What
is "VIN?" VIN is the Vehicle
Identification Number, also called car
number, chassis number, or serial number.
In
actuality; most roadsters do not have a true vin.
Those were required on foreign vehicles beginning with
1969 production; some sources say January 1st, 1969
production. At that point a dash mounted vin plate was
required. Nissan just used what they have always used
to identify their cars; the "car number" also called
the "serial number" or "chassis number" or "build
sequence number" which is the model designation
followed by (in the case of the roadsters) 5 digits.
In the case of the 1500s; most had a number and a
hypen in front of the model designation and a letter
after the 5 digits. I have heard and read of a number
of explanations of what these signified (year built,
model year built, shipped year etc) None of it jives
when you look at a huge number of them.
Anyway;
in 1969 the cars all got a "real" vin tag on the dash
but it is supposed to be on the cowl of the car; on a
non removable non tameable tab. You can just yank the
dash out and "revin" your car! Of course their is the
hand scrawled number on the frame...
For
simplicity sake we refer to the SPL310-02222;
SPL311-03333 and SRL311-04444 as the "VIN" even though
technically they are not a true vin but the car#,
chassis# etc. DMV looks at that number as a vin.
Datsun
Roadsters are titled by the year they were sold, not
necessarily the model year they really are. A true 68
could be registered as a 69, a true 70 could be
registered as a 69 etc. Before 68 the cars came with
"vin" tags that had 1 9 6 _ and the last digit of the
year was later stamped in, or just replaced with a
later tag. SPL310s sometimes had a 3-4-5 before the
SPL310 or before the 5-digit vin suggesting (we think)
what model year the car truly was, regardless of what
was stamped above for the licensing year. Just to make
sure nothing makes sense we've also seen some examples
that would indicate it signifies CALENDAR year
produced, not model year. They also could have a
letter after the vin. Only theories at this point to
the significance of the letter. Also, in some cases we
believe the cars were built and put in storage lots,
but the most recently built cars were pulled for
shipment first. That could help to explain why the
very first Fairlady sold in the USA was (a 1960)
SPL212 00198 (out of 288 built). All of the 61 and 62
212's I've found have had lower numbers. The same
thing may explain why some of the lowest vin numbered
1500's were titled as 64's and had very high engine
numbers. (end of the 64 run of engines) Just before
they switched to the 65 models they must have found
these engineless chassis or bodies gathering dust
somewhere. Or was an defect found in the engines
causing the cars to be set aside until later? Or did
someone squirrel away the pre vin-stamped frames until
the very end of production when they were again
"found"?
Historical
details of what Nissan did in the 60's are often
debated. An addition to the weirdness file was
recently sent to us (thanks Tim). This roadster's vin
number on the frame originally began with "00". It was
then "X-ed" out and two "1"s were stamped below it.
(pic).
Above the original number were two Nissan logo stamps.
What was this, the guy forgot to change the numbers in
his stamping tool? Or a 1965 frame was lost and then
"found" later? The 67 1/2s used a different frame
though... That could of course been rectified as I've
seen other modifications done to make the parts work
with what they needed at the moment, especially to
fenders. Cars with fairly low production figures are
always interesting.
The
thing to remember is that the year the car was
sold has nothing to do with ordering parts for
it. Learn what's what. (It'll help you) Any roadster
enthusiast worth his or her salt would never refer to
their 69 as a 70. Please see "Year
Your Car Really Is."
