Chrysler Corporation 13-character VIN (Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler, Imperial), 1968–1974

Cautions for this scheme

• A decode reads what Chrysler's own identification bulletins say each character means. It does not prove the car is original, correct, or the car the plate was made for. The engine letter records the engine the car was invoiced with, not proof that the engine in it now is that engine.
• Paint, trim, option and scheduled-build codes are not in the VIN. They are on the separate body code plate (fender tag) in the engine compartment and on the build sheet; this pack does not decode either.
• Model-year digits repeat each decade. Chrysler kept this 13-character layout through 1980, so a 1976–1980 VIN can also match this pack (6–8 = 1976–1978, 9 = 1979, 0 = 1980). This pack holds codes only for 1968–1974; a later car's decode here would be wrong, and the car line letter usually shows it.
• Engine letters changed meaning in 1970 (for example J was the 426 Hemi in 1968–1969 and the 340 3x2-bbl in 1971; V is the 440 3x2-bbl only from 1970). Each engine entry is scoped to the years and car lines of the bulletin that lists it.
• 1971 codes come from the Chrysler-Plymouth bulletin only and are scoped to Plymouth, Chrysler and Imperial car lines; no 1971 Dodge bulletin has been sourced, so a 1971 Dodge VIN decodes only its year and plant. 1974 codes come from the Dodge bulletin only and are scoped to Dodge car lines.
• For 1972-1974 the VIN bulletins print the second-digit series letters without meanings. For 1973 and 1974 the model is read from the manufacturer's model code (make/car line, series, body type) in the Automobile Manufacturers Association (1973) and Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association (1974) specification sheets; the bulletins define VIN positions 1-4 as exactly those three items, and the bulletins' own sample number R H 23 is the AMA's Satellite Sebring hardtop. A series letter decodes only for a car line and body type the sheet lists. 1972 series letters, and the 1974 Plymouth Satellite/Road Runner (no 1974 sheet found), stay unknown codes.
• The price-class entries name the models the bulletin puts in that class. The bulletins list Plymouth models under the make, not per car line, so a Plymouth decode lists every Plymouth model in the class; read it together with the car line.
• Position 2 can be the letter O (Super Stock / Superstock price class in the 1968–1971 bulletins); it is a letter, not the digit zero, and is kept as typed.
• The 1970 Challenger T/A and AAR 'Cuda 340 six-barrel engine is not in either 1970 VIN bulletin or the 1970 Dodge service manual. Engine letter J is published for 1970 only on the two model codes the factory released those cars as (JH23J, per Dodge bulletin D70-25-2; BS23J, per Plymouth bulletin 70-25-8); any other 1970 car showing J decodes as an unknown code.