Range Rover VIN Numbers

Up to October 79 the VIN number prefix's looked like this:

355             Manual, home RH stg, 2 door, pre Oct 1979, petrol           
356             Manual, export RH stg, pre Oct 79 model, petrol             
358             Manual, export LH stg detoxed, 2 door, pre Oct 79, petrol   


Between October 79 and the introduction of the 1985 model year it
looked something like this:

LHABV1AA        Manual, RH stg, 2 door, post Oct 79, petrol                 
LHABV2AA        Presumably, LH stg, 2 door, post Oct 79, petrol
                - but not confirmed, and presumably LHAMV2AA also exisits
LHAMV1AA        Manual, RH stg, 4 door, post Oct 79 model, petrol           

BSALLHABV1AA    In Vogue ???                                                
SALLHABV2AA     ?                                                           
SALLHABV8AA     ?                                                           

SALLHAMV1AA     Manual, 4 door, RH stg, post Oct 79 model, petrol           
SALLHAMV2AA     Manual, LH stg, 4 door, post 1979 model, petrol             

SBALLHARV1AA    Manual, RH stg, 4 door Monteverdi, post Oct 79, petrol      
                There is a LH stg Monteverdi number also - probably 2AA

SALLHAMV3AA     Automatic, RH stg, 4 door, 1984 model, petrol               
SALLHAMV7AA     Manual, RH stg, 4 door, 1984 model, petrol                  


From 1985 model year onwards, all prefix's appear to be of the form:

        SALLHAxxxyAnnnnnn

        The nnnnnn component is easy, this is just a unique number and
        appears to run from 0000001 right up to whatever the latest
        vehicle was to start making its way down the line.

        The y component indicates the model year of production, sounds
        simple doesn't it - not quite.  It is a single letter,
        matching the UK registration/index number year of registration
        prefix (used to be a suffix - until they ran out of letters) -
        still with me?  Now to confuse matters further, UK vehicle
        registration years run August 1 to July 31 - Land Rover
        production years don't.  For example, the current registration
        prefix is L which indicates a 94 model year vehicle,
        unfortunately, current build Range Rovers are 95 model year
        and have been since about March, hense have vin number
        prefix of SALLHAMxxxMA even though the M prefix doesn't come
        into effect until August.

        Now for the difficult one, the xxx component - this is the one
        that identifies the build, there are lots of them, the ones I
        have come across follow:

        BV7     Manual, RH stg, 2 door, petrol                  

        BM3     Automatic (PI), RH stg, 2 door CSK, petrol

        MV3     Automatic, RH stg, 4 door, petrol               
        MV4     Automatic, LH stg, 4 door, petrol               
        MV7     Manual, RH stg, 4 door, petrol

        ML3     Automatic (PI), home RH stg, 4 door, petrol     
        ML7     Manual (PI), RH stg, 4 door, petrol             

        ME7     2.4 Manual, RH stg, 4 door, diesel              

        MN7     2.5 manual, RH stg, 4 door, diesel

        MF7     Manual, RH stg, 4 door, Tdi diesel
        MF3     Automatic, RH stg, 4 door, Tdi diesel

For a definative list you need to refer to the Parts Catalogue for the
era of vehicle you are interested in.  Same goes for the engine
numbers, though they appear to have been consistently identifed by the
first three characters in the number.

I hope this goes part way to answering your questions

Regards

        Rich

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