Chassis Numbers

#MINOREDIT
<TableOfContents />
== Chassis numbers - What do they mean? ==
This is an attempt to make some kind of sense of the different chassis 
numbering systems used by Lotus and Caterham Cars.
  
=== Lotus Chassis Numbers ===
The Lotus Chassis numbers are almost quite straightforward:
==== Series 1: ====
  : Chassis Numbers 400-499 built at Hornsey
  : Chassis Numbers 750-892 built at Cheshunt
The gap in the  the sequence can be confusing.  Numbers 500-553 were Elevens,
and numbers 600-615 were Fifteens.  Apparently some numbers between 750 and 892
were used for Formula Junior cars
==== Series 2: ====
Started at SB1000 and the last was SB2310.
  : SB1000-2101 built at Cheshunt
  : SB2102-2310 built at Hethel 
Left hand drive vehicles had their own series of chassis numbers: SB1500-1550, 
SB1750-1799.   From SB1800-2310 there was no separate number range, left hand 
drive cars had an 'L' prefix, sometimes before the SB, sometimes after.
==== Series 3: ====
Numbers SB2311 to SB2649. Left hand drive cars had the prefix 'SB' replaced 
with 'LSB'. These numbers included the 13 Twin-Cam SS cars which were random 
and had the 'SB' prefix replaced with 'SC'.
==== Series 4: ====
  : Numbers S4/2650 to S4/3315 or maybe more. Left hand drive cars had the 'S4' 
prefix replaced with either 'LBS4' or 'LS4'
  
Lotus went on to produce a further 38 Series 4 chassis.  When Graham Nearn at 
Caterham Car Sales and Coachworks obtained the manufacturing rights to the 
Seven in 1973, these were the first cars that they built
  
=== Caterham Chassis Numbers ===
  
==== Caterham Series 4: ====
  : Numbers S4/3501 to S4/3538
  
==== Caterham Series 3 ====
Now it starts to look a little different, chassis numbers got a little longer, 
but it //was// possible to determine the basic specification of the car.  The 
number is broken down into three or four component parts eg:
||chassis type||chassis number||configuration/other||
This arrangement continued until approximately 1990
  
||**Chassis Types Designations**||
||CS3||Caterham Series 3||
||LCS||Long Cockpit||
||S3B||for Dutch market||
||5LC||5 Speed Gearbox, Long Cockpit||
||KS3C||CKD (Completely Knocked Down ie all parts supplied by Caterham) 
kit-built, standard cockpit||
||KLCC||CKD kit-built, long cockpit||
||KLDC||CKD kit-built, de dion (therefore long cockpit)||
||KS3||Kit built (not CKD)||
  
||**Configuration/Other Designations**||
||2||Mark 2 Escort Axle||
||5||5 Speed gearbox (not sure about this one)||
||13||1300 GT||
||16||1600 GT||
||17||1700 Supersprint||
||17H||1700 Holbay||
||BDR||Cosworth 16 Valve Engine||
||D||DeDionRearAxle||
||F||Fully Built||
||GS||100bhp 1600 GT||
||GT||84bhp 1600GT||
||J||Jubilee||
||JPE||Jonathan Palmer Evolution||
||L||Left Hand Drive or LiveAxle||
||M||Marina/Ital Axle||
||ME||Japanese Specification JPE||
||MK||Modified Kent||
||P||Prototype||
||PRI||Prisoner Series||
||R||Right Hand Drive||
||R||Racer||
||RI||Rover K-Series (pre 1992)||
||RJ||Rover K-Series (post 1992)||
||RMJ||Japanese Specification Racer||
||S||RS Axle||
||T||Turbo||
||X||Experimental||
||TC||Big Valve TwinCam||
||VC||Vegantune VTA Engine||
||VI||Vauxhall Injection||
||VJ||Vauxhall Injection||
||VX||Vauxhall Carburettored||
||VT||Vauxhall Turbo||
||XR||Ford CVH||
||XT||Ford CVH Turbo||
  
==== Post 1990 ====
Sometime after 1990, European legislation demanded 17 character VIN codes for 
all cars.  Here are some examples:<br>
SDKRDKCR8V0020587 1997 1.8<br>
SDKRDKLR8X0021432 1998 SuperLight with 1.8l engine<br>
SDKRDKCR8Y0021805 2000 1.8 K
  
||**Pos^^n^^**||**Item**||**Values**||**Interpretation**||
||1-3||MID||SDK||Manufacturers' Identification Code for Caterham Cars||
||4||Chassis Configuration||L or R||Left or Right Hand Drive||
||5||Rear Suspension||D or L||DeDion or Live Axle||
||6||Build Type||C<br>F<br>K<br>S||CKD (Completeley Knocked 
Down) not Starter Kit<br>Limited Volume Type Approved Fully 
Built<br>Kit Built<br>Factory Built||
||7||Chassis 
Type||A<br>C<br>H<br>L<br>O<br>R<br>S<br>5||Alternative<br>CKD (Completeley Knocked Down) not Starter Kit<br>HPC<br>Superlight<br>Other<br>Race Chassis<br>Starter Kit<br>SV||
||8-9||Engine||BB<br>C6<br>C7<br>C8<br>FB<br>GS<br>GT<br>MK<br>NS<br>RC<br>RD<br>RI<br>RJ<br>R3<br>R4<br>R5<br>R6<br>R8<br>TC<br>VI<br>VJ<br>VT<br>VX<br>XC<br>XS<br>17||Blackbird<br>BDR 1600<br>BDR 1700<br>BDR 1800<br>Fireblade<br>100 BHP 1600 Crossflow<br>84 BHP 1600 CrossFlow<br>110 BHP 1600 CrossFlow ('sprint')<br>Engine Not Supplied<br>Rover VVC<br>Rover VHPD<br>Rover K-Series 1.4l (post1992)<br>Rover K-Series 1.4l 2002 onwards<br>R300<br>R400<br>R500<br>Rover 1.6l<br>Rover 1.8l<br>Twin Cam<br>Vauxhall Injection<br>Vauxhall Injection<br>Vauxhall Turbo<br>Vauxhall Carburettored 2.0l<br>Vauxhall 8-Valve 1.6l<br>Vauxhall 8-Valve 1.8l<br>1700cc Super Sprint||
||10||Chassis Year||M-Y<br>1->||M=91, N=92, P=93, 
Y=2000<br>1=2001, 2=2002 etc||
||11-17||Chassis Number|| ||Chassis Number||
  
with thanks to Jez Coates, Paul Newman, John Passmore and various books and 
websites I've nicked this info from ;)