How To Decipher a Car's Vehicle Identification Number

Just like everyone has a Social Security number, every car that is manufactured has a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The automobile industry started using the VIN in the mid 1950s. The VIN is a series of numbers and letters etched on a small metal plate. The VIN tag is located on the far corner of the dashboard on the driver's side of the car (just about where the dashboard meets the front window).
While to the untrained eye, the VIN just looks a random series of letters and numbers. But when you know how to read the VIN, it tells all kinds of information about the specific car that you are looking at. You can find out where the car was manufactured, who manufactured the car and many attributes (engine type, body style and model) all from the numbers and characters in the VIN.
Although through the years, the VIN has had a different number of characters, the current VIN standard has 17 characters. And interestingly enough, the letters I, O and Q are not allowed in the VIN number. Here is a breakdown of the numbers and characters that make up the VIN for each car.