4x4s.org CHASSIS NUMBER DECODER · 1948–2016

Land Rover Series chassis number decoder

Land Rover Series chassis number decoder

Enter a chassis number or VIN from the plate or the chassis rail. The decoder reads every numbering scheme used from 1948 to 2016 — 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 numbers with suffix letter of 1962–79, and the 14- and 17-character VINs from 1980 — and returns the year or model year, model and wheelbase, market, engine, plant and design-change suffix, with a link to the vehicle in the registry. Decoding runs in the browser; nothing is sent.

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 →

Questions

Where is the chassis number on a Land Rover?
Series I 80-inch: on the nearside engine mounting and the bulkhead plate. Series I 86/107 and every 88/109 Series: on the bulkhead plate inside the vehicle and stamped on the right-hand front spring hanger. Ninety, One Ten and Defender: behind the left-hand corner of the windscreen, on the plate on the brake pedal box and stamped on the right-hand chassis rail ahead of the front spring turret.
What year is my Series Land Rover from its chassis number?
Numbers from 1950 to 1961 carry the year as a digit (first digit 1950–55, fourth digit 1956–61). From the Series IIA of 1962 to 1979 there is no year in the number at all: the suffix letter dates design changes, so the year comes from the serial against club records or a Heritage Certificate. From 1980 the VIN's tenth character is a model-year code.
What does the suffix letter on a Series IIA or III chassis number mean?
A design-change marker, not a year. A from the IIA's introduction in October 1961, B from March 1963, C from April 1966, D from 1967 (negative earth, the six-cylinder), E from March 1968, and on through F, G and H; the Land Rover FAQ dates each by its Service Newsletter.
How do I read a Defender VIN?
SAL (Europe, UK, Land Rover), LD (Ninety/One Ten/Defender), then one character each for the class (wheelbase), body, engine and transmission, a model-year code, the plant and a six-digit serial. The decoder above reads each position and links the vehicle in the registry.
Is the decoder official?
No. It is the registry's research: the factory manuals as the Series One Club and the Land Rover FAQ transcribe them, with the VIN code tables the enthusiast decoders publish. For a build record the British Motor Museum's Heritage Certificate is the authority.