Decoding the Tri-Five Chevys 55 56 57 Passenger Car VIN

Decoding the Tri-Five Chevy 55 56 57 Passenger Car VIN

Vehicle Identification Number (VIN): The VIN tag is located on a stainless steel plate that is spot welded to the driver's side front door jamb. Although, hard to see, Chevrolet also had the vehicle identification number stamped on the frame roughly below the drivers seat.

Decoding the VIN number:

Digit 1 - Model Type

The VIN may be ten or eleven characters long. The letter "V" before the first digit is the eleventh character, and denotes a V8 engine in the 1955 - 1957 cars. For cars originally equipped with a six cylinder engine, the "V" was omitted and the VIN would be only ten characters long rather than eleven..

Code	Years	Series	Model Type
A	55-57	1500	150
B	55-57	2100	210
C	55-57	2400	Bel Air
D	55-57	1508	Sedan Delivery
E	55-57	2934	Corvette

Digits 2-3 - Year Of Vehicle

Code	Year
55	1955
56	1956
57	1957

Digit 4 - Assembly Plant

Code	Assembly Plant
A	Atlanta, GA
B	Baltimore, MD
F	Flint, MI
J	Janesville, WI
K	Kansas City, MO
L	Los Angeles, CA
N	Norwood, OH
O	Oakland, CA
S	St. Louis, MO
T	Tarrytown, NY

Digit 5+ - Sequence Number

Each plant used their own sequence numbers and usually started with number - 001001 for 1955 and 1956, and 10001 for 1957. This number became the car's serial number.

The format, and possibly the content of this article has been modified.

Special Thanks to San Jose Classic Chevys for this article.

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