What month did Griffith production start?

[hillclimbmanic]

stevesprint said:

V8 GRF said:

The chassis # is indeed the key to the age of the car.
The following is I believe how the VIN # for the Griffith is deciphered......

V8 GRF
Brilliant post and very well explained, thanks. This means my Griff was manufactured in April 1992 which sounds right for a car first registered in July 1992. You can also identify a very early Precat chassis, as they don’t have the roll over bar mounts on the top chassis rail that you can see though the rear arches.

hillclimbmanic said:

My vin is SDL-D-GN-*-P-*-NA-01****

Does anyone know the significance of the GN (engine).??
Manic

Manic,
I guess in yours and my case Griffith No cats.

The 500SEs are a mystery especially the fuel type of R.

Oops! I meant to ask about the number...The table says GN4...Mine is GN9 ??


Manic

[davep]

stevesprint said:

V8 GRF said:

The chassis # is indeed the key to the age of the car.
The following is I believe how the VIN # for the Griffith is deciphered......

V8 GRF
Brilliant post and very well explained, thanks. This means my Griff was manufactured in April 1992 which sounds right for a car first registered in July 1992. You can also identify a very early Precat chassis, as they don’t have the roll over bar mounts on the top chassis rail that you can see though the rear arches.

Thanks, works for my car as well, built May 1992 and first registered 27 June 1992.

[geeman237]

V8 GRF said:

The chassis # is indeed the key to the age of the car.

The following is I believe how the VIN # for the Griffith is deciphered.


First 3 letters. SDL is TVR's individual manufacturer identifier.
D = Model = Griffith.
Next 2 characters are engine variation.
P = petrol.
Next number is random security number.

The next two are the year and month identifiers relevant to this topic.

Next letter is the build year (A=1980 B=1981 and so on - i is not used) - Build years started in September for the October Motorshow apparently - so it is possible to have a 1990 registered car on a 1991 build year.

Next letter is the build month (A=Jan B=Feb and so on - i is not used)

Next 2 numbers are place of manufacture(?)

Final 4 numbers shows the build #/unique identifier element.

8. SDL D G N4 P * ** 01 **** : Griffith 400 non catalyst (1991 – 1992)
9. SDL D G C4 P * ** 01 **** : Griffith 400 catalyst (1991 – 1993)
10. SDL D G N3 P * ** 01 **** : Griffith 430 non catalyst (1991 – 1992)
11. SDL D G C3 P * ** 01 **** : Griffith 430 catalyst (1991 – 1993)
12. SDL D G C5 P * ** 01 **** : Griffith 500 (1993 – 1997)
13. SDL A A 04 R * ** 00 **** : Griffith 500 and 500SE(1998 – 2002) (Code numbers changed from 1998 on)

This is helpful, thank you. I may be wrong, but I am not sure about the month being right. I did some more digging on VIN coding and in general it goes something like this.
First 3 digits are country and manufacturer
the next 5 are to identify specification specifics, with the following breakdown (I think)
Digit 4 and 5 are the model
Digit 6 is the body type
Digit 7 is the engine type
Digit 8 is the transmission type
Digit 9 is a 'check digit' only. Its not relevant in the cars spec.
Digit 10 is the model year
Digit 11 is the manufacturing plant
Digits 12-17 are the unique vehicle serial number.

I will stand to be corrected on this understanding if others know better.

Digits 4 thru 8 are going to be TVR specific, and whatever coding system they devised to conform with the VIN structure regulations. Maybe someone on here knows, or the Club has access to this information.
Do the cars have a factory applied data plate with the VIN, and say engine number, body number, and colours stamped on them, and maybe date of manufacture? I know my 1994 Jaguar XJS did on the door jamb. But that was a US spec car and regulations can be different.

It would be helpful for some owners to post their cars VIN (omit the final serial number) and state the model they have with engine and then it might be easy to decode the 4 thru 8 digits meaning.

Here is an good link to the decoding of the Jaguar XJS VIN scheme. It seems there may have been 2 systems, a ROW (Rest of World) and US.
http://www.jag-lovers.org/books/xj-s/01-TheXJS.htm...

Thanks again for all the information on the cars production dates.

[Colin RedGriff]

The year letter also doesn't include the letters o and q as well as the i that V8 GRF mentioned

Here's a table of the year letters

http://support.alldata.com/alldata-repair-online-a...

[Pete Mac]

Colin RedGriff said:

The year letter also doesn't include the letters o and q as well as the i that V8 GRF mentioned

Here's a table of the year letters

http://support.alldata.com/alldata-repair-online-a...

Which makes my Griff September 1995, which confirms the date on the chassis and the date of first registration - much more plausible. Pete

[Colin RedGriff]

I was struggling to make my 1996 chassis number fit the code until I started googling

[UKAuto]

You can also try: http://tvr.co.uk/cocs if you get serious about a car. I would probably make an acceptable date a condition of sale. If you find the right car that is a few months to go you could secure it, and put it in storage. (I have a friend who let his hit the date in transit! He was nervous the container might arrive earlier than promised).

At present there is one very very early Griffith in Canada. It is a yellow one that was imported a few years ago. The owner commented that he may sell it (it is not his only Griffith). I am confident it was a 1992 dated car. Another friend here in Canada has a left hand drive car that was sold new in Canada (but it is a 1993, so longer to store and wait). Very nice shape, some paint chips and due for a roof, but otherwise lovely - as a guide he was asking $44k last I recall. LHD is getting a large premium, so you can save a bundle going RHD.

Good luck.

[UKAuto]

one more thought, buy it at 24 years so you beat the US competition and get for a better price. Storage can be cheap, and you can have a specialist in the UK go over it prior to shipping.

one more one more thought...

also, check you insurance company, mine would not do RHD - I had a Defender that I needed to insure with another company.

Cheers

[geeman237]

UKAuto said:

one more thought, buy it at 24 years so you beat the US competition and get for a better price. Storage can be cheap, and you can have a specialist in the UK go over it prior to shipping.

one more one more thought...

also, check you insurance company, mine would not do RHD - I had a Defender that I needed to insure with another company.

Cheers

Thanks for the CoC link and information, however, the sample shown still does not show the date of manufacture. As for buying one early and storing it, probably not. I have no idea how much storage is in the UK these days, and by that I mean good storage that may also incorporate starting the car up periodically and making sure its still running. I am sure a Griffith does not like to just sit. Then there would be storage insurance to consider, and how to handle the V5 for what I assume would be temporary UK ownership. I did export a car from the UK to the US when I emigrated but I'd owned the car for nearly 20 years. I really can't see there being a huge US demand for the cars, maybe somewhere in the tens of???? I have 3 RHD cars here in the US all under one classic policy and there was no problem with RHD.

[BJWoods]

geeman237 said:

Thanks for the CoC link and information, however, the sample shown still does not show the date of manufacture. As for buying one early and storing it, probably not. I have no idea how much storage is in the UK these days, and by that I mean good storage that may also incorporate starting the car up periodically and making sure its still running. I am sure a Griffith does not like to just sit. Then there would be storage insurance to consider, and how to handle the V5 for what I assume would be temporary UK ownership. I did export a car from the UK to the US when I emigrated but I'd owned the car for nearly 20 years. I really can't see there being a huge US demand for the cars, maybe somewhere in the tens of???? I have 3 RHD cars here in the US all under one classic policy and there was no problem with RHD.

even a small/moderate demand would have an impact I think..
Only ~750 griff 4.0/403 built and ~2500-3000 tops Griff 500's . and a quite a lot have been destroyed by now.

I think the statistics is ratio of griffs to Etype built is - 1:72.

so world wide tiny numbers

[hillclimbmanic]

hillclimbmanic said:

On the back of my dash, is written " 02-04-91 " and signed "G Gills"

Sounds rather early??



Manic

[geeman237]

BJWoods said:

even a small/moderate demand would have an impact I think..
Only ~750 griff 4.0/403 built and ~2500-3000 tops Griff 500's . and a quite a lot have been destroyed by now.

I think the statistics is ratio of griffs to Etype built is - 1:72.

so world wide tiny numbers

Destroyed? Do Griffiths have a high crash rate?

[FlipFlopGriff]

geeman237 said:

Destroyed? Do Griffiths have a high crash rate?

In the first 12 months when owners aren't used to the power.
FFG

[bryn_p]

Sorry to drag this old topic up but can anyone tell me what year this Griff 500 VIN is? I think 1999 or 2002?

SDLAA04R2XB002116

Cheers,
Bryn.

[Moycie]

bryn_p said:

Sorry to drag this old topic up but can anyone tell me what year this Griff 500 VIN is? I think 1999 or 2002?

SDLAA04R2XB002116

Cheers,
Bryn.

SDL AA 04 R 2 XB 002116

The year will be X= 2000, B= Feb
(A=1980, B=1981, etc - miss out i, o and q)
(A=Jan, B=Feb, etc)

Funnily enough, the same as mine. And it was registered March 2000 in my case.

[bryn_p]

Moycie said:

SDL AA 04 R 2 XB 002116

The year will be X= 2000, B= Feb
(A=1980, B=1981, etc - miss out i, o and q)
(A=Jan, B=Feb, etc)

Funnily enough, the same as mine. And it was registered March 2000 in my case.

Brilliant, thanks for your help!

Cheers,
Bryn.