jet

after reading in the other post about the new owner of 1997 #00001, i was really impressed and started thinking about the unique badge numbers found in our cars. i began wondering whether or not honda actually numbered the badge for each car consecutively off the assembly line...i know most believe this.

i know its been discussed here a few times before, but acura itself cant qualify the numbering system as parallel to actual production numbers, nor have i read anything printed by honda to state this theory.

i guess my point is, how do we know our numbers aren't randomly chosen? its intriguing to think that our cars are actually numbered one after another, but i have yet to see 10 known type r's with badge numbers from the same year...in order.
if there is anything officially printed, i would love to read it. i'd like to hear if anyone "knows" the truth about our badges, because it fits in to the whole appeal of this car and its inception. i think i even read somewhere before that realtime had #1....does that mean our new member has the same car?

am i correct that only US and canadian cars are numbered? or do our australian and european compatriots have special # badges too??

some attempts from previous 2nd owners who bought their r's with the badge missing had no help from acura either...an official list would be an invaluable piece of reference one day in cataloging the vin along with the badge number in restoring the one day "old type r"...just like the way we restore classics today.

some of us may argue the relevence of it all...the badge number, uniqueness etc. in context to its performance and use.. however, if it i so insignificant, then do we need to still pay any attention to things like registering on itrca or recognizing this number to that owner etc etc??...answering the ever silly "what number ya got" at the gas station. the number plays a lot into the mystique of the r.

the unfortunate benefit of having such a bank of numbers continuously updated would be the ability to recognize which type r's were lost to theft, crashes...whatever. it would also give the current population left at a certain time...and there be a history to a number, documenting different owners at different times...anyway, i'm rambling now...i'm just so amazed to see a pic of #00001 maybe some senior members have some insight into this...especially the realtime racing 1997 #1 myth...

tonyxcom

Look at the last 4 digits of your VIN number then look at the badge again.

SUPRISE!

B2FiNiTY

iTrader: (2)

Duh, different.

tonyxcom

for some strange reason I always thought it was in the VIN. I dum

Tommy_Gunns

They are not the same.

But here's my theory:

1. They are numbered distinctively for the whole world for that particular year. What I mean is if 1998 #851 exist in Canada it will not exist anywhere else (europe, australia, UK, Japan, etc.).

2. The numbering system resets itself for each model year. So 1998 #851 is in Canada, Japan might have 1999 #851 and USA might have 2000 #851.

3. VIN numbers are consecutive numbers based on all integras of that model year for the destined country that it was built for. For example, in the assembly line it might be lined up as LS, GSR, LS, ITR destined for Canada. Since the VIN is number consecutively with all integras, the arm rest plaque would not match with the vehicle's VIN.

Example of above theory: Now you might have a VIN with a lower number then your ITR badge number. But remember the ITR badge number is based the world production of ITR's and the VIN only to your particular continent. So if you have 1998VIN#448 with ITR#652, this means you have #448 of all integras produced for your country for that model year but have #652 of all ITR's produced for the world for that particular year.

Remember this is just my hypothesis.

N1Spec

look at the last 3 digits of your your engine number!

SUPRISE!

your badge number should be close to your your engine number.

my badge no. is 532, and my engine number is 534. i guess the fucked up 2 engines on the assembly line.

Reid

Close but no cigar.

sackdz

My radio code has my Prod. # in it

Ex-ITR5874

European R`s are JDM spec and DO have badge numbers.

That`s why the name of my car is ITR1858.... #01858.

We still got 1166 ITR`s in Germany, roundabout 5000 in Europe. Those are numbers from the state office for statistics

N1Spec

enlighten me (us) then.

Reid

The ITR number has no relevance to any other number on your car.

That's all there is to it.

No rhyme or reason behind the numbering.

N1Spec

geee that strange cos all the ITR's here the numbers are 1-3 numbers off the engine number. Is that co-incidence??

B2FiNiTY

iTrader: (2)

All the ITR's here? It seems like only 1 person posted that it was close. I don't think that represents all.

There is simply to way to tell.

Reid

How can you say "all"?

Yes, it is a coincidence.

00R101

If I were Honda manufacturing, here's what I would do:

I would make the little number badges as a separate assembly and have a stamping machine stamp out numbers consecutively. I would then assemble the badge with its unique number and when I was done I would toss it in a parts bin. I would make about 100 of them in a bin.

Then when the interiors were assembled I would reach in the parts bin, pull out a badge and glue it in place. When the parts bin was empty I would grab another bin of 100.

So -
1) the cars WOULD NOT come off the assembly line in number order.
2) the badge number WOULD NOT be linked to any other number but might be similar in number to other items on the car that are numbered consecutively
3) there WOULD BE NO RECORD of the badge number as it relates to VIN or anything else
4) I would leave the whole procedure shrouded in mystery to further enhance the exclusivity of the car

IMHO,
Alan

jet

hmmmm...this does seem plausible

Reid

How about this?

This only applies to people who are/were the first owner of an ITR, so anyone else who gives their info is admitting to being a low-life, postwhore.

Post the date you received your ITR and the # of your ITR.

This way we will see if the plaques were randomly thrown in a bin, or handed out as the cars went out the door (which does not mean the cars are necessarily in the order they came off the assembly line).

I'll start:

Date: November 14, 1999
ITR number: 00-0160

Yes, I was the first owner in North America to take delivery of their 2000 ITR.


EDITED: Fixed 3 am mistakes.


[Modified by Reid, 7:10 AM 10/16/2002]

jet

brought her home sometime during last week of november 2000...#0510

SoCal ITR

June 2001 - Last black R in the U.S. #0621

jond

I would say the numbers are consecutive because other ITR owner who got their ITR in the summer of 2000 have close to the same number as I do(over 1400).

Phoenix_ITR

iTrader: (1)

also november of 1999
2000 ITR 00217

Rodney

on the 97 itr that gave up it's life for my swap, the engine #was followed by a 00075, and i had #00075 on the console. as far as vin goes, i will look through my records tonite. perhaps they started out meaning something, then was totally random after that...

xjohnx

Japanese numbers do not reset each year.

00R101

Last week of November 1999 #101.

But the day you took delivery has nothing to do with the order they were manufactured. It has more to do with what boat they were on and how far your dealer is from the port. I wager that all the cars in a boatload are pretty close in number but that doesn't meanr they were numbered consecutively when they came off the assembly line. I would say the VIN number indicate assembly order and those do not correlate to badge numbers.


[Modified by 00R101, 5:35 AM 10/16/2002]

Splat

December 13, 1999 - 00-0009

Engine number was 12, 13 somewhere in there.