I tried car fax but the vin is too short. I'm sure this has been asked lots before. We've owned it since 92 but just wanted to have the documentation. Thanks

 

Carfax only deals with cars that have 17 character VINs, which is 1981-newer. Records for older vehicles are primarily on paper. There is no reason why anyone would waste the time an money to digitize them. In many cases, the paper records have been disposed of anyway.

 

Ok I'll try the dmv sometime,thanks

 

I was able to find data on epicvin.com for mine, but there was data to find. What I mean is, epicvin can take a 13 digit vin, but it only tracks history from the age of the internet, so I only found some things back to 95.

 

It wouldn't take the VIN for my '78 Toro.

 

Number five? Seriously? Kewl.

 

Yes, it is. I've mentioned this elsewhere on this site previously. Because it's a '78, I was able to get the dealer invoice from the GM Heritage Center, and it has dates on it that also indicate an early build. The cowl tag shows a build date of 8C, third week of August 1977.

I have an XS, and that feature is shown as an option ($2700) on the invoice (wrap-around rear glass, power moon roof). I wrote back to the Heritage Center and asked them if they could tell me, without me having to pay $50 for each VIN, if the Toros with the previous four VIN serial numbers (700001, 700002, 700003, and 700004) did or did not have the XS option. I thought that, maybe, if my car was the fifth Toro built for '78, maybe it was the first XS built. They were glad to help and told me that VINs 700003 and 700004 also had the XS option, and they did not have invoices for 700001 and 700002. So my car, is, at best, the third XS built for 1978. I always wondered, though, if cars actually came off the line in VIN order. I've heard stories on both sides of this question.

I asked why they didn't have invoices for 00001 and 00002, and they didn't know. SInce they're supposed to be dealer invoices, maybe the first two cars were never shipped to a dealer but kept by the factory for one reason or another. I suppose we'll never know.

Here's a photo of the actual VIN plate.

 

That means there's no data. That doesn't mean it considers it an invalid vin. Most of my cars get that error because they haven't been sold in the past 20 years.

 

My 67 Delta was purchased and registered within the last four years and it doesn't show up either.

 

Here's the cowl tag. I've been able to decode everything except the AM6 and 74X. I think the AM6 refers to split front bench seat, which the car has with each side with its own power controls. The invoice, though, shows "codes" of AG1 and AG2 for the left and right power seats. I have no idea on the 74X. There is no mention of a 74X on the invoice. All the option codes shown start with a letter.

It took me a little while to figure out the W in the top row. The E refers to the E body style, Toronado Brougham according to the '78 chassis manual. But there's no mention of a W. I found the answer in the '77 service manual, and it's a little weird. Remember that Olds originally intended to have a third Toro style for 1977, the XSR, to go along with the XS and the plain Brougham. The XSR was to have the power T-top, and early '77 Olds sales literature talked about the XSR. But they ultimately didn't put it into production because they couldn't get the power mechanism to work reliably enough, or so the story goes.

The '78 service manual, on the VIN page, shows only one line for Toronado VINs. "Toronado Brougham, Series EZ, Sales and VIN CODE Z." By all rights, my car, being a '78, should have a Z where the W is in the top row. That was apparently the only VIN code used that year, and my car does say "Brougham" on it on the inside of each door. All '78 Toros, XS or not, were Broughams.

The '77 service manual, on the other hand, has THREE lines for Toro VINS. The top one is the same as for 1978. The second one says "Toronado XSR, Series EW, Sales and VIN Code W." The third one says "Toronado XS, Series EZ, Sales and VIN code Z."

So my car has the 1977 XSR Series code even though it is a 1978 and there were no '78 (or '77) XSRs. As I said, I would think my car should have a Z where the W is, but what are you going to do? I wonder if the fact that it's a very early build has anything to do with it. Probably not. But I do love mysteries.

By the way, my '77 manual has no printing date on the first page. It just says Copyright 1977, suggesting that it was not printed in late 1976 but was an edition put out later in the model year. My '78 manual shows a printing date of 12/2/77 and a copyright date of 1977.

 

Even though it says INVALID VIN in big black letters right on the screen?

What the site should say is "VIN not in database" or something like that. It shouldn't be saying that the entered VIN is not valid (implying that I've typed it in wrong or something like that) when it most certainly is.

 

Ok, then I don't know. It's worked on a few cars I have, and others it doesn't.

 

from another thread.