how to tell year of car from Chassis number?

[francis]

How do I know exactly what year any MB is just by knowing my chassis number?

I know the dealers can do this coz' one time I asked them what year my car was and they just asked for my chassis number.

[420SEL]

Each chassis has 6 numbers. the first three are common to all body styles covering a number of years. the w126 ran from 1981 to1 991 I think. After the first three numbers, and following a dot are three more. These are specific to the year. Mine is w126.035 for a 1986 420SEL. I don't know if there is a chart anywhere that has all the chasis numbers and the year they match to or not.

JP Toronto

[mbdoc]

Starting in 1980 the Fed Gov required all car makers to use a check digit in serial # to define year model.

[francis]

so how do I know the year with MB cars???

[stevebfl]

The tenth digit of the VIN # gives the year. 1980 is "A" 1996 is "T". The "I,O,and Q" aren't used.

[Arthur Dalton]

<After the first three numbers, and following a dot are three more. These are specific to the year.>>

These 3 numbers are the specific model, not year.
126.035 would be 420sel
126.039 would be 560sel.
A 126.045 is a 560sec [coupe] , etc.
All are 126 chassis and all were made 86-91, but they are different models of the 126 chassis.

[francis]

The reason I'm asking all these is because I'm bidding on 2 cars next week and it does not say the year. Here are the chassis #'s. All I know are they are Australian Versions.

1) 201 128 1F 609 974
2) 201 126 1F 639 961

Hope you can give me the year and Maybe if it's manual or automatic trans.

Francis

[be459]

Let me try this number: 201 128 1F 609 974

201 = chassis type
1 = diesel
28 = model type
1 = LH Drive
F = ???( shouldn't this be "2"?, stands for automatic tranny)
609974 = serial #

This is the format used between 1960 to 1980 except the "F". Are you sure it is the letter "F"? Regardless of year (between 1960 to 1980) of manufacture, each model was numbered consecutively, making the six digit serial #.

Does this make sense to you? This is as close as I can get. The information may not be right but you may be able to combine these with other information you have to make some sense out of it. Let me know what you find out.

David

[mbdoc]

Only US govt requires this numbering system with year model check digit. Most parts microfische list the chassis breaks for different year models!