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Thread: VIN location and type - question on 86 E24 ///M635CSi

  1. #1
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    Question VIN location and type - question on 86 E24 ///M635CSi

    guys - some quick questions on a M635CSi VIN type and location, production date was 1986-04-17 :

    Where other than on dash, the driver side door jamb and the passenger strut tower dome should i find VIN tags ?

    The VIN tag on the dash is NOT riveted - it looks very "home made" ??

    also cannot find any VIN tags on the usual locations like
    fenders, hood, doors, inside the bumpers, etc etc.

    i have searched and found only confusing comments.

    need a precise and exact answer from the pros ;-)

    thanks in advance for your replies and help !
    "I enter the wilderness with nothing but my journal and a childlike sense of wonder."

  2. #2
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    Look on the engine side of the firewall just above the #6 cylinder. The VIN is stamped in large letters along the upper edge near the center. You may need to move the wire harness that goes along the top edge to see the numbers.

  3. #3
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    Euro cars didn't have VINs on the dash, so the plate is in fact homemade by whoever imported the car. Body panel tags weren't even invented yet, but when they were those didn't apply to euros either.

  4. #4
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    You should have something like this on the right front shock tower ..... under the hood.


    By r_e_l at 2012-09-14
    ================
    1985 M635 (gone but not forgotten)
    1994 850CSi (also gone but not forgotten)
    1985 M635 (current obsession)

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Layne View Post
    Euro cars didn't have VINs on the dash, so the plate is in fact homemade by whoever imported the car. Body panel tags weren't even invented yet, but when they were those didn't apply to euros either.
    Funny story. When I bought my Euro model 635, it came with the VIN plate for the dash in a small envelope. The plate was black with an engraved VIN on the front, and a peel-and-stick adhesive strip on the back - most probably made at a trophy shop. When I went to register the car, I pulled the plate out and placed it neatly on the top side of the dash, then exited and locked the car. When the DMV employee came out to see the car, she peered through the windshield and verified the VIN. I finished my paperwork and when I came back to the car, I carefully scooped up the plate and put it back in the envelope and into the glove box.

    --Woody
    Last edited by woody6; 09-15-2012 at 10:45 AM.
    Woody

    1985 BMW M635CSi (the Silver Six)

  6. #6
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    Haha! I have the exact same plate, it's engraved exactly like the cheap trophys I received in elementary school.

    It's only added to the dash for convenience sake, so you don't have to explain what a euro car is to confused DMV employees all the time. There are no regulations about it, and you can remove it or not install it if you want.

  7. #7
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    I actually had problems with my vins for the euro cars. Are there less digits from US cars? My DMV required me to go through special inspection and weighing of the cars to get cleared for registration (even though the car was registered in the US). Each time the counter person punched the VIN in and they told me that they no record of the car and if I shipped it from abroad. Wasn't really a problem, I just had to schedule a separate inspection. Inspector barely walked over the car, he just told me "Classic Car huh?" I showed the inspector the VIN plate, he didn't even verify it with his paper. "All good!"
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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Roku35 View Post
    I actually had problems with my vins for the euro cars. Are there less digits from US cars?
    I guessing you had an early car. If memory serves, prior to 1982 there was no standard format for a VIN in the US. VIN numbers from different manufacturers were various all different, including length. I have my brother in law's 78 model BMW 633 in the garage now and the VIN is a 7 digit number. I had been using the 7 digit number to buy parts, just like I use the last 7 for my 1985 BMW. When I got ready to insure the 78, I went to look at the car to get the whole VIN, and the 7 digit number *IS* the whole VIN.

    --Woody
    Woody

    1985 BMW M635CSi (the Silver Six)

  9. #9
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    A '78 should have a 13 digit VIN under the hood. They only put the last 7 on the dash.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Layne View Post
    A '78 should have a 13 digit VIN under the hood. They only put the last 7 on the dash.
    Well this car of my brother-in-law's is the first E12-based 6 I've examined in detail, so I'm still learning. I went back out to the garage to examine it closer and to refresh my memory. This is a US spec car, a 78 model manufactured 12/77. Here is what I found:

    1. There is *no* vin on the dash at all (I had forgotten this)
    2. There is no plate on the inner fender like on my 85 model, but I did find the VIN stamped into the panel that separates the engine compartment from the heater blower area. This vin is only 7 digits.
    3 There is a VIN decal on the drivers side door, also only 7 digits.

    So was 1978 a transition year for short/long VINs? I though the change didn't happen until later.

    --Woody

    Woody

    1985 BMW M635CSi (the Silver Six)

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Roku35
    I actually had problems with my vins for the euro cars. Are there less digits from US cars? My DMV required me to go through special inspection and weighing of the cars to get cleared for registration (even though the car was registered in the US). Each time the counter person punched the VIN in and they told me that they no record of the car and if I shipped it from abroad. Wasn't really a problem, I just had to schedule a separate inspection. Inspector barely walked over the car, he just told me "Classic Car huh?" I showed the inspector the VIN plate, he didn't even verify it with his paper. "All good!"
    I usually ran into that problem with insurance. Yours are all E28-based right? The tenth character for US VINs should be an alpha character, but the euro cars just used a number...usually. My first euro was this way, but my second euro was not.


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    This is what I have (TP4-9170) and it’s dressed with alpina. Is it alpina?


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