5th digit in VIN.... Something doesn't look right
 

I was wondering if the C3 community can assist with my current VIN. The 5th digit in my VIN which should identify engine type i.e. L=L48 X=L82 for a 1977 according to the VIN decoder. However the 5th digit in my VIN is a 2! What in gods green earth does a 2 represent?

What's the full VIN?

The vin on the title? The vin tag? Do they match?

You're gonna want to check your VIN. All 77s are 1Z37*7S4xxxxx. The asterisk will be an alpha L or an X as you are aware. The last five digits will be the consecutive unit number.

There will be no numeric 2 in the VIN other than the consecutive unit number.

:thumbs:

My VIN as per title says 1Z3727S4XXXX which is strange. I will have to check the actual tag and compare again. But when I did that the fist time, they matched. Maybe I read it incorrectly

The error on the title may be nothing more than a typo. If you have the 2 on the actual VIN tag on the windshield post, you have a greater issue.

:thumbs:

I will check again and keep everyone posted

Sounds like a typo. I bet when you look at your VIN tag on your windshield pillar, you will be pleasantly surprised to see it is correct.

then go to your DMV and get it corrected. you will have trouble selling your car if the title and the windshield pillar vin tag do not match exactly.

it is probably a typo or your eyeball is playing tricks on you.

Well I went to the storage to check again and as per the VIN on the car there is an "L" and not a "2". Not sure what happened there! I will have to get that changed

Bingo.
:thumbs:

Hi Jahaaji,

I had a VIN Title / registration issue with my 1973 Corvette. My title read 1X with the rest of the VIN numbers correct instead of 1Z with the rest of the VIN numbers. I thought that the issue was likely a typo since if you look at a keyboard you can see that the Z and X key are right next to each other. I'll tell you what I did, first I wanted to know if my car could have been stolen and then registered with an incorrect VIN, so I tried to check my VIN. None of the free or even the "for cost" online VIN checks worked due to the number of digits in a 1973 VIN (modern VIN's contain several more digits than a 1973 VIN). Anyway, I explained my issue to my local police and they ran a check on both the correct VIN as well as the incorrect, as it turned out there were no records (as in the VIN did not match any reported stolen car) for either VIN number the police checked. My next issue was to work with the DMV to get the VIN corrected on the title. I can tell you what I had to do, which may or may not apply to you, depending on where you are ( My title needed to be corrected by NY DMV). First I called the title division a total of 5 times. One might ask why that many times, well each time I spoke with someone I got a different story of how to go about correcting the title issue. After 5 calls I had ~3 stories that matched fairly well VS two stories that were out to lunch. One other thing, after the first call to the DMV I quickly found out that this was not a go to the DMV and get the title fixed while you wait type of issue, at least for the NY DMV(took ~ 3 months to get the new corrected title). What I was told by NY DMV: Send to them a clear and easily readable picture of the vehicle VIN, send the defective title (this made me feel uneasy as I would no longer have a title in my possession , correct or not) plus a copy of the registration showing the same incorrect title number. I added a letter explaining I had called the title department of the DMV and was following their instructions etc...... and I included a check for a duplicate title (in the end they returned the check since they felt the mistake was theirs). I made several photo copies of everything sent to the NY DMV, title, both sides, etc..... After much waiting I finally got the corrected title. Also what I found out, NY DMV must have been able to see when the title mistake took place and told me that the color of the car pre-title defect matched the color of the car post title defect and that was good for me. From talking with them I suspect things would have been much more difficult for me had the color changed. Anyway I have everything straight now, no issues and I hope that things go as smoothly for you. Lots of luck, Russ.

Thanks for the info. I live in Canada but I imagine the process might be similar give or take a few things. I will have to look into this further. Like you, there is also a color change involved with the vehicle. Things like this can be scary! You never know what takes place once a car changes hands!

You guys convinced me to check the VIN for the 4th time since I saw my car before buying it.........

The "5" following the "8" (year) probably should be an "S".......would that be correct for a 1968 convertible?

Jahaaji.........Sorry about getting side-tracked!

Check this link. I got my info here

http://www.vettesite.com/vin.asp

Had that same problem with the S and 5 on a 69 I owned. The local DMV insisted nothing was wrong, but I didn't need any headaches down the road when selling. Finally had to go to the main DMV in Trenton to straighten it out. Good luck guys, hope it works out.

LOL.......one site stated that the 1968 model started with a 4***** sequence number......another site stated that the sequence number started with 1***** !!

Oh oh!

Which confirms some of the information floating around the internet is of dubious use. Do not believe every web site you run across.

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