ZimmerMotorcars

Zimmer VIN Decoder

How to read a Zimmer's numbers and papers, date it, and tell an original Pompano Beach car from a revival car or a look-alike. Zimmer issued no vehicle identification number of its own: every Zimmer carries its donor's.

The side of a yellow Golden Spirit's cabin, with an etched-rose wind wing, a leather sports seat, a cowl lamp and a padded rear roof.
An original Pompano Beach car keeps its donor's door, roof and windscreen (windshield): here the Mustang's, on the Golden Spirit at the Automobile Driving Museum, El Segundo, California, in May 2018.Daderot, CC0

A Zimmer has two numbers and only one of them is a vehicle identification number, and that one is not Zimmer's. Zimmer Motor Cars built its Golden Spirit and QuickSilver from new Ford Mustangs and Pontiac Fieros, and the revival company from later Mustangs and Lincoln Town Cars, and each car kept its donor's identity; to the federal recall records of 1982 a Golden Spirit was an "altered version" of the Mustang. Zimmer's own number is a production number. This page explains both, then how to date a Golden Spirit, how to tell an original from a revival car or a look-alike, and how the recall records help.⁠1​2

Two numbers

The QuickSilver's window sticker shows the arrangement most plainly. Zimmer's own production number stands on it under "Vehicle I.D. No.", and the Fiero's 17-character number under "Engine No." On the car itself, the donor's number is the one to match to the title, and the production number is Zimmer's own, the place of the car in the company's sequence: a car on the line in September 1987, the Miami Herald reported, carried the number 1,310. Match both to the papers.⁠1​2​3

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The donor's number and the model year

A Golden Spirit carries its Mustang's number, a QuickSilver its Fiero's, and a revival car its Mustang's or Town Car's, and the model year in that number is the donor's. A conversion took weeks, 27 days by a dealer's account in 1986, so a car can have been finished in a later year than its donor's model year.

Two years that turn up in descriptions need checking. No Golden Spirit is known to have been built before the last days of 1980, the show car apart. In the federal recall records, "1979-82" is Ford's span for the Mustang generation, not the model years of Zimmer's donors, which were new cars converted from 29 December 1980 on; the Golden Spirit's page sets out the evidence. No original Golden Spirit was built after May 1988, when the plant closed, and the revival's began only in 1998, so a "1989 Golden Spirit" is misdescribed.

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The QuickSilver's window sticker

The original sticker of a QuickSilver of the 1986 model year lists the trade name, Zimmer Motor Cars Corporation, "a subsidiary of Zimmer Corporation"; the model, "1986 Zimmer QuickSilver®"; the year, 1986; the final assembly point, Pompano Beach, Florida; and the two numbers, Zimmer's under "Vehicle I.D. No." and the Fiero's under "Engine No." Its fuel-economy panel begins "ORIGINALLY CERTIFIED AS 1986 GENERAL MOTORS …" and then names the engine and gearbox (transmission). A buyer with a sticker should match its engine number to the number on the car and its vehicle number to Zimmer's production number. No original Golden Spirit sticker has been read.⁠1

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Zimmer's production numbers

Zimmer gave each car a number in its own sequence. The numbers are not a count: in July 1987 the company counted its Golden Spirits in the field, and two months later the car the Miami Herald saw being built was numbered about 100 higher. How Many Zimmers Were Made explains what the numbers can and cannot tell, and the production readings below give the counts in print. No source read gives the number of an original four-door. No page of the revival company read describes a serial system for its cars, though its club's application form asked owners for a "Serial Number".⁠3​8​1​9

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Dating a Golden Spirit

Some changes date a Golden Spirit to within a few years:

FeatureWhat it tells
A padded landau roof with landau barsThe original coupé, from 1980
A T-roofFrom mid-1982
A convertibleFrom 1983
A roof painted in the body colourThe Formal, from 1983
A full padded roof, or a top over ribsThe Elegance and Cabriolet of the 1986 models
Ford's 4.2 V8The early cars
The 5.0 V8From 1983
Fuel injection and a four-speed automaticFrom 1984
A metal "spider" in front of the headlampsProbably built before 20 July 1982 (an inference)

The dashboard tells less than it seems: some cars keep the Mustang's own, re-covered, as in the first picture, others a padded dash and console of Zimmer's own, as in the second, and no period source dates the change. The front indicators on Liberace's Golden Spirit of the 1981 model year are Volkswagen Beetle units, The Autopian found, like the chrome-housed indicators in the third picture.⁠4​10​11​12​13​14​8​15​2

A Golden Spirit dashboard with a wood-rim steering wheel, round gauges in a woodgrain panel and a burr-walnut console.
A re-covered Mustang dashboard veneered in wood round Ford's gauges, with the power switches on the console, in the El Segundo Golden Spirit in May 2018; the fabric mat on the dash top is an accessory.Daderot, CC0
A Golden Spirit cockpit with a padded tan dashboard, a burr-walnut instrument panel, a gold-spoked wood-rim wheel and tan leather seats.
Zimmer's own padded dash, with a burr-walnut instrument panel and a padded console, in a Golden Spirit at an Ohio car show in May 2023.Wikimedia Commons contributor, Public domain
The front of a black Golden Spirit: two headlamps and two fog lamps, amber indicators, chrome trumpet horns and a mesh grille.
Chrome-housed amber front indicators of the Volkswagen Beetle type on a Golden Spirit at Erfurt, Germany, in August 2021; its mascot is silver, not the factory's gold.Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Original or revival?

FeatureOriginal Golden Spirit, 1980–88Revival Golden Spirit, 1998–2013
MakerZimmer Motor Cars Corp., Pompano Beach, FloridaZimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Co., Syracuse, New York; built at Sam's Auto Body from about 2000–01
DonorA new Mustang of the 1980sA later Mustang; four-doors on Lincoln Town Cars, mostly new, from 2001
CabinThe 1980s Mustang's doors, roof and windscreen (windshield)The later Mustang's or the Town Car's, with airbags
InsideLeather-covered dash, wood console, Recaro seatsThe donor's modern dash, with leather seats; a column-shift automatic in the Town Cars

The surest sign is the cabin. Under an original's padded or painted roof sit the door, quarter window and roof of a 1980s Mustang; inside a revival two-door are a later Mustang's, airbags included; and every four-door built round a Town Car of the 1998–2011 model years, like the one in the picture, came from the revival. The revival company advertised in 2006 that Zimmers had been "in production since 1980", as if one maker had built them all: there were two companies, a decade apart, and the second started afresh in 1997.⁠4​13​16​9​17​18​19​20

The rear of a silver four-door Golden Spirit with a continental spare wheel and a luggage rack on a show field.
A revival car: the Lincoln Town Car's rear door, pillar and glass under a Golden Spirit four-door of Zimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Co., at a classic car show in England in June 2010.Brian Snelson, CC BY 2.0

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Look-alikes and other "Zimmers"

Not every car sold as a Zimmer is one. The Classic Tiffany of Miami was built on a Mercury Cougar, so its number is a Mercury's, and John Gunnell's Weird Cars (1993) describes a larger car on Lincoln running gear "styled like a Golden Spirit". And some vehicles that do carry the name are not cars: Zimmer Corporation also converted vans, under Zimmer Motor Vans, and two of its federal recalls of 1982 were for vans, not Golden Spirits. Zimmer and the Neoclassic Car Brands shows the other makers' cars.⁠21​22​9​2​23​4

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Using the recall records

The earlier of the two car recalls, of June 1981, modified the brakes of the first cars. The July 1982 recall took in the Golden Spirits made from the start of series manufacture, on 29 December 1980, to 20 July 1982; its remedy was to remove a fixed metal "spider" and lens from in front of the headlamps. A Golden Spirit that still has the spider, as the first picture seems to show, was probably built before mid-1982 and either missed the recall or had the part put back; that is an inference, not proof of a date.⁠2​24

A cream and a black Golden Spirit coupé side by side on a Los Angeles used-car lot in a faded colour photograph.
Plate I A cream Golden Spirit on a used-car lot on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, in 1992, with what appears to be the recalled headlamp "spider" still in place: if so, it was probably built before mid-1982.Mic from Reading - Berkshire, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0
The chrome grille, gold eagle, two headlamps and two fog lamps and four trumpet horns of a yellow Golden Spirit.
Headlamps without the "spider", on the Golden Spirit at El Segundo, California, in May 2018.Daderot, CC0

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Production

Production: how far the sources agree

1,200, Golden Spirit, 'over 1,200 cars in the field', the company, July 1987
One good source.
1,000, Golden Spirit, 'over 1,000' in the five years to late 1985, the company
One good source.
31, Golden Spirit, completed by about 22 March 1981
One good source.
247, Golden Spirit, built 29 December 1980 to 20 July 1982, the headlamp recall population
One good source.
1,400, Golden Spirit, 'over 1400', the revival company's figure, c.2000
Disputed.
1,500, Golden Spirit, 'approximately 1,500', the revival company, c.2000
Disputed.
150, 'less than 150 of the exclusive QuickSilvers will be produced', the company's 1988 release
One good source.
170, QuickSilver, 'about 170', the revival company, c.2000
Not yet confirmed.

  1. 1,200Golden Spirit, 'over 1,200 cars in the field', the company, July 1987

    Zimmer Motor Cars Corp., Pompano Beach, Florida, 1987 press kit (Golden Spirit and QuickSilver), covering letter of 31 Jul 1987; price list of 1 Dec 1986⁠8

  2. 1,000Golden Spirit, 'over 1,000' in the five years to late 1985, the company

    Miami Herald, "Luxury automobile still the prime success indicator", 1 Nov 1985 (promotional feature)⁠14

  3. 31Golden Spirit, completed by about 22 March 1981

    Michael Langberg, "Zimmer has 'Golden Spirit'", Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel, 22 Mar 1981 (Sunday), p. 3F⁠4

  4. 247Golden Spirit, built 29 December 1980 to 20 July 1982, the headlamp recall population

    National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (US Government Printing Office microfiche), via Internet Archive, Safety Related Recall Campaigns for Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Equipment, Including Tires, quarterly report, 1982⁠2

  5. 1,400Golden Spirit, 'over 1400', the revival company's figure, c.2000

    Zimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Co., Syracuse, New York, Zimmer Motor Car Company website (zimmermotorcars.com, 2000–2012), Wayback Machine captures, 3 Mar 2000 to 13 May 2012⁠9

  6. 1,500Golden Spirit, 'approximately 1,500', the revival company, c.2000

    Zimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Co., Syracuse, New York, Zimmer Motor Car Company website (zimmermotorcars.com, 2000–2012), Wayback Machine captures, 3 Mar 2000 to 13 May 2012⁠9

  7. 150'less than 150 of the exclusive QuickSilvers will be produced', the company's 1988 release

    Collectible Automobile, "1986–88 Zimmer QuickSilver Sport Coupe: The First 'Neo-Modern'", Aug 1993, pp. 85–87⁠25

  8. 170QuickSilver, 'about 170', the revival company, c.2000

    Zimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Co., Syracuse, New York, Zimmer Motor Car Company website (zimmermotorcars.com, 2000–2012), Wayback Machine captures, 3 Mar 2000 to 13 May 2012⁠9

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Sources

Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  1. Zimmer Motor Cars Corp., Window sticker of a 1986 Zimmer QuickSilver, 1986, "Vehicle I.D. No." and "Engine No."; the identification fields; "YEAR 1986"; the certification line; the whole label; the production number as "Vehicle I.D. No.". Primary
  2. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (US Government Printing Office microfiche), via Internet Archive, Safety Related Recall Campaigns for Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Equipment, Including Tires, quarterly report, 1982, campaign 82V-073, "altered version of 1979-82 Ford Mustang"; campaign 82V-073; campaign 82V-073, the model years and the dates of manufacture; campaign 82V-017, "Zimmer Motor Vans"; campaigns 82V-073 and 82V-017. Primary
  3. Joe Rhodes, "Autos as Art", Miami Herald, 20 Sep 1987, the car numbered 1,310; new Mustangs bought from dealers. Primary
  4. Michael Langberg, "Zimmer has 'Golden Spirit'", Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel, 22 Mar 1981 (Sunday), p. 3F, p. 3F, "A white 1981 Ford Mustang"; p. 3F, the first coupé; p. 3F, the Mustang's roof and doors kept; p. 3F, no sales to the public; p. 3F. Primary
  5. Ed Lopez, Report on Zimmer Corporation's Chapter 11 filing, Miami Herald, 11 May 1988, the filing of 10 May 1988. Primary
  6. Ellen Forman, Report on Zimmer Corporation's reorganisation plan, Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), 18 Jul 1989, the plant closed with the filing. Primary
  7. H. William Sacks, "Zimmer Classics catching eye of visitors", York Dispatch, 3 Jul 1986, p. 14, p. 14, the days a conversion took. Primary
  8. Zimmer Motor Cars Corp., Pompano Beach, Florida, 1987 press kit (Golden Spirit and QuickSilver), covering letter of 31 Jul 1987; price list of 1 Dec 1986, release "Zimmer intro's refined Golden Spirit for 1987"; release 'Zimmer intro's refined Golden Spirit for 1987'. Primary
  9. Zimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Co., Syracuse, New York, Zimmer Motor Car Company website (zimmermotorcars.com, 2000–2012), Wayback Machine captures, 3 Mar 2000 to 13 May 2012, the club's application form; the bases, the four-door pages and the advert "in production since 1980"; the insurance page: not a kit car; history page (2000–06); Golden Spirit page (2000–04); QuickSilver page (2000–07). Primary
  10. Kathleen Hamilton, "Zimmer's flashy cars swimming in almost-dry market", Automotive News (Crain Communications), via Internet Archive, 28 Jun 1982, p. 3, p. 3, the T-roof. Primary
  11. Automotive News (Crain Communications), via Internet Archive, "Sunnier Golden Spirit", 3 Jan 1983, the convertible and its V8. Primary
  12. Zimmer Corporation, Interim Report, second fiscal period 1983, chairman's letter of 3 Aug 1983, chairman's letter: the Formal. Primary
  13. Zimmer Motor Cars Corp., Pompano Beach, Florida, "Zimmer Motor Car Features and Specifications", revised May 1984, engine and gearbox; the leather-covered dash; the interior. Primary
  14. Miami Herald, "Luxury automobile still the prime success indicator", 1 Nov 1985 (promotional feature), the 1986 models; article. Primary
  15. Jason Torchinsky, "There's Really Only One Person Who Would Have Owned A Zimmer Covered In Candlelabras", The Autopian, 20 Aug 2026, the Volkswagen Beetle front indicators. Reference
  16. Zimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Company, on nyautos.com, Zimmer Golden Spirit coupé and convertible pages on nyautos.com, Wayback Machine captures of 6 Dec 1998, 28 Jan 1999, 24 Apr 1999 and 12 Oct 1999, the 1998 specification: airbags. Primary
  17. Clifford Atiyeh, "Q&A: Art Zimmer explains his lavish, 'neo-classic' car craft", Boston.com (Boston Overdrive blog), 18 Sep 2009, the method and the donors. Primary
  18. Sam's Auto Body, Syracuse, New York, "Zimmer" page, captures of 3 Aug 2002 and 1 Nov 2010, the manufacturing facility. Primary
  19. Antony Ingram, "Express yourself, with this Zimmer Golden Spirit", Hagerty UK, 13 Mar 2023, the 2002 four-door: the Town Car and its column shift. Reference
  20. United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTABVUE), Cancellation No. 92027992: Zimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Company v. Zimmer Corporation (registration 1177989), 1998, the new company's petition. Primary
  21. Jim Koscs, "All that Glitters is probably Fiberglass", Hagerty, 23 Oct 2014, the Classic Tiffany. Reference
  22. John Gunnell, Weird Cars, Krause Publications, Iola, Wisconsin, 1993, the entry on a Lincoln-based car "styled like a Golden Spirit". Reference
  23. Daily Oklahoman, from Crain News Service, "Firm Hopes Sports Car Will Help Pocketbook", 7 Sep 1986, Zimmer Corporation's divisions. Primary
  24. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (recalls API), Recalls database: campaigns 81V-069, 82V-017, 82V-073 and 82V-086, campaigns 81V-069 and 82V-086. Primary
  25. Collectible Automobile, "1986–88 Zimmer QuickSilver Sport Coupe: The First 'Neo-Modern'", Aug 1993, pp. 85–87, pp. 85–87. Reference

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