VIN NUMBER XLR

[79XLR79]

Hello,I am writing a new message because the answers I got during my first call for help did not help me to solve my problem of locating the VIN number cold stamped on the chassis or elsewhere of my Cadillac XLR from 2004.
In many countries including the United States and France, the VIN number cold stamped on new vehicles is compulsory.
In France the technical control is compulsory every 2 years to be able to roll and during this technical control, the controller checks the number stamped cold on the chassis or elsewhere?
When checking my Cadillac XLR in March 2020, did the controller not find the VIN number cold stamped on the chassis or elsewhere?
(He found the number behind the windshield, the number sticking inside the engine compartment and on the driver's door, but didn't find the one cold stamped on the chassis or elsewhere?)
This location has no secret, and I cannot drive until the controller has found it on the vehicle to validate the technical control.
Thank you for helping me locate the location where the cold stamped number is found on Cadillac XLR.
Cordially.

Bonjour,
J'ecris un nouveau message car les réponses que j'ai obtenues lors de mon premier appel a l'aide ne m'on pas aider a résoudre mon problème de localisation du numéro VIN frappé a froid sur le chassis ou ailleurs de ma Cadillac XLR de 2004.
Dans beaucoup de pays dont les Etats Unis et la France le numero VIN frappé a froid sur les véhicule neufs est obligatoire.
En France le controle technique est obligatoire tous les 2 ans pour pouvoir rouler et lors de ce controle technique, le controleur vérifie le numéro frappé a froid sur le chassis ou ailleurs ?
Lors du controle de ma Cadillac XLR au mois de mars 2020 le controleur n'a pas trouver le numéro VIN frappé a froid sur le chassis ou ailleurs ?
(Il a trouvé le numéro derrière le pare-brise, le numéro coller a l'intérieur du compartient moteur et sur la porte chauffeur, mais n'a pas trouvé pas celui frappé a froid sur le chassis ou ailleurs ?)
Cette emplacement n'a rein de secret et je ne peux pas rouler tant que le controleur ne l'a pas trouver sur le véhicule pour valider le controle technique.
Merci de m'aider a localiser l'endroit ou se trouve le numéro frappé a froid sur les Cadillac XLR.
Cordialement.

 

[long Tall Sally]

those are locations that are only known to law enforcement .There is a reason they hide them. If your car has been inspected, and I looked at the import laws in France a title and vin verification is all that is needed to register a car. Your wanting to know the hidden numbers does not add. up. To check a hidden number sounds strange. They are hidden on purpose. Yours can be located by cutting the body off of the chassis. that is the only way to find the hidden chassis number. Law enforcement know where to look as they are provided by GM with the secret locations. Sounds like you need to go to another location or report the problem to law enforcement for them to locate it for you. Hope it works out for you so you can enjoy cheap gas

here is the official statement from the corvette website and I imagine the xlr is the same

Additionally, law enforcement and DMV have guides that show the various hidden locations of VIN's on the major components (frame, engine, body firewall,etc.) to help determine if a car has been previously salvaged, and/or parts replaced from a stripped vehicle, etc.​

 

[79XLR79]

Hello,
Thank you for your reply, but the VIN number is not a hidden number as you can see it on all vehicles through the windshield.
On the other hand, during the compulsory technical control every 2 years in France, the controller must check whether it corresponds to the other numbers behind
the windshield, in the engine compartment, the driver door. All these numbers must be identical. According to French regulations, this corresponds to the fault
number: 0.2.1 to 2 of the technical control and it is absolutely necessary that I find it or the vehicle will be immobilized.Thanks for your help to all.

Bonjour,
Merci pour votre réponse, mais le numéro VIN n'est pas un numéro caché car vous pouvez le voir sur tous les véhicules a travers le pare-brise.
Par contre lors du contrôle technique obligatoire tous les 2 ans en France le contrôleur doit vérifier si il correspond bien aux autres numéros qui se trouvent derrière
le pare-brise, dans le compartiment moteur, la porte chauffeur.Tous ces numéros doivent être identiques.Selon la réglementation Française cela correspond au défaut
numéro : 0.2.1 a 2 du controle technique et il faut absolument que je le trouve ou le véhicule sera immobilisé.Merci pour votre aide a tous.

 

[Gord]

un petit verre de VIN? Oups! Mauvaise traduction! ;-)

Hi - bonjour!

I did a little web-search and in all fairness, the information is 'out there' so I see no great harm in repeating it. Matter of fact, I wandered out and checked my car and sure enough, there's a stamped, quasi-hidden VIN.

Okay, so with that caveat, open the front hood.
Remove the lid to the passenger side air filter housing.
You should now be able to tilt the air filter housing towards you a little bit.
Look at the vertical surface (the side) of the frame in that general area - more towards the middle - rear of where the air filter box normally rests. You will need a flashlight and you might want to look at it more from the center of the car than trying to look down directly above the frame rail.

You will find a frame stamped VIN number - it is stamped horizontally. A wipe with a rag or maybe some chalk will improve its clarity.

Make sure to list your car in the registry here. And if for some strange reason your frame VIN does not match your dashboard VIN, if you don't find the VIN or if there are any signs someone has tampered with that area, call the police and find the previous owner.

Now we all know so everyone... out to the cars to check...pronto!

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Salut - bonjour!


J'ai fait une petite recherche sur le Web et en toute honnêteté, l'information est «là-bas», donc je ne vois aucun grand mal à la répéter. En fait, j'ai erré et vérifié ma voiture et bien sûr, il y a un VIN estampillé, presque caché.


D'accord, alors avec cette mise en garde, ouvrez le capot avant.
Retirez le couvercle du boîtier du filtre à air côté passager.
Vous devriez maintenant pouvoir incliner légèrement le boîtier du filtre à air vers vous.
Regardez la surface verticale (le côté) du cadre dans cette zone générale - plus vers le milieu - à l'arrière de l'endroit où le boîtier du filtre à air repose normalement. Vous aurez besoin d'une lampe de poche et vous voudrez peut-être la regarder plus du centre de la voiture que d'essayer de regarder directement au-dessus du rail de cadre.

Vous trouverez un numéro VIN de cadre estampé - il est estampillé horizontalement. Une lingette avec un chiffon ou peut-être de la craie améliorera sa clarté.


Assurez-vous d'inscrire votre voiture dans le registre ici. Et si pour une raison étrange, votre VIN de cadre ne correspond pas à votre VIN de tableau de bord, si vous ne trouvez pas le VIN ou s'il y a des signes que quelqu'un a trafiqué cette zone, appelez la police et trouvez le propriétaire précédent.


Maintenant, nous le savons tous, alors tout le monde ... dans les voitures pour vérifier ... pronto!

 

[IAN]

Hi 79XLR...

Hi beleive that I have suggested you to look on the RH side ( passenger side ) rail previously, were you could fine it.

According with the information given to you today by Gord, this serial number appears to be not that far away from what it was suggesting.

Fine enclosed a photo in order to Help you in finding that VIN.

On this photo of a salvage XLR, is the RH side chassis front rail showing some marks…. that looks to be what Gord is saying.
​

Have you try to get help from the GM main office in France, I am sure they could kelp you…. yes, and it could maintain your XLR on road.

Au plaisir de vous revoir.

Ian

 

[long Tall Sally]

In the USA knowledge of the "hidden" vin number and posting it can send you to jail. I did not say anything about the factory VIN number. Obviously it is on the cowl. it is in the glove box it is on the rear cover in the trunk with all the production codes It is on a label on every body part on . On unibody cars it can be stamped into the shock tower. Replacing the shock tower on a car requires the proper dept , most of the time Highway Patrol to come by ,see you cut the factory number out and attach it to the new panel. They will write it up and put it in the record. That keeps from the old days of chopping a car wit ha front vin onto a rear stole section. The full frame cars and suv have the number stamped several places on the frame. Most hidden The fords have it stamped inside the rail before it is welded together.
Again if this is required for him to find it then you really need to contact GM I highly doubt they will give you that information but maybe they will.. They will tell you were under the seat section you will need to cut away the body to find it. I highly doubt that rules will require cutting up the body or removing it from the chassis. or that the government will pay the expense to repair the car. I highly doubt anyone on this forum with the knowledge will be willing to put themselves at risk to post such information. Sort of like telling someone where to get VIN rivets from or how to bypass the alarm cutoff on the car. Information is out there But I wont repeat it. If they do it every two years just ask the guy that looked at it last time .he should know.

 

[Gord]

That's the spot, Ian - thanks ~ merci!

Of course there may be others which we do not know about, but this one is somewhat easily accessible, somewhat hidden, and unless you have a chassis stripped as thoroughly as the one in the picture, modification to the number would be almost impossible!

Gord

 

[long Tall Sally]

The one you point out is very obvious and everyone in the business knows of its location. If he is having a problem and the person doing the inspection has not found that one then he either has a problem car or the rail has been replaced. That is why every state in the USA requires that if that part with the factory vin is removed due to collision then that area has to be cut out and riveted to the new part. In the collision industry we drill two holes on either side of the part cut it out with a Sawzall or a cutoff wheel. we leave one tiny tab so when the inspector comes by he sees it ,we finish the cut and while he is doing his paper work we attach it to the new part with the rivets he furnishes.

 

[Gord]

I hear you LTS, though in this case...well, there wouldn't be a case.

It's abundantly noted elsewhere (more specifically for that other car which shares the same chassis), and having checked myself, it does exist. Matter of fact, anyone who happens to like to clean their engine bay fastidiously might stumble upon it rather effortlessly and in that event, there's no marking beside it saying 'shush! This is secret VIN spot, don't tell anyone or you're in poo!', so I think any such law might be little more than urban myth sorry to say.

In any case, as I just mentioned to Ian, there's probably other markings we wouldn't know about without ripping the body off and really going at it, so law enforcement is probably still well covered in the event of foul play.

Let's see how it plays out for our colleague in France - hopefully he can get to go for a spin rather than just staring at it.

Gord

 

[Gord]

Right, well, I didn't know, mind you I'm not in the business. And he's apparently in France where there can't be more than a handful of XLRs and let's figure that the inspector is just being a dick because it's something out of the ordinary he can't look up in a 'domestic' manual, or maybe he's just really lazy.

We'll find out - or maybe we won't... it doesn't really make much difference in the big scheme of things today.

 

[IAN]

In the USA knowledge of the "hidden" vin number and posting it can send you to jail. I did not say anything about the factory VIN number. Obviously it is on the cowl. it is in the glove box it is on the rear cover in the trunk with all the production codes It is on a label on every body part on . On unibody cars it can be stamped into the shock tower. Replacing the shock tower on a car requires the proper dept , most of the time Highway Patrol to come by ,see you cut the factory number out and attach it to the new panel. They will write it up and put it in the record. That keeps from the old days of chopping a car wit ha front vin onto a rear stole section. The full frame cars and suv have the number stamped several places on the frame. Most hidden The fords have it stamped inside the rail before it is welded together.
Again if this is required for him to find it then you really need to contact GM I highly doubt they will give you that information but maybe they will.. They will tell you were under the seat section you will need to cut away the body to find it. I highly doubt that rules will require cutting up the body or removing it from the chassis. or that the government will pay the expense to repair the car. I highly doubt anyone on this forum with the knowledge will be willing to put themselves at risk to post such information. Sort of like telling someone where to get VIN rivets from or how to bypass the alarm cutoff on the car. Information is out there But I wont repeat it. If they do it every two years just ask the guy that looked at it last time .he should know.

HI Sally.

Your informations are correct for a businessman repairing cars, however on this site are members that are sharing informations in order to help each other.

A member was asking for help we did what we all do each time, in feeding him with informations that we believe to be sincerly and honestly correct.

We are not a repair shop, were your above fine informations that you supply us, is directly concerned.

This section of the site is for exchanging our knowleges … a member from France was asking for Help, Gord and I we did what this site permit us to do and as per their policy.

There is no authority at all that would ''arrest you'' for helping someone, these laws were made for the businessmen that are fooling the consumers.

I am not a law man, yes I will continued to help the XLR members.

IAN

 

[79XLR79]

Hello,
I want to thank all the people who answered my problem of locating the cold stamped VIN number. Well thanks to Gord and the support of Ian I managed to locate the cold stamped VIN number on my Cadillac XLR and it corresponds well to all the other numbers of the vehicle. I will be able to finalize the technical control and my Cadillac will be able to drive for long years.
Thanks thanks.
For information the cadillac XLR has been sold to 25 copies in France, which makes it a rare model and French technical control centers are not used to checking it often.
And thank you again.

Bonjour,


Je tiens a remercier toutes les personnes qui ont répondu a mon problème de localisation du numéro VIN frappé a froid.Eh bien grace a Gord et au soutien de Ian J'ai réussi a localiser le numéro VIN frappé a froid sur ma Cadillac XLR et il correspond bien a tous les autres numéros du véhicule.Je vais pouvoir finaliser le controle technique et ma Cadillac va pouvoir rouler pendant de longues années.
Merci, Merci.
Pour information la cadillac XLR a été vendue a 25 exemplaires en France, ce qui en fait un modèle rare et les centres de controle techniques Francais ne sont pas habituée a en controler souvent.
Et Merci encore.

 

[Gord]

Super!
This is great to hear - you are welcome and I hope you will have a moment to post a picture of your car sometime soon.


Best wishes!

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Super!
C'est formidable à entendre - vous êtes les bienvenus et j'espère que vous aurez un moment pour poster une photo de votre voiture très bientôt.


Meilleurs vœux!