Range Rover VINs Explained Up to October 79 the VIN number prefix's looked like this:
355 Manual, home RH stg, 2 door, pre Oct 1979, petrol
356 Manual, export RH stg, pre Oct 79 model, petrol
358 Manual, export LH stg detoxed, 2 door, pre Oct 79, petrol
Between October 79 and the introduction of the 1985 model year it
looked something like this: LHABV1AA Manual, RH stg, 2 door, post Oct 79, petrol
LHABV2AA Presumably, LH stg, 2 door, post Oct 79, petrol
- but not confirmed, and presumably LHAMV2AA also exists
LHAMV1AA Manual, RH stg, 4 door, post Oct 79 model, petrol
BSALLHABV1AA In Vogue ???
SALLHABV2AA ?
SALLHABV8AA ? SALLHAMV1AA Manual, 4 door, RH stg, post Oct 79 model, petrol
SALLHAMV2AA Manual, LH stg, 4 door, post 1979 model, petrol SBALLHARV1AA Manual, RH stg, 4 door Monteverdi, post Oct 79, petrol
There is a LH stg Monteverdi number also - probably 2AA SALLHAMV3AA Automatic, RH stg, 4 door, 1984 model, petrol
SALLHAMV7AA Manual, RH stg, 4 door, 1984 model, petrol
From 1985 model year onwards, all prefix's appear to be of the form: SALLHAxxxyAnnnnnn The nnnnnn component is easy, this is just a unique number and
appears to run from 0000001 right up to whatever the latest
vehicle was to start making its way down the line. The y component indicates the model year of production, sounds
simple doesn't it - not quite. It is a single letter,
matching the UK registration/index number year of registration
prefix (used to be a suffix - until they ran out of letters) -
still with me? Now to confuse matters further, UK vehicle
registration years run August 1 to July 31 - Land Rover
production years don't. For example, the current registration
prefix is L which indicates a 94 model year vehicle,
unfortunately, current build Range Rovers are 95 model year
and have been since about March, hense have vin number
prefix of SALLHAMxxxMA even though the M prefix doesn't come
into effect until August.
Now for the difficult one, the xxx component - this is the one that identifies the build, there are lots of them, the ones I
have come across follow: BV7 Manual, RH stg, 2 door, petrol BM3 Automatic (PI), RH stg, 2 door CSK, petrol MV3 Automatic, RH stg, 4 door, petrol
MV4 Automatic, LH stg, 4 door, petrol
MV7 Manual, RH stg, 4 door, petrol ML3 Automatic (PI), home RH stg, 4 door, petrol
ML7 Manual (PI), RH stg, 4 door, petrol ME7 2.4 Manual, RH stg, 4 door, diesel MN7 2.5 manual, RH stg, 4 door, diesel MF7 Manual, RH stg, 4 door, Tdi diesel
MF3 Automatic, RH stg, 4 door, Tdi diesel
For a definitive list you need to refer to the Parts Catalogue for the
era of vehicle you are interested in. Same goes for the engine
numbers, though they appear to have been consistently identified by the
first three characters in the number.
I hope this goes part way to answering your questions. Regards Rich
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