Tom Mahan

When i purchased my car i was told it was an 81 but i just looked the vin number (JM1FB331XB0518792) up on www.rotorhead.ca and it said that it is a 1982. It said that the B after the X means it's a 1982 not an 81. Is there anything else i could use to noticeably tell the difference. Not a big deal i'm just curious.

thanks,

here's the link to the vin thing if it works..
http://www.rotorhead.ca/topic.php?fl=tech&cntnt=VIN-Tom

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

It is probably an '82 then. It may have been built in '81 and sold as an '82 model. Look at the production date on the driver side door jamb. If it was produced at the end of '81 through mid or so '82, then that is more info to assure you that it is an '82.

Myc1972

Hey Tom!

According to Carfax.com your car is from 1981.

Tom Mahan

Thanks...

Umm so could i say it's an 81 and a half lol idk what to think. And since there are no changes from 81 to 82 i can't really tell the difference.

but i just checked the door jam and it says 81

-tom

PaulFitzwarryne

The confusion arrises because the production of a model usually starts in the latter part of the previous year.

Thus for example. you could have a '1982' model produced in September 81 and first registered in November 1981.

The only time Mazda produced a 1/2 year model was the 1979. The first RX-7s were produced in March 78 but were called 79 models. When later there were several changes particularily in the lhd models, they were called late 79 models even if production started in 78!

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

What month does the door jam say?

Tom Mahan

i can't tell there conviently is a smuge type thing right on the year and all i can make out is 81. im never buying a foreign car again.

Aviator 902S

The B means it is an '82. Apparently somebody fucked up with the registration of your car early on. The tenth character letter designation began in 1981 with "A" and then just followed each new year in alphabetical order. Strange that they skipped the letter E, because my '85 has an F as the tenth character in the VIN, which designates the 1985 model run.

But for the record, the first run of a new model year quite often begins as early as late July of the previous year. By the time these vehicles reach North American showrooms it's late September--- just in time for dealers to brag that the have next year's cars in. My '85 is a classic case in point: It's an '85, but the date of manufacture is July of '84.

Aviator 902S

This VIN numbering system (ie: 10th character = model year) was adopted by most all manufacturers, not just Japanese. Having owned a couple of domestic cars and several Japanese ones, I'm never buying a domestic car again.

PaulFitzwarryne

Aviator- the problem with globalisation is what is domestic and what is foreign? Designed in one country, engine from another, and assemblied in a third. About the only thing guaranteed to be domestic is the registration plate.

Aviator 902S

Good point. In fact you could argue that some Hondas are domestic because they are assembled in North America. (ex: Accord) And that some Fords are foreign because they are actually manufactured by Mazda (ex: mid-90s Ford Escorts).

But for some reason Nissans assembled in Mexico and the states are built with the same quality, reliability and fit/finish as those shipped here from Japan. Meanwhile GM, Ford and Chrysler-designed vehicles built here or anywhere else for that matter still have a higher percentage of glitches, service bulletins, poor fit/finish and owner complaints than their Japanese-designed counterparts.

This tells me that a) North American workers can assemble cars as efficiently as their Japanese counterparts if given a proper design and manufacturing procedure, and
b) The big three are more concerned with flash and dash, and getting their vehicles slapped together in 20 minutes or less than they are with designing cars that are more reliable and don't develop squeeks and rattles within a month of purchase.

BTW, this comes from no less authority than Consumer Reports and Lemon Aid. No matter where a car is assembled or who by, it's the design and assembly procedure that decides durability and reliability. The big three are well capable of designing as good vehicles as any manufacturer in the world, but for some reason choose not to. Their current quality has improved drastically over the past 20 years, but is currently where the quality of Japanese makes were 15 years ago. This is why there are so few big three cars that I'd buy, and why I'll continue to buy Japanese until the big three catches up.

jays83gsl

Who said that there was only one year of 1/2 RX7?

My car is an 83 1/2