Enter the 17-character VIN of your DeSoto to see the factory basics. Free, with no registration.
Look on the dashboard, the driver's door frame or in the registration document.
Type all 17 characters. The letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN.
See the factory basics for free, and order a full report for the history behind the VIN.
This free decoder reads the 17 characters of a VIN and tells you the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture. For DeSoto, our data lists 7 models, among them Adventurer, Custom, Deluxe, Firedome, Fireflite, Firesweep and Powermaster Six, with version data for model years 1946 to 1961.
The body styles in that data are Sedan, Convertible, Coupe and Wagon, and the highest power figure we hold is 355 hp. A VIN carries no accident record, mileage, theft status or ownership list. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report.
Pick a DeSoto model to see how its VIN works.
In a 17-character VIN, the first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and the country. Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, character 9 is the check digit, character 10 is the model year, character 11 is the plant and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number. For DeSoto we have no WMI codes mapped yet, and so no country of manufacture to show. A VIN that starts with other characters is not wrong, because our WMI list is simply not complete.
The model years in our DeSoto data run from 1946 to 1961. The 17-character VIN applies to cars built since 1981, and the model year letters in position 10 start with B for 1981. None of the DeSoto years we cover has a letter of its own, so a decode of a VIN from this period may come back with little or nothing.
If you hold a number from a DeSoto of that era, it will probably not look like a modern VIN. Compare it against the registration or title papers instead of expecting the decoder to fill in every field.
Every VIN has six parts. This is what each of them means.
| Part | Characters | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| WMI | 1 to 3 | World manufacturer identifier: who built the vehicle and where |
| VDS | 4 to 8 | Vehicle descriptor: model, body type and engine, as set by the manufacturer |
| Check digit | 9 | Control value that helps confirm the VIN is valid |
| Model year | 10 | Code for the model year |
| Plant | 11 | Code for the assembly plant |
| Serial | 12 to 17 | Production sequence number of this vehicle |
On the driver's side, visible through the windshield.
On a sticker on the door frame or the edge of the door.
Printed in the vehicle registration or title.
Stamped on the firewall or the frame on many models.
A VIN is built from six parts, and each one says something about the vehicle. Our guides explain how to read it and what it can and cannot tell you.
Enter the 17-character VIN and see the factory basics in seconds.
Start with the registration or title documents, which should list the number. Then compare it with the number on the vehicle itself, and expect the location and format to differ on cars from 1946 to 1961, since they predate the 17-character standard.
In a 17-character VIN the first three characters are the WMI, which names the manufacturer and the country. We have no WMI codes mapped to DeSoto at the moment, so the decoder may not recognise the brand from them. That says nothing about whether a VIN is genuine.
In a 17-character VIN the model year is the 10th character, and the letter code begins with B for 1981. Our DeSoto data covers 1946 to 1961, earlier than that system, so the year is usually better confirmed from the documents and the car itself.
It does not show accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners, because none of that is stored in the VIN. It also cannot confirm the condition of a particular car or whether its parts are original.
Make sure the number on the car matches the paperwork, and check that the body style in the listing, such as Sedan, Convertible, Coupe or Wagon, matches what you see. Ask for service records and have the car inspected in person before you pay.