TGP VIN database - website inside!

[mfewtrail]

*This is a cross-post from the TGPForums*

As most of you know, I've been actively collecting vin numbers from owners for a few years now. This method of building a vin database is painfully slow, I often receive incorrect information, and a lot of owners aren't even willing to give out their vin numbers(like I can do anything with only a VIN :laugh. Recently, I started a different approach to vin collecting. I've been going through VIN's manually using c@rfax's website. This is very tedious, but way quicker than waiting around for TGP's to show up for sale. Also, this method will allow me to find TGP's that are no longer around for whatever reason. Since I own 1990 coupes, I started with those first. After four months of occasionally going through vin numbers, I've added probably 150+ new vins to my list. With the old method, I was lucky to add 1-2 TGP's a month. I have almost 14% of the 1990's coupes documented so far.

Now about the site. I have been going through vins in sequence from the beginning of GP production(vins ending in 200,000). So far, I've only listed the ones I've been able to number in sequence. I know some of you have noticed the number that I gave to my Black TGP in my sig This number is not official by any means. The car is number 101 in sequence, but I'm not certain if it is #101 in actual build order as I do not have enough information to make that claim. I'm assuming a lot when it comes to my vin list. One such thing is that I will be able to find every 1990 TGP produced. Every car should have at least 1 record with car fax as far as I'm aware. I guess when I finish up the project I will see if that assumption is correct if I end up with the 2,749 TGP's coupes that were stated to be made(compnine website lists that many by the LG5 rpo code, and other sources have quoted that very same figure, so I believe it to be accurate).

Here's the website: http://home.windstream.net/mfewtrail...oupe_vins.html

It's better viewed in internet explorer for me. Firefox kinda shrinks up the page a bit for whatever reason, but it's still easily viewable there. IE displays it how it displays on my computer. I threw that list together quickly the other night, so there may be some errors I need to correct. After I error check the page and finish error checking my entire 1990 coupe VIN document, I will be updating the site with the other 240 or so '90 coupe vins I have. They will not be assigned numbers for now as it will take me a long time to figure out what number each of them is in the production sequence.

A link to that site will be placed in my sig and I'll probably sticky this thread for future reference.

[tornado_735]

I think I still have the vin I pulled off that TGP in the yard here in columbus...do you want it? I can't remember if it was a '90 or a '91 though...

***EDIT*** Shit, I think I deleted it.

[RobertISaar]

91 tgp?!

[mfewtrail]

I think I still have the vin I pulled off that TGP in the yard here in columbus...do you want it? I can't remember if it was a '90 or a '91 though...

***EDIT*** Shit, I think I deleted it.

TGP's were only made from 1989 to 1990.

[tornado_735]

Whoops. It was one of those then. LOL my bad.

If it's still there next time I go (doubtful) I'll check it out again.

[ss427]

That's a cool idea. I have a few databases like this going, including one for 1968 Chevrolet fullsize with factory installed 425/425 engine. So far in six years I've found 18 of the original 568 produced! How do you get the vins through carfax? Wouldn't the check digit make that pretty hard?

[RobertISaar]

Wouldn't the check digit make that pretty hard?

THIS!

i tried doing that with something before and got nowhere, REAL fast.

[jongrappin]

Hello, Im a new TGP owner doing a restore on a 1990 Black TGP with VIN, 1G5WP14V8LF225101

What other TGP Forum are you speaking about?

[Crazy K]

I have a failed vin sampling program that extracted all but 50 of the 89 TGP vins. I need to try to extract the reminant data...

[mfewtrail]

Hello, Im a new TGP owner doing a restore on a 1990 Black TGP with VIN, 1G5WP14V8LF225101

What other TGP Forum are you speaking about?

The sister site to this board(Luke - "LukeZ34" owns them both) www.tgpforums.com You've already registered there with the same username you use here because I approved your membership over there very recently. If you have any problems logging in over there, send me a private message here and I'll get you squared away.

I have a failed vin sampling program that extracted all but 50 of the 89 TGP vins. I need to try to extract the reminant data...

Ken, what format is that information in?

[Euro]

Nice stuff Matt! I have a very similar database going for the 98 Daytona pace cars. I'm also interested in more of the CarFax is working out for you, do you enter in the numbers of the last part of the TGP vins sequentially?

That'd be sweet if I could do that with the 98's...too bad the Daytona package wasn't apart of the VIN haha. My success has to do with random internet searches of Cardomain, Autotrader/ebay/cars.com, GP forums, and crazedlist.org

[mfewtrail]

That's a cool idea. I have a few databases like this going, including one for 1968 Chevrolet fullsize with factory installed 425/425 engine. So far in six years I've found 18 of the original 568 produced! How do you get the vins through carfax? Wouldn't the check digit make that pretty hard?

THIS!

i tried doing that with something before and got nowhere, REAL fast.

I figured I would quote this message in a new reply altogether as this might get lengthy.

I had the same concerns when I got started about the check digits, so I did some experimenting with VIN's I already knew. Basically, I searched vins with each check digit to see what CarFax could automatically correct for. I came up with the following for the check digits.

0 = 0,1,2,6,9
1 = 0,1,2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
2 = 0, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,X
3 = 1,2,3,4,5,8,9,
4 = 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,
5 = 1,2,3,4,5,6,
6 = 0,1,2,4,5,6,8,
7 = 1,2,4,7,9
8 = 2,3,4,6,8,9
9 = 0,3,7,8,9
X = X,2,8

The number on the left of the equals sign above represents the check digit used in your actual vin search. As you can see, searching with a check digit of "2," C@rFax can correct for almost every check digit except for the number 9. Therefore, I search with a check digit of 2 and cover 10 out of 11 of those check digits. Then I go back and search again using a check digit of "9" since it's the only one left out. Update - 10/31/10 - If anyone searches vins using my method, it's actually better to use "8" as your second number. The reasoning behind this is that using 2 & 8 will actually auto-correct you to "zero record" cars that you would otherwise be missing.

Now, I'll explain my method of going through vins with some screenshots I just grabbed from c@rfax. Let's say I'm starting with a vin of 1G5WP14V2LF203000(note the #2 check digit) up to 1G5WP14V2LF203099(100 vins at a time).

I then copy all characters of the vin except the last two and paste that into the VIN box on c@fax's website.



I leave the last two characters out purposely to get to the following screen on c@rfax's site. As you can see I've already pasted the vin into the new search box that we're now given. This is the page I use to go through vins. Note that it shows "2" characters remaining. This is where I type in "00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07" and so on until I reach 99. After I do that with a check digit of 2, I go through the same set of 100 with a check digit of 9. At that point, I'm done with that set of 100 and move on to the next.


Ok, now that I've showed you the method I use, I'll show an example of carfax in action correcting a vin check digit for me. The real vin I'm using as an example is "1G5WP14V5LF203024" - the first one on my database list. So, I type "1G5WP14V2LF203034" with the 2 check digit and get the following from carfax.


If you get a real vin, it will go to the following screen and at least have one record listed.


Occasionally, you might run across c@rfax sending you to the above page and showing zero records. In my experience going through TGP vins, the cars listed are real, but they're not TGP's. They're regular gp's and if you play around with the vin's some you can figure out what they are. I don't even look at "0" record cars anymore as I believe every actual car to have at least 1 record listed. I guess I'll find that out for sure if I end up with 2,749 VIN's when I'm done with the 1990 coupes.


Just to give you guys an idea of how I keep up with vins, I do the following. If I'm going through 1G5WP14V2LF200000, I break the vins down into 100's like this. After that, I type out 2's and 9's beside each of those to show that I've checked those particular sets with both check digits already.

200000-200099
200100-200199
200200-200299
200300-200399
200400-200499

After I get through 1,000 vins, I just make a note showing I've been through "200000-200999" already.


Hopefully all that crap wasn't too confusing and I explained it clearly enough.

EDIT: Another reason I use the page I do is you can see what you just typed right above the vin box. That helps you make sure you're not making errors as you go.

[RobertISaar]

made sense, but goddamn that has to take a lot of time...

[mfewtrail]

made sense, but goddamn that has to take a lot of time...

Yeah, it's not something you're going to accomplish quickly. I'm good with keyboard shortcuts and can type really fast, yet it's still very time consuming. I only go through a few vins here and there as to not go crazy. I've been through 214,XXX something odd vins in the past four months that I've been doing this. I'm into the heart of TGP production because I'm coming up with VIN's often now.

If anyone knows a way to automate the process, I'm all ears!

[ss427]

Wow what a great system you have figured out there, and great job explaining it all. Do you go to the compnine site after you get vins in order to get colors and options?