A car typically is considered a classic when it is 10 - 25 years old. But a classic car VIN typically refers to production cars made pre-1981 - when VINs were not standardized into the 17-digit number and letters that we know today.

Classic cars are those vehicles that are considered valuable to collectors today because of their design, engineering, performance, or rarity. They are generally classified as pre-1960s vehicles and are sought after by private collectors for restoration or as vintage showpieces.

You can use online tools like Classic Decoder to decipher the VINS of pre-1981 vehicles. Since classic cars typically have non-standard, 5 - 14 digit VINs, most VIN decoder tool do not support them. Alternatively, some manufacturers also provide decoding guidelines, but it requires some elbow grease.

Yes, there are free VIN number check tools for old and vintage cars. Classic Decoder offers a free pre-1981 VIN decoder that will provide the complete specifications of the car.

You can identify a classic car by looking at its VIN. If it has a VIN shorter than 17 digits, that means the car was produced before 1981 and is a classic car.