The decoding of the VIN number seems to crop up every now again, and 10 years on its hard to find the old PH info so here's a link to the original thread:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=8&a...

I've made this a WIKI so it may be easier to find in the future.

I think you made a mistake in the link "£8k E46? " ??????????????