Legal Bill

In the Austin Healey forum I belong to, much is made of the VIN number (yes Dean, I know "VIN number" is redundant ). There are registries created and maintained by people who try to track the whereabouts of the remaining Austin Healey 3000s, Bugeye Sprites, and 100s. They even record the numbers of those cars known to have died and parted out.

Sometimes two people with the same model year car learn that their cars are consecutive VIN numbers, meaning that the two cars were almost certainly built on the line one behind the other. Often these people live on opposite sides of the country and learn about the relation on the forum site or at a national or regional meet. Much is made of the reunion, and it is always interesting to hear the two very different courses the two cars took from the factory before they were reunited at a meet.

Given the fact that there are relatively few S2000s built in any given year, I started to wonder if we had any "sibling" cars among us? Maybe we could share the last few digits of our VINs and see if any match up?

S1997

My numbers are:

7S-003483

Suzuka Factory - MY07 - number 3484.

Were they all manufactured in the Suzuka assembly plant?

mns2k

See below

Kyras

Only from 2005 on, is what I thought. My '05, built in 2004, came from the Suzuka plant and I recall that being the first model year built there.

dean

Sure, suck all the fun out of this for me.

dlq04

Since you asked...........

The S2000 was originally manufactured in Tochigi, Japan. The Tochigi factory complex is composed of three different plants: The Takanezawa Plant, 51,000 sq. meters housing 1,200 employees. Operating since 1990, it focused on the production of advanced niche models such as the S2000, NSX, and Insight hybrid vehicle. Also at the complex is the Mohka Plant, 58,000 sq. meters with 800 employees, operating since 1970, to produce engine and chassis parts for both automobiles and motorcycles. The third plant at the complex is the Haga Parts Plant, 6,900 sq. meters, 200 employees, operating since 1993, which is responsible for production of high-tech automobile components.

But through April 2004 the Takanezawa plant was the place you would find the S2000. It was considered their flagship factory. It was originally created exclusively to build the NSX. The S2000 shared an assembly line with the aluminum-bodied NSX and Insight. Takanezawa was best described as a small-number mass-production custom factory where high-tech production technology and old-time craftsmanship come together. Rather than a heavily automated assembly line, the S2000 was constructed at a series of workstations by a number of teams.

Following an announcement in 2003, Honda transferred production from the small Takanezawa Factory and moved the entire facility to Suzuka Factory in May 2004. Honda said this was done to integrate production, with the engine assembly to the completed vehicle being performed in one location. However, insiders say is was also due in part to the lack of interest in the dated NSX which ceased production at the end of 2005 and necessary to free up space at Tochigi to produce more compact, alternative-fuel vehicles.

Outline of Suzuka Factory
Production capacity : (Completed automobiles)
No. 1 Line: 1,100 units/day
No. 3 Line: 1,100 units/day
New line: 60 units/day This is the line where the S2k and NSX and Insight will be built
Total: 2,260 units/day
Automobile engines : 2,260 units/day
Production models : Civic Series, HR-V, Mobilio series, Fit, Stream, Integra, Life

The Suzuka Factory was established in 1960. At the time of the transfer it had 7,300 employees and could produce 2,200 units per day. Production included Civic, Integra, and others. The new small S2000 line will produce 60 units per day raising the limit to 2,260 completed automobiles per day. Existing Suzuka Factory equipment was combined with the exclusive equipment transferred from Takanezawa Plant, making it possible to achieve small-volume yet low-cost production characteristics. The engine production equipment for small-volume models used by Tochigi Technical Center, Honda Engineering Co., Ltd. was also transferred.

Legal Bill

So while S2000s were built in two plants over the course of production, it seems they were only built in one facility at a time. I think my original premsie still holds. Consecutive numbered cars were very likely to have followed one another down the line. Except for the last car built at the old plant and the first one built at the new plant.

Vanishing Point

'07 model, #4166.

Morris

Model year 00, VIN# 000144.
Wish I knew how many of the 0-143 were left.
Do you think the first 10 were crashed for safety testing purposes? (I wish the first 143 were)

Emil St-Hilaire

Mine is close;I'll have to come back with the numbers...
It's #169