Barry, that article is not accurate as a time line goes. VIN numbers exist on the first cars Duryea, Benz, Ford, and R. E. Olds built in the late 1890's-1900's. Where they get the 1950's as a start date for VIN usage is ridiculous. In the early days, some cars used the engine number OR the body number as the ID number, but these still represented a VIN, regardless. Post-war cars were relatively standardized in placement of VIN's, be it on on of the door posts, driver door, cowl, or fender. In the '50's is when the engine number was at least a portion of the VIN, i.e. the last four to six numbers of the body VIN were stamped on the block (as on Hudson, Nash, Chrysler, and Packard, to name a few).
In 1968, it became US Federal law that VIN placement on cars be on the driver's side dash. Placement for pickups and trucks came later, in 1973. The meaning and number of values/digits were still up to the vehicle manufacturer, but the placement became uniform. Also, this is when it became mandatory to stamp the last eight digits of the VIN into the transmission and engine block.
On the other hand, VIN format standardization worldwide began in 1981, with the 17-digit number. Each digit has a specific meaning and is universal. First digit is the country of manufacture, and so forth...and the last six digits representing the build sequence. There is talk of an even longer, 24-digit VIN becoming the norm around 2010 or so. This is because they're running out of VIN combinations; obviously the same VIN can not be used on two cars, regardless of how far apart they were built, where, or when. Plus, keep in mind that trailers, RV's, heavy equipment requiring registration, and some tractors have VIN's, too, and this is another reason why.
