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Pre-1980 Harley
VIN decoder

For 1970–1980 Harley-Davidsons, the bike's identifying number is stamped on the left side of the engine case. Paste it below and we'll break it down: year, model, engine size, serial.

Letters and numbers only — dashes, spaces, and punctuation are stripped automatically.

How to read the format

VIN structure (1970–1980)

From 1970 to 1980 the VIN is a fixed 9-character code stamped on both the frame and the engine case (they should match). Production numbers always start above 10,000. 

2C 10859 H4
│  │     │
│  │     └── Year code (H4 = 1974)
│  └──────── Production number (5 digits, >10000)
└─────────── Model code (2C = FX-1200 Super Glide)

Pre-1970: from 1930–1969 the format was 2-digit year + 2-4 letter model + 4-digit production number (e.g. 66 FLHB 22001 for a 1966 FLHB). VIN = engine number only; no frame VIN.

1981+: Harley switched to the standardized 17-character VIN format starting with "1HD" used by all U.S. manufacturers — use a standard 17-char decoder for those.

Year codes

Last two characters

The two-character year code is the easiest part to decode. Letter identifies the decade, digit identifies the year within it.

H0
1970
H1
1971
H2
1972
H3
1973
H4
1974
H5
1975
H6
1976
H7
1977
H8
1978
H9
1979
J0
1980

Model codes (first two characters)

Common pre-1980 Harleys

Code Model Description
1A FL / FLP-1200 Standard Big Twin / Police 74 ci Shovelhead
2A FLH-1200 Electra Glide 74 ci, high compression
7H FLH-1200 Police Electra Glide police 74 ci
8H FLH-1200 Shrine Electra Glide Shrine variant 74 ci
7E FLHS-1200 Electra Glide Sport 74 ci
3G FLH-80 Electra Glide 80 ci (1978+)
3H FLH-80 Classic Electra Glide Classic 80 ci
5H FLHS-80 Electra Glide Sport 80 ci
6H FL-80 Standard Big Twin 80 ci
9H FLH-80 Police Electra Glide Police 80 ci
1K FLH-80 Shrine Electra Glide Shrine 80 ci
5G FLT-80 Tour Glide 80 ci (1980)
2C FX-1200 Super Glide 74 ci kick start (1971+)
9D FXE-1200 Super Glide 74 ci electric start
2F FXS-1200 Low Rider 74 ci (1977+)
5E FXEF-1200 Fat Bob 74 ci
6G FXE-80 Super Glide electric start 80 ci
7G FXS-80 Low Rider 80 ci
6E FXEF-80 Fat Bob 80 ci (1979+)
9G FXWG-80 Wide Glide 80 ci (1980+)
1H FXB-80 Sturgis 80 ci (1980)
7F XLCR-1000 Café Racer (1977-1979)
3A XL / XLH-1000 Sportster 1000 cc
4A XLCH-1000 Sportster CH 1000 cc, kick start
2G XLT-1000 Sportster Touring 1000 cc
4E XLS-1000 Roadster 1000 cc (1979+)
4D XLA Sportster XLA variant
5A GE-750 Sidecar Servi-Car / sidecar
6A SS-350 Sprint Sprint 350 single (Italian)
7A SX-125 125 cc 2-stroke
8A M65-S 65 cc minibike
7B ERS Aermacchi ERS racing single
8B MSR-100 100 cc 2-stroke
3C SX-350 Sprint 350 cc 2-stroke dirt/street
5C MC-65 65 cc minibike
6C SR-100 100 cc 2-stroke
2D X-90 90 cc minibike
3D Z-90 90 cc 2-stroke
5D SX-175 175 cc 2-stroke
6D SX-250 250 cc 2-stroke
7D MX-250 250 cc motocross
9E SS-250 250 cc 2-stroke street
3F SXT-125 125 cc 2-stroke
4F SS-175 175 cc 2-stroke street
6F SS-125 125 cc 2-stroke street
1D LE Sidecar Long Electra sidecar
2H CLE-80 Sidecar Classic Electra sidecar 80 ci

Pre-1970 Big Twins (Knucklehead, Panhead, Shovelhead through 1969) used a different stamping system — 2-digit year + letter model code + production number, no separate model code field. If you have a pre-1970 bike, message us with the stamping and we'll help interpret it manually.

Data source: cross-referenced from Tab Performance's VIN reference guide and the H-D factory parts books. Send corrections to [email protected].

Caveat

This is a starting point, not a title check

Engine-case stampings can be re-stamped, frames can be married to non-matching engines, and AMF-era Harleys (1969-1981) have a lot of odd one-year-only variants we haven't fully tabulated. For a clean title-grade decode, cross-reference with the H-D parts book for the year, or ping us with the full stamping and a photo and we'll help.

More vintage Harley resources

Engine ID guide Vintage Harley parts All parts