Enter the 17-character VIN of your FSO 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 page decodes the VIN of an FSO. Enter the 17 characters and the decoder reads the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture straight from the code. Our data for the brand covers 6 models, among them the 125p, 126p, 127p, 132p, Polonez and Warszawa, with model years from 1967 to 2002.
A VIN does not record accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners, so the decoder cannot tell you any of that. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report. The decoder itself is free and needs no registration.
The first three characters of a VIN are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. At the moment we have no WMI codes mapped to FSO, so we cannot list any here. That reflects the limits of our list, not a problem with your number, and a VIN that starts with other characters is not wrong because of it.
Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, and character 9 is a check digit. North American VINs must use it, while many European VINs fill that position differently. Position 10 gives the model year, position 11 the assembly plant, and positions 12 to 17 are the serial number. The letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN.
Model year is the easiest part to check. Within the range in our data, an F in position 10 means 1985, an L means 1990, and a 2 means 2002. The 17-character format applies to cars built since 1981, so an FSO from the early years of our 1967 to 2002 range may carry a number in a different format.
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.
Look at the vehicle registration document first, since the VIN is normally printed there. The number is also fixed to the car itself, and the exact spot can differ from one model to another, so compare what you find with the paperwork.
The first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and the country. We do not currently have any WMI codes mapped to FSO, so the decoder may not name the brand from those characters alone. That says nothing about whether your VIN is genuine.
Check the 10th character. For cars built since 1981 it is a letter or digit that stands for the year, for example F for 1985, L for 1990 or 2 for 2002. Our version data for FSO runs from 1967 to 2002.
It reads only the VIN itself, so it cannot show accidents, mileage, theft records or the number of owners. It also does not describe the condition of a particular car, whether it is a Sedan, Wagon or Hatchback.
Make sure the VIN on the car matches the one in the documents, and that it has 17 characters without the letters I, O or Q if it was built since 1981. Then check the model year against position 10 and ask the seller for service records and proof of ownership.