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VINs outside North
America, and the VINs found stamped into the rain tray of all
Cabriolets, contain four "Z"s. For North American
Cabriolets, these are merely filler digits.
The rain tray VINs were standard issue as the
cars rolled off the initial phase of the assembly line; the only
difference between these standard-issue model-year VINs is the
sequential production number. Locations outside of the
USA & Canada do not require the same VIN information (many locations, including Europe,
still require only a
13-digit VIN) and, therefore, use filler digits during stamping to
make the initial assembly process easier and faster.
For example, if 30,000 Cabriolets were built
for the 1985 model year, the first Cabriolet built for that year
would have WVWZZZ15ZFK000001, while the last 1985 Cabriolet would
have a WVWZZZ15ZFK030000 stamped into the rain tray. As the cars went through final
assembly, they received their official, individual VINs based on
their destination; it was at this time that North American Cabriolets
obtained their non-"Z" VINs, while cars destined for sale in Europe
received the "Z" VIN on the door plate, the dash plate and
on the build sheet. Using the same example, that
first 1985 Cabriolet was destined for, let's say, the USA; it's official VIN would be WVWCA0158FK000001 (the internal check
code varies and may not actually be an 8). The last Cabriolet
for 1985 was destined for, let's say, Italy; it's official VIN
would be WVWZZZ15Z030000. Two build sheets are shown below
(with the last 3 digits blurred for security reasons), so that you
can see the differences between these official VINs. |
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The above information was verified by Volkswagen AG:
