Honda Car Forum

What do the letters and numbers mean?

its like the serial number

there should be 17 its your vin number.The first character represents the country of manufacture, and can be a letter or a number, each signifying a different country.like for ex1 = USA, 2 = Canada, 3 = Mexico, J = Japan, K = Korea, W = Germany, Y = Finland, Sweden)The second/third characters represent the manufacturer, also known as the make. for ex A = Alfa Romeo, B = Dodge, C = Chrysler, D = Daihatsu, E = Eagle, F= Ford/Eagle, G = All General Motors vehicles (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn) H = Honda/Acura, J= Jeep, L = Lincoln, M = Mitsubishi, N = Nissan/Infiniti, P = Plymouth, S = Subaru, T = Toyota/Lexus, V = Volkswagen)Other popular makes use a 3-character initial sequenceTRU/WAU = Audi, 4US/WBA/WBS = BMW, 2HM/KMH = Hyundai, SAJ = Jaguar, SAL = Land Rover, 1YV/JM1 = Mazda, WDB = Mercedes-Benz, VF3 = Peugeot, WP0 = Porsche, YK1/YS3 = Saab, YV1=Volvo)The fourth character is the type of restraint systemThe fifth, sixth & seventh characters are the vehicle line, series and body style. This will obviously be different across makes and models.The eighth character is the engine typeThe tenth character represents the year of the carThe eleventh character indicates the assembly plantCharacters 12-17 represent the vehicle's unique fingerprint. It is these six digits which make every single vehicle in the world different.

The first character - country of origin, in your case (good for you!) - made in Japan. The last six digits - serial number, the 8th from the end (L) - production year, in your case - 1990. These are universal for all makes, other characters represent manufacturer-specific data like model, engine type, body style, etc.

its the VIN (vehicle identification number) it says where it was made what year what make what model what color