Suspicious VIN #!

[brianpavlovic]

Good evening all. If you are not from the the South Eastern part of PA, consider yourself lucky! We are getting some snow! This post has to do with my vehicle's identification number. I know the only 1983 corvette that still exists today is at the national musuem, but my VIN number seems wrong. On the one website, they were explaining that numbers go from
1G1AY0782100001 and go to 1G1Ayo782150000. Most of the info is correct, but the year on my vin is 83, not 82. I am starting to research my car and I am finding out all kinds of info as well. Can someone clear this up for me? I am just a babe' in the woods and I am still learning about corvettes. Any information someone might have will be useful!

Thanks-
Brian
p.s. Is anyone else living in this area going through Corvette Driving Withdraw? I have to resort to playing Gran Turismo 3 and driving the C5R Racer on the game!!!!! How sad:(

[DavisZR1]

The weather has us all down. My favorite is Need for Speed. If you have a C4 and it's not a ZR1 or Callaway or Lingenfelter or modded by Vette Doctors and you don't have the one in the museum, then just sit back and enjoy the car. Call the Corvette Museum and ask them about your vin#. Maybe you can order the build sheet from the NCM and the original window sticker. The link is on FatherLarry's home page.

[FinWolf]

This is all I could find on the 83. if you have one it is worth a lot

1983 Corvette
Officially, There were no 1983 Corvettes. There were forty seven 1983 Corvettes made but none were ever sold. The National Corvette Museum has the only 1983 known at this time. The new Corvette plant in Bowling Green, KY closed in October of 1982 to begin retooling for the 1984 Corvette. Production began in January of 1983 and the press received their first view of the 1984 Corvette in January of 1983. In February, the first production 1984 Corvettes were sold to the public. In March of 1983, the 1984 Corvette officially went on sale in the United States, except for California and a month later, in April, the 1984 Corvette went on sale in California. By October of 1983, the plant was in full speed production.


You must think I'm off my rocker because there weren't any 1983 Corvettes, right? Wrong! Chevrolet produced 61 1983 Corvettes - 18 prototypes which were destroyed and 43 production test cars. 32 of the test cars were destroyed in crash testing while 11 were used for other production testing. These 11 Corvettes also appeared at a press conference at California's Riverside Raceway in December 1982. 10 of these were destroyed when the decision was made to market the new Corvette as a 1984 model. GM retained just one, serial #23, for it's own use where it now resides on display at the Corvette Museum and remains one of the most valuable Corvettes in existence.

[brianpavlovic]

Man is this frustrating!!!!! Here's one website that talks about my question but never answers it! http://members.aol.com/thecorvetteplace/83vette.html
It basically states that they believe that some owners have cars that were titled as 84, but their VIN #'s are really 83! Is this possible?!?!? I think I may have one. http://www.corvettemagazine.com/2000/january/83/83p1.asp
Here's another website (above) which details the 1983 corvette and I found the VIN number. ... 1G1AY0783D5100023 This number is interesting. It is very similar to mine except for the letter. This one has a "D" signifying that it is an original 83, while mine has the letter "E". So, after all of this research, is it possible that GM titled my car as an 84, but really it is an 83? Any info is really appreciated!

p.s. This is was happens to corvette owners who are cooped up in the house because of the snow!!! : )

[TopVette]

If you have any doubts you should notify the National Corvette Museum and read them your vin #. I am sure they will have an explanation. I personally feel that it was an '84 produced very late in '83 after they already destroyed the real '83's.

[brooklynvette]

In regard to the first link that you gave. The guys a car thief. Would you really believe what he is saying?

[fatherlarry]

I've merged the thread "1983 Corvette" with this thread since they are the same topic.

[fatherlarry]

The "83" in your vin # has nothing to do with the year. Understanding a car's serial number help's differentiate collectibles from all others, confirms and verifies the year of production, the trim level, engine size etc. Below is an explanation which will help you understand how it works so it's not such a mystery anymore.

The number "8" in your vin number which is the eighth digit in the vin # sequence, simply tells you which engine you have.

Example:

(5) LT4 350 V8
(8) L98 350 V8
(G) LS1 350 V8
(J) LT5 (ZR1) 32V DOHC 350 V8
(P) LT1 350 V8
(S) LS6 350 V8

The ninth vehicle identification number digit is a VIN accuracy check digit, verifying the previous VIN numbers. It's the result of a mathematical calculation using other numbers in the vin number sequence.

The actual digit that tells you the year is the tenth digit. 10th digit - Model year. (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, (2) 2002, (3) 2003, etc.

These are government mandated universal codes. The sequence of numbers and their meaning never change. The 1st digit is the country manufactured, the 2nd digit is the manufacturer, the 3rd digit is vehicle type......... the "8th" digit is always the engine code, the 10th digit is always the year etc.

So the "83" is actually the engine code with the vin check digit following it. Your year is correctly shown on your vin # as 1984 because your tenth digit is "E". If it were an 1983, it would be a "D".