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VIN, manufacture date and UK/Non UK plaques
- Thread starter Duncan
- Start date
DaveL485":3hk50jje said:
Yes they were. But the VINs are all Clio v6 specific. the designation VF1C61 (which all v6s start with) is only used for Clio V6's.
Little update,
I have around 280 ph1s and 210 ph2s now recorded, thanks again for everyones help!
As with everything, the more info you have, the more questions it raises. I think I will need naerly all the cars recorded before I have definative answers. This will proabably take some time!
DaveL485
Staff member
That'll be because the V6 has a specific Oval Plate code, so my 21 Quadra is an L485 oval plate (hence DaveL485) and the VIN starts VF1L485.... i'd expect all Clio V6 to be VF1C61A? I might be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here (apologies if I am) but the Oval plate gives an indication of layout....(preceded by VF1 as this is the code for "Renault", Range VF>VR is designated to France, VF1 is Renault, VF3 is Peugeot, VF6 is Renault Trucks, VF7 Citroen, VF8 Matra and so on.)Duncan":3gj7qh2w said:
It should be X YY Z or X Y ZZ
where
X = Body Type
Y = Project code
Z = Engine type
C is the code for 3-door hatch (B is 5-door hatch, or the L in L485 is 4-door saloon, L425 is Renault 9 Turbo, C375 is Renault 11 Turbo etc etc)
61 I think is the V6 project code although I found info of there being a clash..."....oddly reuses code 61 already taken by the Clio II V6 RS. This is to our knowledge the only use of the same code for two programs.", normal Clio II is project code 65 I think. The clash was referred to in text about the Renault 19 of all things. I also saw something that suggested "...the RS V6 sometimes appears as "C6" in codes." but it wasn't explained any further.
A (or 1A if the V6 was referred to as C6 as suggested above?) - well...anyones guess. Never found a resource yet that explains how this final digit ties up to the engine type. I assume the "5" in L485, L425 and C375 points toward a 4-cylinder but with no specification to EFI/Carb, SOHC, DOHC or OHV etc. The 21 Phase 1 & 2 Turbo were all L485 though but the Phase 3 distributorless/Catalyst model flipped to L48L. I've asked a tame Renault tech to explain it to me
For anyone interested this is how engine codes work. Nerd alert!
Last edited by a moderator:
DaveL485
Staff member
Duncan":srqopdej said:
Absolutely. I've asked my Renault technician mate (three decade veteran) to dive into his archives and see if he can enlighten us. His last reply was...
Rich":srqopdej said:
He dug some stuff out relating to the 21 as an example, it's hosted here: https://turborenault.co.uk/resources/65/
L485 START OF PRODUCTION DATES (Fabrication number) RHD/LHD
FROM:
JUNE 1987 S000001 (Includes pre-production test models)
OCT 1987 S001488
FEB 1988 NO PRODUCTION CHANGES LISTED
JUNE 1988 S010001
MAY 1989 S020001........... etc etc
Had a bit of a breakthrough on the ph2 build today when I sorted my database via fabrication number instead of chassis numbers.
There are huge gaps in the VIN numbers for ph2 cars, and whilst when you look at the cars in VIN order, you generally see the manufacture data and plaque number increase as the VIN increases, it is not acccurate and theres lots of odd results which discreditt this as a way of pinning anything meaningful down.
When I sorted by fabrication number however, these appear to be exacly sequential and paint a fair more accurate picture.
Once all UK cars are in the list, it will be a peice of cake to spot which ones are the first and last built and the same for each colour etc.
Just to give an example of the type of information this excerise is likely to yield:
Subject to finding a car with a higher fabrication number, It looks like the last manufactured RHD ph2 was UK car [v6plaque]352[/v6plaque] KR55SKV.
This car was manufactured 2 cars after [v6plaque]354[/v6plaque] (which we previously thought was the last). This will be confirmed once all UK cars are in the database.
[v6plaque]352[/v6plaque] is within the last 20 manufactured cars, however, is not the last ever black gold car, as there was a later car delivered to France.
(For info the VIN of [v6plaque]352[/v6plaque] is several thousand numbers higher than the Vin for [v6plaque]354[/v6plaque], so you can see how the VINs dont tell the full story for ph2s.)
[v6plaque]1396[/v6plaque] is currently the last manufactured ph2, so going by the fabrication numbers, [v6plaque]352[/v6plaque]s original plaque number would of been around [v6plaque]1377[/v6plaque]. Once I have completed this exercise and by comparing with the missing gaps from the known original plaque numbers in our register, we should be able to hone this down for any car which doesnt have a factory plaque number (UK cars or otherwise).
The story is slightly different for both ph1 and ph2 as you would imagine!
There are huge gaps in the VIN numbers for ph2 cars, and whilst when you look at the cars in VIN order, you generally see the manufacture data and plaque number increase as the VIN increases, it is not acccurate and theres lots of odd results which discreditt this as a way of pinning anything meaningful down.
When I sorted by fabrication number however, these appear to be exacly sequential and paint a fair more accurate picture.
Once all UK cars are in the list, it will be a peice of cake to spot which ones are the first and last built and the same for each colour etc.
Just to give an example of the type of information this excerise is likely to yield:
Subject to finding a car with a higher fabrication number, It looks like the last manufactured RHD ph2 was UK car [v6plaque]352[/v6plaque] KR55SKV.
This car was manufactured 2 cars after [v6plaque]354[/v6plaque] (which we previously thought was the last). This will be confirmed once all UK cars are in the database.
[v6plaque]352[/v6plaque] is within the last 20 manufactured cars, however, is not the last ever black gold car, as there was a later car delivered to France.
(For info the VIN of [v6plaque]352[/v6plaque] is several thousand numbers higher than the Vin for [v6plaque]354[/v6plaque], so you can see how the VINs dont tell the full story for ph2s.)
[v6plaque]1396[/v6plaque] is currently the last manufactured ph2, so going by the fabrication numbers, [v6plaque]352[/v6plaque]s original plaque number would of been around [v6plaque]1377[/v6plaque]. Once I have completed this exercise and by comparing with the missing gaps from the known original plaque numbers in our register, we should be able to hone this down for any car which doesnt have a factory plaque number (UK cars or otherwise).
The story is slightly different for both ph1 and ph2 as you would imagine!
MarkK":3bkrcxqj said:
Im going to chance my reply on this now I'm into the meat of the project!
The prefix to the VIN is v6 specific, but the numerical part of the VINs appear to be applied when the base clio shell was made.
Please do keep your VIN information coming to me (see first post)!
