South of the Border Mustang Registry

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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 ElementMeaningRemarks
ACountry of OriginA = Ford USA
B = England
C = Netherlands
G = West Germany
J = Australia
W = Spain
F/J/N/TProduction 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
07/01Body CodeCoupes Only (Except for 1973 Mexican Mach 1, using code "02")
A-WYear 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-YMonth of Production

(European and Mexican
models only. Cars built
in Venezuela and Peru
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
xxxxxConsecutive Unit NumberFive 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.)

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