what does the 78 vin number tell me

[tomiaccino]

124CS1 0132540....I am sure there are some pro's out there that can educate the rookie

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Well, I wish there were some magic decoder ring that would tell you the drivetrain options, assembly plant, month of production, etc, etc, but..... there's not.

124CS1 is simply the designation for an 1800 engine spider, produced from 1974 until the 2L engine came out in 1979. 0132540 is a sequential production number, indicating that your car is roughly number 132,540 out of the approximately 200,000 spiders produced over the years. It's not an exact production number because there were gaps, pre-production cars that we used for testing and never sold, cars that were scrapped for one reason or another along the production timeline, and so forth.

-Bryan

[tomiaccino]

Bryan
thank you....
what intrigues me was in 78 the spider had a 131 engine and a 132 which had different compression ratios
I thought the 132 might reference that engine but apparently not
guess I will keep looking for the answer....or maybe you would know

[18Fiatsandcounting]

what intrigues me was in 78 the spider had a 131 engine and a 132 which had different compression ratios
I thought the 132 might reference that engine but apparently not

Keep in mind that the Fiat 131 sedan is different than the Fiat 131 engine series. It gets confusing, as a lot of the numbers are the same, but most 124 spiders with the 1800 cc engine (such as yours) had a 132 series engine. At the same time, some Fiat 131 sedans had an 1800 engine, which would have been a 132 series engine. And, there were a few 1800 engines that were 131 series, but my guess is that most of these didn't make it to the USA.

Here's the mad proof: If your '78 spider is original, it should have a 132 series engine. Here's the way to check. On the left side of the engine block, down near the oil filter mounting flange, the engine number should be stamped on that flange. You can also look up the cylinder head casting number, located between spark plugs #2 and #3, but that can be somewhat unreliable as previous owners have sometimes put in a new cylinder head.

Confused yet....? I am...

-Bryan

[tomiaccino]

thanks....I think?!?!?!?