I took the information in post #1 from various Jaguar publications and tidied it up to make the presentation consistent and easier to read. Here is the source for my X300 table which is taken from JEPC (Jaguar Electronic Parts Catalogue):





You should check the VIN's in the two locations are consistent. Other than an error there, two explanations are possible:

1. the original Jaguar document is wrong (see the disclaimer I've boxed in red)
2. vehicles destined for the Far East market had in independent VIN coding which did not match the standard given above.

For (2), we have frequently found this issue with members who have imported Jaguars from Japan or Hong Kong. The same is likely to apply to Vietnam.

Graham

 

Hi Graham. The car is in the UK and a one family owned car from new. I'm 100% sure it was a UK market car only. I live in Vietnam. The two aren't linked. The VIN 6th position 'A' would attest to it being a UK market car.

I haven't been able to inspect the stampings on the body itself, just have the pics of windscreen and docs. Having previously been a qualified forensic vehicle examiner in the 1990's, I don't see why they would differ to the windscreen VIN. It would defeat the object for consistency. My observation is not a criticism of your stellar work to gather all this material, it is just a comment on the fact that the 'decoder' is incomplete or inaccurate. I know you haven't dreamt up these publications, Jaguar produced them. Which makes it even more of an oddity.

 

I've oft wondered if someone at JDHT could provide definitive information on the various VIN conventions? This VIN-confusion issue has been going on for decades and the commonly used parts/tech/service publications never seem to include (or even mention) the different systems.

Cheers
DD

 

Hi Doug. I'm asking JDHT specifically about the 10th position in my VIN plus some other questions that interest me. You can approach them to research anything you wish to for a price. That is 30GBP per hour plus VAT basically. I've asked 5 questions and will see what they can achieve within that hour. Certainly for UK X300's, the VIN translation appears correct apart from this 10th character.

 

In addition to this, I had a quick trawl through past auctions. This LWB 1995 model has the same 'BR' in the VIN: https://www.glenmarch.com/auction-ca.../80060/results
This 1995 SWB too: https://www.glenmarch.com/auction-ca.../47999/results
This shows the same chassis codes with 'BR' but 720318 as the unique chassis number. This is actually quite interesting because it is 193 from the 1st X300 chassis (720125). Yet the advert is quite specific about it being manufactured on the 14th October 1994 which is 24 days after my car, yet my chassis number is 723676, a whole 3358 later in sequence?! The ad states the car was 1st registered on the 11th November 1994 and used as a demo car at Jaguar for 2 years. https://www.themodernclassiccarco.co...xj12/xj12.html

The last one really has me confused now.

Edit. I spotted the PDI was done on the 28th Sept 1994 for the last car so couldn't possibly have been made on the 14th October. So, in all likelihood, one of the very earliest X305's.
Edit 2. One more with BR. 1996 car. https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/...6-0-litre-auto

 

I reckon there are numerous plausible explanations for these discrepancies....including simple human error in inputting data.

I'm sure that the cars did not roll down the assembly line in exact numeric sequence, though. And I think a VIN is assigned to a build order long before actual assembly begins.

It would be very fun to learn the exact process and sequence of events. A person with time on his hands would find it be a fascinating rabbit hole to dive into.

Cheers
DD

 

You are correct. JDHT clarified that question for me. Their response was, "The VIN is assigned at the very start of the process, at order time to the customer spec if built to customer order, or to whatever options were picked for a factory/stock order. It includes details of all the main elements, RHD/LHD, engine size, gearbox etc. The paperwork follows the car through the build process and the VIN is stamped into the body at the appropriate time and the VIN tag attached near the windscreen before the screen is fitted."

 

I had a reply from JDHT on this which confirmed my guess in relation to the 10th position and the letter 'B' representing the X300 model range.

My question to them: "What does the letter 'B' relate to in my VIN code? The 10th position is supposed to mean model or year code. But 'B' doesn't seem to refer to any published list for either the model or year. 1994 should be R, or if it was model year 1995, it should be 'S'."

Answer: *The ‘B’ relates to the model code in your case B = X300

 

It would be interesting to have JDHT find verification for that assertion in any of the VIN decode tables published by JLR.

Graham

 

I know! It really is a head scratcher. I'm thinking this 'year code' at position 10 may be a North American market thing as they tend to be more hung up on model year designations than elsewhere. By that I mean they tend to quote their MY rather than date registered when discussing their vehicles. Who knows...

 

Perhaps it was deliberate to obfuscate actual manufactured year as the prestige 12 cylinder models tended to be used for media events and also to stay on dealer inventory longer.

Strange things can happen. I had an XK8 Coupe (RHD) in the days when DVLA would still release full vehicle records on request. These show it was manufactured in 2000 and exported by JLR to a new dealership opening in Aachen, Germany where it was PDI'd. Ten months later with only 45 recorded miles, it was re-imported by JLR and registered as a 'new' 2001 vehicle. The import declaration states it was manufactured in Germany which was remarkable as JLR had no manufacturing facility there.

Graham

 

I'm sure the U.S. 'hang-up' on MY designation is because the EPA has SPECIFIC regulations for models and the YEAR for the mandated requirements.

Seems like every year the gov't becomes more stringent on safety and emission standards.
Manufacturers need to keep track of exactly WHEN a gov't demands a change in their product so a 'cut-off' point is set.

 

Makes complete sense as you described. Sorry, 'hung up' was probably not a good phrase to use. I didn't mean that you negatively focus on that. I really meant that it's more important to you guys to know what year spec it was built to, whereas in the UK we tend to only think about how many years it has been on the road after being registered.

 

I don't quite agree.

American cars have had clearly delineated model year breaks long before mandated safety/emission requirements. Having a VIN identifier began in the 50s with some brands. Of course, back then, the term "VIN" hadn't been invented. They were just "serial numbers" or "ID numbers".

But, yes, model year cut-offs and identifiers are used as you describe. Or in some cases, manipulated. I seem to recall a scheme where, for a period of time, California-bound XJSs built in 1991 were carrying 1990 VIN identifiers to circumvent some sort of state requirement.

Cheers
DD

 

Hi folks.

This thread started January 2022 but the question remains: Why is there a C in position 10 on some VIN, when really it could only be W, X or Y for the X308 according to documentation. It gets a little stranger still when we find out that Y means year 2000. I will get back to that.
After way too much digging I found out that you could find the answer by looking at how the VIN looks from year 2000 and onwards.
In 1999 they introduced a new VIN-system.

Take a look at this document: https://www.jaguarheritage.com/uploa...31-03-2020.pdf

In the table in that document, look at the first VIN in year 1999, and then the first in year 2000. If the last part of your VIN is a 6 digit number then it could be the very last 6-digit numbers of year 1999 or earlier. If the last part is F plus 5-digit number then it is the new type of VIN.

So, how do I take a guess on the year then? Now look at page 2 in that document. There you will be able to see the very first VIN for the model 2000 of the X308 in August 1999 was sequential number F00103. You can use the table to just about guess the manufacturing year.

Lets take SAJDKANF4CR863971 as an example. It has C in 10th position and we are none the wiser about the year. The sequential number in the end is 863971 so a real fair guess would be year 1999.or December 1998 if you extrapolate 3,200 units a month produced.

So, now a dealer cannot claim it is a year 2000 model or some story like that. Because you know better, and you can pass judgement with the dealer wimping and crying for mercy. Or maybe just cut him some slack on the details.

Back to the Y for year 2000: No idea if that has ever been used. Just maybe there was a very little handful of model 2000 produced in the fist few days of August 1999 still using the "old" VIN-system. If that hypothesis is true then you must have a really seldom car indeed if you have a Y in the 10th position of your X308.

 

Oh, the thread stretches back to 2015. Wow.

 

Anyone know some reliable online VIN decoder for Jaguar cars and Vehicle history service by VIN?

 

For a Jaguar-specific VIN lookup and to see the full factory options or build details, using a dedicated VIN-based Window Sticker or build sheet service is usually the most reliable.