In February 1957, after adding 300,000 square feet, the General Motors' Van Nuys plant (note: it's really in Panorama City) began making station wagons and convertibles.  A spokesman says the plant is producing 150 cars a day in five different models and shipping them to dealers in eight Western state.

A Bel Air Nomad for sale on EBay provides a nice example of how to decode the 1957 Chevrolet VIN tag, which was welded to the driver's door pillar post. (You always wanted to do this, right?)

In this case, the car's VIN is VC57J211710.

So we have: VC, which means the car was originally a 2400 model with a V-8 engine.

57 is the year the car was made.

J indicates where the car was assembled, in this case, Janesville, Wis.

211710 is the car's serial number. 

Chevrolets made in Los Angeles were indicated by an L. In other words, if the car had been made in Los Angeles it the tag would read: VC57L

Thanks to Danchuck Manufacturing for the information.

Email me

Photograph courtesy of Sakowski Motors