[Zippy]

For those who have wondered what the significance of the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) are, this may help:

Example is from a 2002 Corvette Z06 model.

"1 G 1 Y Y 1 2 S 3 2 5 1 0 1 2 3 4 "

As you can see there are 17 Alphanumeric characters above.

The first character #1, signifies Country of Origin, USA.
The 2nd is the Manufacturer, GM.
The 3rd is the Make, 1 means Chevrolet.
The 4th & 5th is theCarline/Series, YY= Corvette.
The 6th is Body Style, 1= Hardtop.
The 7th is Restraint System, 2= Active Manual, with driver & passenger inflatable restraints.
The 8th is Engine type, S= LS6 engine.
The 9th is a check digit (whatever that means?).
The 10th is Model year, 2= 2002
The 11th is the Assembly plant, 5= Bowling Green.
The Last 6 digits indicate the production number for the year (disregard the 12th digit).
Hence, in our example above, this Vet is number 1,234 built in the 2002 model year.

Zippy

 

[thx2.net]

Very cool. This should be in the FAQ section.

 

[N4C5S]

I'll do it in the morning

JC

 

[8 SNAKE]

Thanks Zippy!!!

 

[Cvette2002z06]

'02 vin starting #

Was in Bowling Green last week,asked a guy on the assembly line what # my '02 EB z06 was.He said they started at 10,015,that being the last five digits,for '02.So you can just subtract your last 5 numbers from 10,015 to see what # your vette was.Also told him what a fine automobile they are building.He was tickled that I was tickled.They really care about what they're doing up there!
Pete F. J-ville,Fl

 

[YardDog]

Yes, thank you Zippy!

That means the three thousand two hundred and eighth Corvette of 2002 is clean and resting comfortably in my garage.

 

[Torched]

Thanks Zippy I've always wanted to know the breakdown of the vin number.I like it so much i Just printed it.Greg

 

[Zippy]

That's what's so great about this forum....any of us have useful info to share, and we happily share it with each other.

Zip :z: :z:

 

[Jerry Velders]

Didn't they also skip over about 700 sequence numbers in the first few weeks of the '02 production? Am I remembering this correctly?

 

[sconi]

You're all right, Zippy! I don't care what Frank & JC says about yuh!! hanks for the Vin posting!

Dave

 

[02BlueZ06]

Didn't they also skip over about 700 sequence numbers in the first few weeks of the '02 production? Am I remembering this correctly?

Yes, there was a glitch. On Friday 7/20/01 the beginning seq number was mysteriously incremented by the factory computer system by around 700...<omitting magic math here>...there ended up being a difference of 728 between the VIN and seq number - basically a week's worth of seq numbers. I confirmed this difference by subtracting 728 from my VIN and comparing the result with the seq number stamped on my left rear tire.

VIN - 728 = Manufacturing Sequence Number


For 2001 models, you add 44 to the VIN to get the seq number.


02BlueZ06

 

[ZeeOhSix]

The 8th is Engine type, S= LS6 engine.

State Farm Insurance (and others I'm sure) know exactly what the "S" means in the 8th diget. On my insurance cards it says:

2002 Chevrolet Corvette "Z06"

Exactly how I wrote it here. The premium is obviously alittle higher because of that "S" also .

 

[fyrcaptain]

Which one is this?

With all this math plus the hidden 700 factor I'm lost!
what number produced would this one be?
107008
Thanks

 

[Jerry Velders]

On Friday 7/20/01 the beginning seq number was mysteriously incremented by the factory computer system by around 700...<omitting magic math here>...there ended up being a difference of 728 between the VIN and seq number - basically a week's worth of seq numbers. I confirmed this difference by subtracting 728 from my VIN and comparing the result with the seq number stamped on my left rear tire.

VIN - 728 = Manufacturing Sequence Number

Now I'm getting confused. On my car, the number 7071 is stamped on the right rear tire, and my VIN ends in 6343 (6043+728=7071) .. so is it 'VIN + 728 = sequence number' ???? I guess the 'sequence number' used by GM is purely arbitrary, and the VIN is closer to the actual production number (at least this year) .. In other words, it seems like for my car, it was probably closer to being the 6343rd car built than it was to being the 7071st car built. Am I understanding this correctly ??

 

[02BlueZ06]

fyrcaptain,
A VIN ending in ...7008 - 728 = Sequence number 6280. Verify this via the number stamped on the rear tire.


Jerry Velders,
Not sure how to expalin yours. Looks like your using the "VIN-to-Sequence Number Reciprocal Math Method". Your numbers are very close to fyrcaptain's. Sounds like you VIN and seq # have been transposed.

 

[carzzy]

The Ninth Digit in the VIN#

Hi,
I read Zippy's interesting breakdown of the VIN# on the Corvette. Does anybody know what the purpose of the ninth check digit means? I am curious because I have the letter X there instead of a number. (1G1YY12SX)

Carzzy

 

[pmontelo]

I found this: http://www.f-body.org/oldfaq/html/vins/checkdig.html

GM VIN CHECK DIGIT VERIFICATION
To determine check digit (9th digit) of your car you need to take the VIN and assign any letters in the VIN with a set value (number) as follows:
A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4, E = 5, F = 6, G = 7, H = 8,
J = 1, K = 2, L = 3, M = 4, N = 5, O = 6, P = 7, R = 9,
S = 2, T = 3, U = 4, V = 5, W = 6, X = 7, Y = 8, Z = 9

Any numbers in the VIN remain the same (not replaced) and thus you have a 17 digit number.
Then you must multiply each of the 17 digits by a set "weight" (multiplier). The weight applied to each digit is as follows:

1st = 8, 2nd = 7, 3rd = 6, 4th = 5, 5th = 4, 6th = 3, 7th = 2, 8th = 10,
9th = 0 (check digit), 10th = 9, 11th = 8, 12th = 7, 13th = 6, 14th = 5,
15th = 4, 16th = 3, 17th = 2

After multiplying each VIN digit by the associated weight - add up the results of all 17 products. Then divide by 11 and the remainder is your check digit.
If the remained is 10, then the check digit is 'X'.

Here's an example: VIN = 1G1BL52P7TR115520 (note '7' is the check digit)

VIN 1 G 1 B L 5 2 P 7 T R 1 1 5 5 2 0

Assigned Values 1 7 1 2 3 5 2 7 7 3 9 1 1 5 5 2 0

Multiplier 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Add the products: (1 X 8) + (7 X 7) + (1 X 6) ... (0 X 2) = 337

Divide 337 by 11 which gives you 30, and a remainder of 7 which is the same as the 9th digit of the VIN

 

[IMA Z06]

Pat,

Thanks I Think, Help now I have to find my scientific calc to fugger my Vin........................

Ugh !!

:cheers:

 

[jimlab]

So does someone want to tell me the correct way to determine the sequence number of my Z? The VIN is 1G1YY12S725107612 (car isn't here yet, so I can't verify any stampings)?

Obviously there haven't been 7,612 2002 Corvettes built already. Subtracting that number from 10,015 (as mentioned earlier) equals 2,403, which seems a lot more reasonable.

But then how, if my car was built only a week or so ago, would someone else (YardDog) have the 3,208th car in his garage?

If I add the 728 to 2,403 (while standing on one foot, not sure of the phase of the moon...), I get 3,131, which still means that my car was produce before YardDog's, even though it just arrived at the dealership a week and a half ago, fresh from Bowling Green. Or at least it did according to them. Then again, the sales manager said it had 5 miles on it, and the odometer disclosure say 38...

What gives? Anyone know how to work this "new math" correctly???

And Scott, you're right. State Farm knows *exactly* what the "S" means... I just read off the VIN and the agent said "Oh, a Z06. Nice." My insurance premiums went up a whopping $16.66 a month over the '94 Supra Turbo.

 

[fyrcaptain]

Hey Jim

I see you sold the Toy, what color z06 did you wind up getting?
I had a deposit on a TR that was just built 10/15 and going to Ross Downing, when along came a MY (my first choice) in Chicago.
I jumped on it, flew out there Friday, picked it up Saturday, drove it 800 miles back to Virginia, and all I can say os WOW!
You WON'T BE SORRY !!!!
Good Luck!