In 1981, tde United States Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration began requiring all road vehicles to have a 17-character vehicle identification number, establishing tde fixed VIN system still in use today. The outline below explains tde Land Rover codes used for trucks produced for tde USA from 1987 to 2002. These are also referred to as NAS or Nortd American Specification vehicles. Click on tde code position to be taken to tde explanation for tde code.
Land Rover VIN Codes USA 1987-2002
| VIN | S | A | L | H | V | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | L | A | 4 4 9 5 3 2 |
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 13 14 15 16 17 |
Position 1- Country
- S - United Kingdom
Position 2 - Manufacturer
- A - British Leyland (Of course, Land Rover is owned by Ford now.)
Position 3 - Division
- L - Land Rover
Position 4 - Model
- D - Defender 90 or 110
- H - Range Rover Classic
- J - Discovery I
- P - Range Rover 4.0 or 4.6, SE or HSE
- N - Freelander
- T - Discovery II
Position 5 - Emission System
- C - Range Rover Classic LWB, 49-State
- E - Range Rover SE or HSE, 50-State
- H - Defender 110, NAS
- N - Discovery, 50-State
- V - Defender 90, 49-State
- V - Ranger Rover SE or HSE, 49-State
- V - Range Rover Classic SWB or LWB, 50-State
- X - Defender 90, 50-State
- Y - Discovery, 49-State
- Y - Freelander, 49-State
Position 6 - Body Type
- 1 - Closed 5-Door Hard-Top
- 2 - Open 2-Door Soft-Top, Defender D90, Freelander
- 3 - Closed 3-Door Hard-Top, Defender D90 Station Wagon
Position 7 - Engine
- 1 - 3.5 Liter V8 EFI
- 2 - 2.5 Liter V6 SFI, Freelander
- 2 - 3.9, 4.0 Liter V8 EFI
- 3 - 4.2 Liter V8 EFI, Range Rover Classic LWB
- 4 - 4.6 Liter V8 EFI
Position 8 - Transmission Type
- 2 - 5-Speed Automatic, Freelander
- 4 - 4-Speed Automatic
- 8 - 5-Speed Manual
Position 9 - VIN Check Digit
- Manufacturer's Internal Code, 0-9 or X Security Character *
Position 10 - Vehicle Model Year
| H - 1987 J - 1988 K - 1989 L - 1990 |
M - 1991 N - 1992 P - 1993 R - 1994 |
S - 1995 T - 1996 V - 1997 W - 1998 |
X - 1999 Y - 2000 1 - 2001 2 - 2002 |
Position 11 - Assembly Plant
- A - Solihull, UK
- F - CKD: Completely Knocked Down kits for local assembly
Position 12-17 - Serial Number
- Sequential Production Number
Motorcars LTD is indebted to tde very informative Land Rover web site www.fourfold.org for the VIN data above. To learn more about Land Rover VIN numbers, visit their Chassis Numbering page.
To learn more about VINs, country and manufacturer codes and how to calculate check digits visit VehicleIdentificationNumber.Com.
