Freightliner

Freightliner is a relative newcomer to the world of school buses, introducing its inaugural FS-65 chassis-cowl in early 1997. The company solidified its standing with the purchase of Thomas Built Buses the following year, coinciding closely with Ford's exit from the market.

Although the company's current C2 is sold exclusively with a Thomas body and badged as a Thomas product, Freightliner continues to produce the chassis in a separate factory as an "incomplete vehicle."

1997-early 2001

4UZ6CFAA8VC805001

Positions 1-3 and 11: Manufacturer and assembly plant

Position 4: Brake system

Position 5: Model

Positions 6-7: Engine

Position 8: Gross vehicle weight rating

Position 9: Checksum

0-9 or X, calculated from the other digits.

Position 10: Model year

The FS-65 chassis entered production in January 1997 as a late '97 model, and Freightliner initially adhered to industry-standard summertime model year transitions. The temptation to "inflate" model years as an implied competitive advantage came to head rather quickly, however, with 2000 models starting by March 1999 and 2001 models entering production in January 2000. Things would go downhill from there...

Positions 12-17: Production sequence

Freightliner has a perpetual serial numbering series that advances from one year to the next. The earliest FS-65 chassis were numbered off in a six-digit sequence from approximately 800001, which lasted about a year. Serial 999999 was followed in 1998 by a 1-alpha series starting at A00000, skipping C-E, I, and O-T in the first position. Because of discrepancies between planned and actual production order, the transitions between model years have a slight amount of numeric overlap.

2001-present

Freightliner modified its VIN format in May 2000, partway through its (premature) 2001 model year.

4UZAAXAK91CH83697

Positions 1-3 and 11: Manufacturer and assembly plant

Positions 4-5: Model

Position 6: Gross vehicle weight rating

Positions 7-8: Engine and brake system

Position 9: Checksum

0-9 or X, calculated from the other digits.

Position 10: Model year

Oh, Freightliner: No company deserves more blame for normalizing inflated model years than you!

Starting with 2001 production, model years began in January of the preceding calendar year...which is as early as a model year transition ought to legally be. Not content with that, Freightliner pushed forward even further, starting 2004 production in November 2002 and 2007 production in August 2005. Freightliner has stuck to "July or August of two years before" model year transitions ever since, meaning that their calendar is a full year or more out of whack with where it should be.

Positions 12-17: Production sequence

Freightliner has continued its perpetual serial numbering series through the last two decades, piling on letters upon the exhaustion of formats.

At the time of the May 2000 VIN format change, the A00000 sequence was roughly in the "H" series. The series jumped from N to U in the 2005 model year in anticipation of the new C2 model. Z99999 was reached in 2009, at which point a new 2-alpha sequence began starting at AA0000. Because of discrepancies between planned and actual production order, the transitions between model years always have a slight amount of numeric overlap.

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©2021 Andrew Turnbull.