RE: VIN decoder

["Linus D. Toy" <linust@mindspring.com>]

Nothing fishy going on here.  The official VIN is at the windshield and on
the door jamb.  Other markings on the chassis are for consistency (and
anti-theft) but reflect only the chassis numbering...

The 17 digit VIN system was adopted internationally, but for some reason,
only N America uses positions 4-6, for some coding system, including whether
or not the car has passive restraints (how you get a discount for airbags).
You will probably find the ZZZ marking on major body parts as well, as the
VIN is assigned t the chassis without regard for its final market.  

Funny aside:  there is someone in the Puget Sound area running around in an
Isuzu cabover flatbed as his daily driver.  It is insured as an Isuzu
Pickup--apparently the VIN scheme for his flatbed and the Pickups is
identical, and the insurance company can't tell the difference!

At 08:46 AM 11/11/96 -0800, Anton Gaidos III wrote:
>Interesting. The Quattro I have been thinking of buying has a vin with
>ZZZ in on the firewall
>but the plate on the "A" pillar has a more normal #. Its like this
>"A" pillar: WAUDC0853DA900347
>Firewall:   WAUZZZ852DA900347
>Clearly the numbers are not the same yet both claim the car to be #347.
>This is very interesting
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