There are several tests to determine year of manufacture. Please bear in mind, that some earlier UK t-bars can have manufacture dates that can vary by quite some time. This is believed to be due to 'stockpiling' at point of manufacture and by Toyota GB. Bear in mind all UK cars have a 2 month shipping from Japan. Coupes tend to be built to order, so the date on your V5 registration tends to be closer to the factory date.
Firstly, the chassis number allows Toyota and members with the EPC data software, to identify the month and year of manufacture.
Check the tags attached to the seatbelts near the door area. This will have the date the belts were assembled and give a good insight to the vehicles age. If the tags are missing, the vehicles history may be suspect.
Remove a plastic trim (like the radio surround) and look for a date moulding. Normally the year and Month the part was moulded can be seen.
Shine a torch down the side of the engine, looking for an engine mount. These tend to have a label with the date of manufacture printed.
For help with chassis number date checks refer to this article Frame(chassis) Numbers by Production Dates
Peter Jones 20-12-2007
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