[kshapiro]

Just curious to see whose "S" was made with mine. You can all see the same thing relative to yours by watching this thread. Just the last five numerals will do it.

Mine is 50482 (March 25 build date...delivered to me on 5/10)

[AidenL]

Ken,

Is it wise to divulge your VIN in public ??

Just wondering, for safetys sake ?

[smiffy]

Quote:

Originally posted by AidenL
Is it wise to divulge your VIN in public ??

Just wondering, for safetys sake ?

You might want to read this thread

http://mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=10728

[dukesantos]

I realize that anyone can read my VIN if they can get up close to the car, but that is a lot different from posting it on the internet. By the way the cars aren't built in strict VIN order anyway as the VIN is assigned early in the production process and there are any number of delays that can take it out of sequence.

[MGB Boy]

What happened in that RX7 story had a lot more to do with the fact that the guy had exact directions to his house than the fact that he had the VIN. If you want to steal my car and I give you exact directions to my house, you can steal it pretty easily regardless of whether you know the VIN.

I think people have a bit too much anxiety regarding the sanctity of their VIN and not spreading it around. So what if I know your VIN? What does that get me? If there were massive potential for fraud and theft here, thay'd be having a field-day with eBay. Ever checked out the cars there? If your car from 1981 or beyond (when VINs were standardized), they require the VIN to be listed so a potential buyer can do a Carfax report, line up insurance and financing, etc. Thus I know that there is a silver 2001 Jaguar S-type 3.0 with VIN SAJDA01C41FL77826 in Naples FL, a red 1995 Ferrari 456GT in Wexford PA with VIN ZFFSP44A1S0100580, and a chili red 2002 MINI Cooper with VIN WMWRC33492TC33505 in Ashland KY. eBay are one of the only dotcoms that makes a profit, and the core of that profit is based on making sure they provide a safe, relativly fraud-resistant arena for transactions to occur, if they had policies/loopholes that made fraud easy and people got burned, the trust in the system would be destroyed and the site would die. So I suspect they have a pretty good idea regarding what it's safe to post and what it's not safe to post.

Besides, he's not asking for your whole VIN, just the last five digits. Are the other 12 digits identical for every S? I know the WMW is the same and the TD is the same, but I have no idea about the rest.

Just my two cents, anyhow. If you don't feel comfortable posting a VIN or part of it, then by all means don't.

-Ricardo

[kshapiro]

Geeeeeshhhh...never mind (Rosanna Rosanna Dana)

[Limey]

Quote:

I know the WMW is the same and the TD is the same, but I have no idea about the rest.

Sorry, but not every Cooper S has TD in its VIN#. Just look at whats on a boat right now. On my boat theres TC, TD and TF cars. My Vin# is WMWRE334X2TD*****. I am not paranoid about someone knowing my Vin# coz anyone can walk up to the car when its parked outside. I just do NOT have my Mini yet and dont want someone to log into my owners lounge or call up on its status or anything that might delay my car
Kshapiro, wots yer reason for knowing anyways? Do you have a problem with your car and want to see if its a bad batch? That would be a good idea, but it will be hard to find many owners yourself. BMW could do it seen as every car gets registered but I am sure they would not relay that info to you, especially if you were wanting to Lemon Law or something similar!!

Cheers Limey.

[MGB Boy]

Quote:

Originally posted by Limey

Sorry, but not every Cooper S has TD in its VIN#. Just look at whats on a boat right now. On my boat theres TC, TD and TF cars.

The ones that have something other than TD are Coopers, not Ss;

TC - 5-speed Cooper
TD - 6-speed Cooper S
TE - CVT Cooper

Each booking will have a mixture of all three models. There are no TFs (at least not in the US, don't know if other countries have that combo)...

-Ricardo

[MGB Boy]

Quote:

Originally posted by Limey
My Vin# is WMWRE334X2TD*****.

That's different than mine, I have a 0 where you have an X...

-Ricardo

[MINIAC]

The 9th position of a VIN is the check digit.

[MiniVa]

Your V.I.N. has a lot of different numbers and letter each one has there own meaning. The 8th digit or number stands for a year of the car i.e.,

A = 1980
B = 1981
C = 1982
D = 1983
E = 1984
F = 1985
G = 1986
H = 1987
J = 1988
K = 1989
L = 1990
M = 1991
N = 1992
P = 1993
R = 1994
S = 1995
T = 1996
V = 1997
W = 1998
X = 1999
Y = 2000
1 = 2001

No letters where used that could be confused with a number. At least that is how the U.S. does it. Aslo, some letters will tell you which engine is in it or if its an auto or manual trans. If people know you V.I.N. its really just trivial unless they take parts off your car. It then is really of any concern and then they will have to file the #'s of and change them if they plan to sell them. The law uses that kinf of stuff against them. So you V.I.N. should be viewed more as well your V.I.N. and know more. At least that's the way I see it. I mean i work all kinds of cars all day the vin is how we check to make sure we have the right car. Other the using them to track cars there really is not much you can do with them.

Rest easy
MiniVa

[MiniVa]

As far as the RX-7 case the one person was stupid he more or less said this is where i leave my car and that's where he messed up. He should have met some where first to get a better idea who he was dealing with. Even then i would be a little concerned when he started asking all these ?'s about my car. Just use common sense when on the net.

[MINIAC]

Quote:

Originally posted by MiniVa
The 8th digit or number stands for a year of the car.

You must be counting from the right side ... the model year is in the 10th position from the left

VIN Decoding Tips

[BruceK]

Still, I find it disappointing that MINI VINs indicate the car is built in Germany rather than in the UK (in the same location as my '65 Mini).

Yes, I know the MINI's parent company is German, but Jaguar's owner is American, and Jaguars don't indicate they are built in the US.

[MGB Boy]

Quote:

Originally posted by BruceK
Still, I find it disappointing that MINI VINs indicate the car is built in Germany rather than in the UK (in the same location as my '65 Mini).

Yes, I know the MINI's parent company is German, but Jaguar's owner is American, and Jaguars don't indicate they are built in the US.

Ah, but Jag was still British-owned when it's VIN prefix was assigned...

-Ricardo

[BruceK]

Quote:

Originally posted by MGB Boy
Ah, but Jag was still British-owned when it's VIN prefix was assigned...

So, manufacturers are assigned VIN prefixes, they are not intended to show where a particular model of car from the manufacturer is assembled? Obviously this is true with the MINI, but my understanding was the first character of the standardized VIN was originally supposed to indicate the country of manufacture. Or is this whole country identification thing as loose as possible for political/economic reasons?

So next year, will the new Pontiac GTO (an Australian-built Holden Monaro with Pontiac badges) have a VIN indicating it is built in the US??

[MGB Boy]

Quote:

Originally posted by BruceK


So, manufacturers are assigned VIN prefixes, they are not intended to show where a particular model of car from the manufacturer is assembled? Obviously this is true with the MINI, but my understanding was the first character of the standardized VIN was originally supposed to indicate the country of manufacture. Or is this whole country identification thing as loose as possible for political/economic reasons?

So next year, will the new Pontiac GTO (an Australian-built Holden Monaro with Pontiac badges) have a VIN indicating it is built in the US??

I expect the GTO will have an Australian VIN, especially given that it isn't being made by Pontiac, it will be made by Holden on Pontiac's behalf.

Regarding assignment of new VIN prefixes, as they say in these parts, hard tellin' not knowin'. I've always heard about the "first letter = country of origin" thing, but clearly it no longer holds in 100% of all cases. I guess the moral of the story is that the longstanding conventional wisdom that "the first digit tells the country where the car was manufactured" is it out of date, it's more a case that the first three digits tell the manufacturer.

-Ricardo

[MGB Boy]

Speaking of VINs, has anyone decoded the full MINI VIN yet?

Take this sample VIN: WMWRE33402TD12345

Based on other MINI and non-MINI VINs, I can guess at this much:

WMW = MINI

RE334 = ?

0 = Check Digit

2 = Model Year (2002)

T = Plant (Oxford)

D = Transmission (6 Speed Manual)

12345 = "Serial/Chassis Number"

The RE334 typically would refer to model/body type/production options, but has anyone figured out the specifics?

-Ricardo

[kshapiro]

Quote:

Originally posted by Limey

Sorry, but not every Cooper S has TD in its VIN#. Just look at whats on a boat right now. On my boat theres TC, TD and TF cars. My Vin# is WMWRE334X2TD*****. I am not paranoid about someone knowing my Vin# coz anyone can walk up to the car when its parked outside. I just do NOT have my Mini yet and dont want someone to log into my owners lounge or call up on its status or anything that might delay my car
Kshapiro, wots yer reason for knowing anyways? Do you have a problem with your car and want to see if its a bad batch? That would be a good idea, but it will be hard to find many owners yourself. BMW could do it seen as every car gets registered but I am sure they would not relay that info to you, especially if you were wanting to Lemon Law or something similar!!

Cheers Limey.

Just wanted to see who had my cars "cousins" ...cars made roughly the same time.

[motorer]

Quote:

Originally posted by kshapiro
Just curious to see whose "S" was made with mine. You can all see the same thing relative to yours by watching this thread. Just the last five numerals will do it.

Mine is 50482 (March 25 build date...delivered to me on 5/10)

My MCS's # is 50293, built March 2nd (I would guess that's what the 3/2 stamped on the plate inside the pilot's door indicates), delivered on May 21.

Now with about 3600 miles on her. A brilliant car.