Just purchased a 84 745I. I have tried to decode the VIN and only the last 7 work. If I use the whole VIN it comes up as an error. Anyone else have this issue? Steve
That's a common problem with the online VIN decoders. Check with the E23 crew over at http://bimmerboard.com/forums/e23/
The 17-digit VIN is a uniform US requirement for all manufacturers. BMW only uses the last 7 digits for the serial number. There is a number decoder in many Bentley manuals. Strictly from memory: The first letter is for the country of manufacture (W=West Germany, J=Japan, etc.) The next letter pair is the manufacturer (AU=Audi, BA=BMW, etc.) The fourth letter is the manufacturing facility (D=Dingolfing, C=Coventry, etc.) The next five characters identify the general series model and may include a random check digit. The tenth character is the model year designator (G=1986, H=1987, J=1988, etc. Later ones are numbers).
