687″, it’s not a really complicated process to read these numbers, in the long run it will pay off to know how to do it, the fact here is that you can never know to much about the car you want to buy.
That is why I continue to write these articles, I like to help with the purchase all I can, and then make sure that you have all the information that you need to get the car restored, or customized to your satisfaction, I write for you, I want to help with all the information that I can.
Collectable Kitchen Plates
