kimberlies7

I cant figure out how to run a VIN on my 72 OLDS, it only has 13 digits.

Cameo White

What information are you hoping to get from running the VIN?
If you want to check that the engine and trans are original, the VIN derivative stamped on each should match the VIN on your dash.

The cowl tag will tell you more about your car. If you post it, people on the site can help you decode it.
Cheers.

jensenracing77

they did not go to 17 digits till i think 1977

jaunty75

It should have only 13 digits. If it had something different than that, than you WOULD have a reason to be concerned.

VINs did not go to 17 digits until 1981.

It's because of this that some of those VIN search services won't work. They expect 17 digit VINs. Is this what you mean when you say you can't "run a VIN?"

kimberlies7

Thanks for the info-really just didnt understand why it has 13 digits and you can run a history on it.

joe_padavano

If you are trying to use a service like Carfax, you can't. Those VIN services don't cover cars that old and can't handle older VIN formats, as you have apparently found out. It may be hard to believe, but there was once a time, just after fire was discovered, that there was no Internet. The records from those older cars were on PAPER.

jaunty75

Also, Al Gore had to be born between those two events.

jensenracing77

that's graet

84 rocket

lol

rocketraider

It's too coincidental that Algore and several others like him were born roughly nine months after the 1947 Roswell UFO crash.

If you want to know what the VIN tells you, post all but the last 6 digits of it here and we'll decode it for you. We'll try the data plate too.

Bluevista

I knew it had to be something.
I've never seen a human quite like him...and that's because he isn't a human!
His kitchen cookbook is "To Serve Man".

I'm wearing my tinfoil hat all the time now.

jaunty75

I'll bet kimberlies7 was hoping to get more than this, such as an ownership history, when/where the car was originally sold, accident history, if any, and things like that. Wouldn't it be great if you could.

wolfman98

I'm wearing my tinfoil hat all the time now.[/quote]


I bet you have been wearing it outdoors during thunderstorms

rocketraider

Privacy laws have all but eliminated possibility of getting info like that. LE and insurance companies are among the few who can get it. Then in order to get it, you have to go thru DMV in every state the car was ever registered in, and many states have purged their records on older cars and registrations. Other states don't even use titles on cars more than 20-25 years old.

I find it ironic that privacy laws keep ordinary folks from finding out information, while government and LE techno-snooping is increasing at an almost alarming rate.

wolfman98

Tis the computer age , if someone can put the info on a computer than some other geek can get it back out.