Re: IML: IML Year ID question

[Christopher Hoffman <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Take Dick's word for it... he's owned all three model years, and he knows
his stuff!

1981 was the first year for the industry-standardized 17-digit VIN, in which
the 1st number indicates country of origin (1=USA, 2=Canada, 3=Mexico...
guess who came up with the system!), and the 2nd the manufacturer or make.
On all three years, Imperial used an A, separate from the Chrysler-badged
lines.

It was not until the 1990 4-door model that the VIN began with 1C, because
those were, for the first time since 1954, models within the Chrysler
Division... and they were (unlike the Windsor, Ontario-built 2-doors) once
again built stateside, in Belvidere, IL (now home of the Neon).

One cause of this confusion, besides the fact that everyone seems to call
1955-83 Imperials "Chrysler Imperials," was that most dealerships had
removed their "Chrysler/Plymouth/Imperial" signage after the fullsize
Imperial was dropped in 1975. By the time the Imperial resurfaced for 1980,
you just bought one from your Chrysler-Plymouth dealer.

On 1/16/05 4:27 pm, Mark and Theresa Elliott (deadfishe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
wrote:

> The information that I got from Bill Watson a few years ago (when I was
> building the Imperial Registry), said that an 81 is a "C" and 82 and 83s
> are "A".  I haven't verified this independently.  If some one can prove me
> wrong, please do so, so I can get the Imperial Registry and the VIN decoder
> fixed.
> 
> Mark Elliott
> At 12:46 PM 1/16/2005 -0800, you wrote:
>> From: "Dick Benjamin" <dickb@xxxxxxxxx>
>> Subject: RE: IML: IML Year ID question
>> Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 17:29:29 -0800
>> Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Um... The second character will always be an "A" for an Imperial.  Lesser
>> cars have lower characters (meaning further down the alphabet, of course,
>> and not implying a difference in moral fiber at all).
>> 
>> Dick Benjamin



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