I have read that the last six of the vin (build sequence number) will usually start with 100001 and up (500001 for Toronado). My vin last six starts with a 2 (200001). It is a Lansing build but was sold new in Canada. Is that why?

 

If your VIN is 200001, it is the 100,000th car in VIN sequence. Would have nothing to do with it being sold in Canada.

 

Thanks Kurt! Well that's a bummer, I thought I had a low sequence number.

 

Just to double-check, what is the build date? (on the data plate)

 

I'll let you know in about an hour when it gets here from the transport.

 

Haven't checked the data plate yet but according to my GM of Canada docs it was built on May 19th, 1971. It was one of 358 imported.

 

Confirms your VIN indicating it was well into the production year.

 

The irony is that, in the late-60s/early-70s, Lansing was kicking out so many Oldsmobiles that sequence number 200001 would normally NOT be that far into the production year. For example, in the 1970 model year, #200001 was built in mid- to late-November of 1969.

The reason #200001 came so late for the 1971 model year was the long UAW/GM strike which occurred late in the 1970 calendar year.

 

Thanks for the info guys. Not to divulge my vin# but the last 6 are 2000xx with the last two digits below 100.

 

You do realize that any passerby can read the number when the car is parked, don't you? I'm similarly puzzled by people who fuzz out their license plate in pictures. Do they also cover the plate when they drive the car?

 

Good point Joe. I guess I'm always a little cautious online.

 

i have a 65 canadian olds and am floored by the production number of other cars. mine was built may 10, my vin 004586, 1759 hartop cutlass' sold in canada, and less than 138 with m20 4speed, yet the mustang for instance was over 100 thousand sold in america, if i remember correctly

 

Joe, I agree. And there are those that "hide" their documentation and/or parts of it like the VIN. I don't understand it. In fact, I see it as *more* protection to have the info "out there". Maybe it is because of the "identity theft" situation. But that is definitively not the same thing.
If that is indeed a risk, someone will have to explain it to me.

 

If it’s a numbers mathematical equation
hence why they are sequential numbers. So easy it hurts

They don’t want you to know this little fact