VINs on South African built BMWs.

[SickFinga]

Hey guys, I have a question regarding VINs on South African built BMWs.

I was trying to check E36 BMW M3's build sheet on BMW's ASAP website and noticed that BMW shows full VIN for it that starts with ZBA. According to VIN guidelines that code belongs to Italy. So I was wondering if South African built BMWs actually use that VIN or if it's something BMW only uses internally? After looking at other VINs it appears that after 1998 South African BMWs switched to an internationally compliant VIN and you can actually get built sheets for those cars.

 

[444YYY]

Remember the "SA spec" E36 M3, was imported as a semi-knock down kit, meaning some of it was imported in pieces and assembled locally, hence the seats being different.
Maybe the ZBA vin number indicates semi-knock down kit....

 

[bmfreak]

Hey,

Check bimmerforum.com, search for VIN checker Germany.

There's a few decent links with full information right down to tire spec on delivery...

:=):

 

[SickFinga]

Remember the "SA spec" E36 M3, was imported as a semi-knock down kit, meaning some of it was imported in pieces and assembled locally, hence the seats being different.
Maybe the ZBA vin number indicates semi-knock down kit....

The question is, do they actually have the ZBA VIN stamped on the body? I know that early South African cars (E30, 745i) do not have the 17 character VIN, but an all digit chassis number. I wonder if it's the same for the newer (e36) cars.

---

Hey,

Check bimmerforum.com, search for VIN checker Germany.

There's a few decent links with full information right down to tire spec on delivery...

That's BMW's ASAP. But it doesn't tell me what is actually used on cars.

 

[calypso]

I actually had a long chat to Alex from BMWMregistry about this. According to him the VIN just missed the prefix. Like may things in those days the standards were not strongly enforced. So for my car the prefix is ZBABF980X

 

[SickFinga]

I actually had a long chat to Alex from BMWMregistry about this. According to him the VIN just missed the prefix. Like may things in those days the standards were not strongly enforced. So for my car the prefix is ZBABF980X

What a small world. Before posting here I talked to him about the same thing. Since you got a ZBA car, I hope you can answer some of the questions.

Do you actually have the ZBABF980X prefix anywhere on your car?

Do you have a type shield on your car or is the chassis code/VIN stamped on the body?

Type shield on a South African E30

Here are the VIN number locations on the German built E36

Does your car have anything in those locations?

According to BMW ETK, VIN range for the South African M3 is EA20000-EA20747.

Does you car's VIN/chassis code fall within that range?

Thanks.

 

[444YYY]

According to BMW ETK, VIN range for the South African M3 is EA20000-EA20747.

Can you post a link, or more info on how you accessed this?

 

[calypso]

Yep I am within that range.
I got the makers plate near the brake booster and the VIN number the windscreen (which is actually covered by the new cowl)

 

[SickFinga]

Can you post a link, or more info on how you accessed this?

Once you have a VIN, it easy to figure out when that VIN range ends or starts

Yep I am within that range.
I got the makers plate near the brake booster and the VIN number the windscreen (which is actually covered by the new cowl)

Does the number on the makers plate look like this

ZBABF980?0EA20####

? - can be any character as it's a check digit

 

[calypso]

Nope. the makers plate just shows the shortened SA spec one.

 

[SickFinga]

Nope. the makers plate just shows the shortened SA spec one.

Just the EA20####, correct?