South of the Border Mustang Registry

VIN DECODING

Not only were the Mexican and Venezuelan-built Fords serialized separately from their North American counterparts, they actually used an entirely different coding system. Commonly available Mustang decoding references are of no help whatsoever, leaving owners of these cars with virtually no information about their own vehicles!

These cars used a VIN format reserved for Ford cars assembled outside of their country of origin, which we can decode courtesy of information from Eric Ambrosino of the "Mustang Club de France" and Wolfgang Kohrn of the "First Mustang Club of Germany":

VIN Element

Meaning

Remarks

Country of Origin

A = Ford USA
B = England
C = Netherlands
G = West Germany
J = Australia
W = Spain

F/J/N/T

Production Facility

A = Australia*
(*Later (?) Cologne (Koln), West Germany)
B = Genk
C = Saarlouis
F = La Villa, Mexico City
G = Broadmeadows, Australia

J = Valencia, Venezuela
N = Amsterdam, Netherlands
P = Valencia, Spain
T = Lima, Peru

07/01

Body Code

Coupes Only (Except for 1973 Mexican Mach 1, using code "02")

A-W

Year of Production

(Calendar Year, not
Model Year -- Model
Year change appears
to have occurred on
or around 1 September
annually)

A = 1961	E = 1965	J = 1969	N = 1973	T = 1977
B = 1962	F = 1966	K = 1970	P = 1974	U = 1978
C = 1963	G = 1967	L = 1971	R = 1975	V = 1979
D = 1964	H = 1968	M = 1972	S = 1976	W = 1980

A-Y

Month of Production

(Cars built in
Venezuela prior to 1973
used the standard U.S.
"A-Z" coding, skipping
the letters "I" and "O".

Years	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1964 1968 1972 1976 1980	B	R	A	G	C	K	D	E	L	Y	S	T
1965 1969 1973 1977 1981	J	U	M	P	B	R	A	G	C	K	D	E
1966 1970 1974 1978 1982	L	Y	S	T	J	U	M	P	B	R	A	G
1967 1971 1975 1979 1983	C	K	D	E	L	Y	S	T	J	U	M	P

xxxxx

Consecutive Unit Number

Five digits only, starting with "10001" each model year.*
(*With the possible exception of cars produced at Ford's Amsterdam plant, whose numbering appears to cross model years.)

South of the Border Mustang Registry

VIN DECODING

Thus "AF07EA17943" would indicate a Mexican Coupe built in July 1965, the 7,943rd vehicle produced during that model year at the Mexico City plant.

Contact the South of the Border Mustang Registry at: mexmust@hammar.dyndns.org