Well, I've found a 300D that interests me. Of course, it's not local. I am setting up the PPI stuff, but for now, I am very concerned about the VIN. I want to make sure everything is on the square before I move forward.
The
Russian Vin site and the EPC Net both reject the VIN. It's a 1982 300D, in what appears to be China Blue from the photos.
I went to
this site as well--very informative. The only problem is that they say that pre-83 cars only have fourteen digits, which seems false. I used their "1983 and newer" model information to attempt to decode this vin.
Here it is,
VIN: WDBAB33A8CB002106.
(First three letters) WDB: World manufacturer identifier
(Fourth letter) A: Model or series
(Fifth letter) B: Chassis Type
(Sixth and seventh digit) 33: Model within the series
(Eighth digit) A: (C would be seat belt + emergency pretensioners. No listing for the letter A.)
(Ninth digit) 8: Check digit? Not sure what this means.
(Tenth digit) C: Model year.
(Eleventh digit) B: Production plant: Sindelfingen
(Last six digits) 002106: Chassis number
In comparing this to the VIN of my totaled 300D, it seems to me that it's the eighth digit that's off. There is no listing at all for the letter "A" in this position. I tried the other letters, but no joy.
I do not have pictures of the door pillar tag. The Carfax looks excellent. It actually has regularly posted mileage reporting through the years--which is rare. (Lots of good that will do me if it's not the same car!)
I don't know enough to tell what else might be off in the VIN, so I thought I'd post it here.
How concerned should I be about this? I will have everything checked for matching numbers during the PPI, but I don't want to pay for a PPI if something is fishy with the VIN.
Thanks, as always!