The Mystery of the Hand Stamped VIN

[FunElan]

I've owned my 68 1600 for 13 years and somehow just made the realization that my VIN tag looks different than others. For starters, it's missing the "1968" stamp, and the font indicates it was clearly stamped by hand. Weirdly, it's a 2/68 build but has been registered as a '69 in CA since new. 

 

I started looking for other examples and have even consulted some of the elders on the board. We're somewhat stumped. Anyone ever see another one like this? 

 

3 examples I've found so far: 

 

1563167 - my car, built 2/68

1565803 - Sold on BAT, built 69: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1969-bmw-1600-8/

1562736 - Sold on BAT, built 1/68: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1968-bmw-1600-18/

[esty]

i'd speculate it was an alignment issue at the stamping factory

 

[mccusername]

Shhhhhh... don't ask....

 

[HBChris]

Matt, They were all hand stamped so variations occur.  I thought only some 2002s in 1968 had the year stamp.  Conserv will know.

[02Les]

I have pics of quite a few 1600-2 & 2002 cars with same stamping style on the VIN plates, and all plates are missing the year stamp. It seemed it was intermittent throughout the first 6 months of 1968.

[tahoedon]

Here’s my vin tag.  It was manufactured on 2/2/68.  I bought it new on 3/23/69.  Previously it was disputed by some, but the salesman told me that it is registered based on the year it was sold.  So mine was registered as a 69 model.  For 40 years I referred to it as an early 69, especially when buying points, not realizing that it was actually a 68 model.

[FunElan]

22 minutes ago, tahoedon said:

Here’s my vin tag.  It was manufactured on 2/2/68.  I bought it new on 3/23/69.  Previously it was disputed by some, but the salesman told me that it is registered based on the year it was sold.  So mine was registered as a 69 model.  For 40 years I referred to it as an early 69, especially when buying points, not realizing that it was actually a 68 model.

 

Interesting! Thanks for chiming in. Mine came off the line 6 days later. Probably the same scenario as yours. What was your black plate tag? Was the car just sitting on the lot until you bought it? Would love to see old photos of it

[tahoedon]

Not sure what the history was, but it was sitting in the back corner of the lot dirty and the weatherstripping all dried out.  Probably had some damage to the drivers side quarter panel because the paint was a slightly different color which I did not realize until I had some body work done on it a few years later.  Pictures? Very few.  Didn’t have phones with cameras back then, but here goes.  Washing the car the day I bought it and 10 years later with home made bike racks and with the bike I built and raced for 5 years.

[Lorin]

My ‘68 1600 1560300 has the numbers stamped in a very straight , even row , although not well lined up to the box it’s intended to be in, and it has 1968 stamped in the box to the right of “1600-2”

 

 

[rcf925]

My 6-68 2002 vin has the year stamped

 

[Lorin]

Also, my car has the numbers in a completely different font than the three shown in the OP. 
 

Mine look the same as the post above this one and I found several 67-68 1600s with the same font as mine. Not sure what to make of that ...

 

 

[AustrianVespaGuy]

Mine's hand stamped because *I* stamped it! (It's a replacement), though I of course still have the super-crappy illegible original too for authenticity/posterity.  Giveaway though is the weight is also stamped, not printed.

[FunElan]

4 hours ago, Lorin said:

Also, my car has the numbers in a completely different font than the three shown in the OP. 
 

Mine look the same as the post above this one and I found several 67-68 1600s with the same font as mine. Not sure what to make of that ...

 

 

 

That's how most look. Hence why I posted. Mine looks different, but now we know it's more common than I thought.

[Lorin]

10 minutes ago, FunElan said:

 

That's how most look. Hence why I posted. Mine looks different, but now we know it's more common than I thought.

I wonder why there is two different styles of vin plates in this era?  It almost seems like they were created in two different locations. 
 

This seems pretty odd to me considering the cars were manufactured in the same location. 
 

I wonder if there could be a reason for some cars to have a vin plate replaced or installed by Hoffman once they were stateside. Maybe there was a defect or variation requiring the plate to be replaced ? 
 

Where is Steve to help with this mystery ?!

[Conserv]

On 6/28/2020 at 4:36 PM, Lorin said:

I wonder why there is two different styles of vin plates in this era?  It almost seems like they were created in two different locations. 
 

This seems pretty odd to me considering the cars were manufactured in the same location. 
 

I wonder if there could be a reason for some cars to have a vin plate replaced or installed by Hoffman once they were stateside. Maybe there was a defect or variation requiring the plate to be replaced ? 
 

Where is Steve to help with this mystery ?!

I’m in Maine with little-to-no Internet access, driving my un-registered ‘61 F-350 while quarantining — I can’t show up at the local town hall to register it, because I’m quarantining — while the fires of ‘02 history burn out of control! ??

 

And, uhhh... I dunno! That’s my answer. ?

 

Seriously, most 1968 underhood VIN tags have decently-aligned VIN digits, as if possibly stamped by a machine, and separately have “1968” — which was stamped not with four separate digits, but with a single stamp — stamped at the right end of the “Typ” blank. Yes, life was simple. Life was good.

 

And then Matt starts finding these... aberrations. (Thanks, Matt, next time you go on vacation, I’m going to post my shocking thread entitled “Caribe: Do You Really Want to Know?”. ?)

 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, there’s also a correlation between the sloppy, hand-stamped VIN digits and the lack of the “1968”. Or, conversely, between the machine-stamped VIN digits and the presence of “1968”.

 

In terms of numbers, it really appears that the vast majority of 1968 models, 1600-2’s and 2002’s, received the “machine-stamped” digits and “1968”. 
 

“So....“ he said, desperately trying to buy time, they had this new machine — yes, it was a new machine — to handle the rapidly-increasing volume of BMW car production, but.... it broke down sometimes — yes, I’m quite certain, it broke down sometimes —forcing them to resort to crude hand-stamped VIN digits. And you could forget that annoying “1968” if you were assigned to hand-stamp duty!

 

There you have it. A completely believable explanation, which relies on... no verifiable facts. And if you don’t believe that explanation, perhaps I can interest you in my “fire-in-the-VIN-factory” explanation...

Attached are three examples of the more common machine-stamped VIN with “1968”. VIN 1560364 (Gary’s) was manufactured September 18, 1967, VIN 1660013 was manufactured January 15, 1968, and VIN 1660482 was manufactured March 20(?), 1968. While the VIN’s may not be aligned perfectly with the open boxes of the VIN tags, each of the seven digits is nicely aligned with the other six digits. And each digit has been stricken with precisely the same force. That’s why I call these “machine-stamped”.

 

Actually, I’m kind of liking my new automated VIN machine explanation! Is anyone buying it ?

 

Best regards,

 

Steve