VIN Question (What have I failed to grasp?)

laurie.lea

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Evening All.....

I have been looking at the VIN numbers of my two Mercedes and a number of sites which explain such things insist that the 10th. digit is the year in which the car was built.

In my case (2006 CLK and 2008 SLK) both are the number "2" indicating a build year of 2002. Now as both have the 7 speed auto box this is plainly incorrect however I am at a loss to understand what has gone wrong ? Surely it is not that difficult ? Can anyone shine a light on where I am going wrong please ??
 

Tashman

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The tenth digit in a merc's Vin number denotes whether the car is left hand drive (1) or right hand drive(2)
So from that I can see that both your cars are right hand drive.
There is nothing in the Vin # that directly tells you what exact year the car was built.
 
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laurie.lea

laurie.lea

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Model year encoding[edit]
One consistent element of the VIS is the 10th digit, which is required worldwide to encode the model year of the vehicle. Besides the three letters that are not allowed in the VIN itself (I, O and Q), the letters U and Z and the digit 0 are not used for the model year code. The year code is the model year for the vehicle.

The year 1980 was encoded by some manufacturers, especially General Motors and Chrysler, as "A" (since the 17-digit VIN was not mandatory until 1981, and the "A" or zero was in the manufacturer's pre-1981 placement in the VIN), yet Ford and AMC still used a zero for 1980. Subsequent years increment through the allowed letters, so that "Y" represents the year 2000. 2001 to 2009 are encoded as the digits 1 to 9, and subsequent years are encoded as "A", "B", "C", etc.

Code Year Code Year Code Year Code Year Code Year Code Year
A = 1980 L = 1990 Y = 2000 A = 2010 L = 2020 Y = 2030
B = 1981 M = 1991 1 = 2001 B = 2011 M = 2021 1 = 2031
C = 1982 N = 1992 2 = 2002 C = 2012 N = 2022 2 = 2032
D = 1983 P = 1993 3 = 2003 D = 2013 P = 2023 3 = 2033
E = 1984 R = 1994 4 = 2004 E = 2014 R = 2024 4 = 2034
F = 1985 S = 1995 5 = 2005 F = 2015 S = 2025 5 = 2035
G = 1986 T = 1996 6 = 2006 G = 2016 T = 2026 6 = 2036
H = 1987 V = 1997 7 = 2007 H = 2017 V = 2027 7 = 2037
J = 1988 W = 1998 8 = 2008 J = 2018 W = 2028 8 = 2038
K = 1989 X = 1999 9 = 2009 K = 2019 X = 2029 9 = 2039
 
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laurie.lea

laurie.lea

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Thanks Tashman. I have just posted my reference. Looking at what you say I wonder if I have been looking at North America rather than europe ?

Dont know if they thought the system through if it changes from continent to continent.
 

LostKiwi

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That's the US numbering system. Cars made in Europe use a different scheme.

For the European scheme the 10th digit is as Trashman says.
 
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laurie.lea

laurie.lea

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Sorted then. Thanks guys.
 

LostKiwi

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I did a full post about the European scheme a while back. Can't find it now.

Basically it goes something like first three characters are the company
WDB, WDC, WDD etc
Then six numbers for the model and variant, then 1 for LHD or 2 for RHD, then a character for factory then the rest is chassis number. If I can find the old post I'll link to it.
 
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