AMC Eagle
AMC Eagle AMC Eagle VIN decoder
AMC Eagle VIN decoder
Enter the VIN from your Eagle's dash, title or registration to see what each character says about the car: year, engine, gearbox, body, trim and where it was built.
How an Eagle VIN is laid out
From the 1981 model year every Eagle has a 17-character VIN. US-built cars start 1AC and Canadian-built cars 2CC. 1980 Eagles use AMC's older 13-character format, starting A0.
| Position | What it encodes | Eagle codes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Country | 1 United States; 2 Canada |
| 2 | Maker | A American Motors Corporation; C American Motors (Canada) |
| 3 | Vehicle type | Every Eagle checked uses C (multipurpose passenger vehicle) |
| 4 | Engine | B 151 cu in (2.5 L) GM "Iron Duke" four, 2-barrel (1981–1983); C 258 cu in (4.2 L) AMC six, 2-barrel (1981–1988); U 150 cu in (2.5 L) AMC four, 1-barrel (1983–1984); Y 150 cu in AMC four, export version (1984–1984) |
| 5 | Transmission and 4WD | 1984–88: H 4-speed, K automatic, N 5-speed, all with Select Drive. Earlier years used more letters; the decoder knows each year's table. |
| 6–7 | Car line and body | 35 Four-door sedan (Series 30), 1981–1987; 36 Two-door sedan (Series 30), 1981–1982; 38 Wagon (Series 30), 1981–1988; 53 SX/4 two-door liftback (Series 50), 1981–1983; 56 Kammback two-door (Series 50), 1981–1982 |
| 8 | Trim | 0 Base; 5 standard (DL in AMC's charts); 7 Limited; 6 seen on 1988 cars, not documented |
| 9 | Check digit | Calculated from the other 16 characters; catches most typos |
| 10 | Model year | B 1981; C 1982; D 1983; E 1984; F 1985; G 1986; H 1987; J 1988 |
| 11 | Plant | K Kenosha, Wisconsin; B Brampton, Ontario, Canada |
| 12–17 | Serial number | Six-digit production sequence |
1980 (13 characters)
A (American Motors), 0 (1980), transmission (A column automatic, C floor automatic, M 4-speed), 3 (Eagle), body (5 four-door, 6 two-door, 8 wagon), trim (0 Base, 5 DL, 7 Limited), engine (C 258 six), then a six-digit serial. There is no check digit.
What's still uncertain
- Trim code 6 appears on every 1988 Eagle VIN found, but no AMC chart defines it.
- The AMC 150 four-cylinder code U is in the charts, but no real VIN with it turned up.
- Brampton built Eagles from the early years, not just from 1984, so the plant letter isn't tied to the year.
- NHTSA's online decoder has no data for 1988 Eagles and misreads 1981 automatics.
Codes come from AMC's own 1980 and 1982 VIN charts, the Mitchell repair manual's VIN pages, the Eagle spotter's guide on n0kfb.org and NHTSA's vPIC database, checked against 49 real Eagle VINs from sale listings.