1997 Seville Production

[JasonA]

According to this site:

http://100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1990/cad97s.htm

42,117 Sevilles were produced in 1997, both SLS and STS. As I understand it, Sevilles were only produced at GM's Hamtramck assembly plant, correct?

And I believe that the production number for Sevilles, at least in 1997, started with an 8. So the first one would conceivably be 800001. And the last one apparently 842118.

My serial number is 844216. My Seville was made in the middle of August I think...it has got to be one of the last ones made for that year (and indeed that generation). My serial number displays a higher number than what was reportedly produced that year.

Can anyone help straighten me out here? Is that website's production figure incorrect...or my logic?

[KHE]

According to this site:

http://100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1990/cad97s.htm

42,117 Sevilles were produced in 1997, both SLS and STS. As I understand it, Sevilles were only produced at GM's Hamtramck assembly plant, correct?

And I believe that the production number for Sevilles, at least in 1997, started with an 8. So the first one would conceivably be 800001. And the last one apparently 842118.

My serial number is 844216. My Seville was made in the middle of August I think...it has got to be one of the last ones made for that year (and indeed that generation). My serial number displays a higher number than what was reportedly produced that year.

Can anyone help straighten me out here? Is that website's production figure incorrect...or my logic?

Sevilles, Devilles, and Eldorados were produced at Hamtramck plant. I do not believe there was any other manufacturing facility for those vehicles. The Fleetwood and Fleetwood Brougham were built in Arlington, TX but by the 1997 model year, that plant was converted to produce SUVs. I don't know about the serial numbers - based on your VIN, I would say the other website is inaccurate.

[Bill K]

Being in the insurance business, I have been looking at VINs for 30 yrs. I have never seen that many 0s in a VIN. (800001)

[JasonA]

Now that I'm home and in front of my service manual, according to Page 0A-4, the General Information section:

Production Sequence Number

200001 = DeVille/Concours/d'Elegance

600001 = Eldorado/ETC

800001 = Seville SLS/STS

In theory, I guess that means that the first Seville would bear the sequential number 800001, but I don't know if that's truly the number at which they started.

According to this site:

http://myweb.accessus.net/~090/cfb.html#vin

Cadillac only produced less than 30,000 Sevilles in 1997, lending support to Bill's suggestion that the serial number really doesn't start at x00001.

[Cadillac Jim]

From what I've seen looking at Corvette collector publications, VIN serial numbers are assigned in blocks, and the blocks are separated by enough margin to ensure that they don't have an overlap problem. As an illustration, they might make a run of 5,000 SLS's, then 4,000 ELC's, then 2,000 STS's, then 1,000 ETC's. That's 90 days of production. How many they produce in each block will be changed according to real-time sales and ordering data. The VINs for the next block will already be assigned...

The result is that each model will have three or four blocks of continugous serial numbers, with gaps.

[JasonA]

From what I've seen looking at Corvette collector publications, VIN serial numbers are assigned in blocks...The result is that each model will have three or four blocks of continugous serial numbers, with gaps.

That makes sense.

I guess I'll have to contact Cadillac. I don't know the exact date the car was made anyway, and I'd like to know.

Chrysler has a MDH stamp on their door jamb decals. Or, MonthDayHour. That decal is printed, and applied, when the vehicle passes final inspection. So you know EXACTLY when your vehicle "left the plant". Our Grand Caravan, interestingly, finished up during the dinner hour of a Friday (in Oct. 2002), probably the worst time for a car to come out, historically, quality-wise. But alas, all is well.

If I call or email Cadillac, they can probably tell me when my car was made, and the exact date in the summer when production of the 4th generation Seville (92-97) ended and the 5th generation (98-04) began.