4×4S.ORGTHE REGISTRY CHASSIS NUMBER DECODER · 1948–2016

Land Rover Series chassis number decoder

Decode a Land Rover chassis number

Type the number from the plate or the chassis rail. The decoder reads every scheme Solihull used — the L/R-prefixed numbers of 1948–49, the eight-digit numbers of 1950–55, the nine-digit numbers of 1956–61, the eight-digit-and-suffix numbers of 1962–79 and the 14- and 17-character VINs from 1980 to the last Defender — and tells you the year or model year, the model and wheelbase, the market, the engine, the plant and the design-change suffix, with a link to the vehicle in the registry. Nothing leaves your browser.

What it reads

1948–49L/R + 6–7 digits
R860001 · L8670001 — hand of drive, model, serial.
1950–558 digits
26130001 · 47230001 — year first, then model and destination.
1956–619 digits
111700001 · 164000001 — model and market, then the year.
1962–798 digits + letter
24101876A · 95600001A — model and market, serial, design-change suffix. No year digit.
1980–2016VIN, 14 or 17 characters
LBCMV2AA100876 · SALLDHAV1AA173075 — model, class, body, engine, transmission, model year, plant, serial. North American VINs too.

What it cannot tell you

A 1962–79 number has no year in it: the suffix letter dates the design changes, not the build. The VIN's year letter was used twice (A–G in 1983–90 and again in 2010–16); the engine code usually settles it. Prefix tables come from the factory manuals as the Series One Club and the Land Rover FAQ transcribe them; the two main VIN decoders disagree on some later class letters, and the page says so where they do. For a build date, an original specification or a registration history, a Heritage Certificate from the British Motor Museum is the record.

The chassis-number tables by marque →