VIN numbers

[KOnahic]

Is there a spot on the frame of early (mid 60's) 7's where the VIN number is stamped into the frame, or is the plate near the master cylinder(LHD cars) the only spot? 

    Thanks, Kurt

[SENC]

Not the VIN, but a frame number is stamped on the frame, beside the master cylinder bracket (at least on my RHD).

 

 

And here is a link from the lotus 7 register site, with a little more information... Lotus Seven Register - Miscellany (lotus7register.co.uk)

 

[kayentaskier]

Kurt,

Have you sold your 7? I'm sorry I never got the chance to stop by to see it, although I did see you driving it on the Queens Highway a few days after you listed it for sale. My wife and I both contracted Covid last Winter, which prevented any social interaction. We've since sold the Big Island home and returned to So UT.

 

Croc can correct me, but in most cases the number on the frame is NOT a VIN, in most cases the individual states assign their own VIN. For example, my second Caterham was originally licensed in New Hampshire, the VIN was NH followed by 6 digits. In the case of my 2020 Caterham, licensed in UT, they used the 17 digit Caterham chassis number as the VIN

Jim

[Croc]

 

Henry @SENC has it correct for the frame number.  There was also a chassis plate which was riveted in various places under the bonnet - firewall under, flat area near pedal box, or battery.  The chassis number was usually the initial VIN.  As Jim @kayentaskier notes, later, as DMVs found they had multiple 4 digit VINs of differing manufacturer cars, they shifted to adding numbers as a suffix to keep vehicles uniquely identified before some states migrated to their own VIN sequences completely and added their own VIN plates riveted to the firewall - California and Colorado spring to mind.  

 

The only other stamped number you will possibly find is an Arch Chassis stamp around the base of the passenger side roll bar mount near the shock absorber mount.  

[panamericano]

The VIN as we know it was not legally mandated until 1969.  Prior, each jurisdiction did their own thing, as noted above.  I had a registration (1950s hot rod 32 Ford) which listed the Chassis # and separately the Motor #.  My Birkin is titled in Texas as a 1965 Lotus, with the 3 digit chassis # and that's all.  It was originally titled that way in Illinois.    I once registered (30 day only) a Shelby prototype with only the 3 digit chassis #, around 1993.  The impulse for the VIN system we have now was that states had multiple cars with the same 3 or 4 digit #s.