Vire 7 - Bulletin Board

How old is your Vire 7 ?

For the early Vire 7 engines, made in Finland by Valmet between 1973 and 1980, there was no particular pattern to the Serial Numbers - you just have to look them up in the table, below. From 1981 onwards it's easy to tell the age of a Vire engine directly from the Serial Number. The first two digits represented the year, and the other three the number of engines built, so the first engine that Valmet built in 1981 was Serial Number 81-001. At the start of each year, they changed the first two digits and reset the last three to 001, etc., so Serial Number 83-050 was the fiftieth engine built in 1983, and so on. Webmaster's Note: Thanks to Pertti Pajari at Power-Marin Oy in Finland for providing this information, and to Mauri Lindholm for forwarding it.

Valmet stopped manufacturing Vire engines in 1993, and production was transferred to Masnedo, in Denmark. They continued to use Valmet's numbering system, so Serial Number 99-020 was the twentieth engine built by Masnedo in 1999, and so on. When the year 2000 came, Masnedo continued to use the last two digits of the year as the prefix, so the numbers went back to 00-001. The system continued until production ceased in 2002 (Serial Number 02-???). Webmaster's Note: Thanks to Kurt at Masnedo for providing this information.

HELP ! Now that we know the first serial number used each year, we must now try to figure out approximately how many engines were made each year. So, please E-mail the Webmaster with your serial number - it doesn't matter whether or not you know the year of manufacture of your engine

Serial Numbers of Vire 7 Engines 1973 to 2002

Manufacturer	Year of Manufacture	From Serial Number	To Serial Number*	Highest Known Serial Number	Min. Number of Engines Built
Valmet	1973	20001	21000	20377	377
Valmet	1974	21001	23000	22603	1603
Valmet	1975	23001	24000	23752	752
Valmet	1976	24001	24749	24672	672
Valmet	1977	24750	25599	25235	486
Valmet	1978	25600	27000		-
Valmet	1979	27001	30333		-
Valmet	1980	30334	80000	30868	535
Valmet	1981	81001	82000		-
Valmet	1982	82001	83000		-
Valmet	1983	83001	84000		-
Valmet	1984	84001	85000		-
Valmet	1985	85001	86000		-
Valmet	1986	86001	87000		-
Valmet	1987	87001	88000		-
Valmet	1988	88001	89000		-
Valmet	1989	89001	90000		-
Valmet	1990	90001	91000		-
Valmet	1991	91001	92000	91076	76
Valmet	1992	92001	93000		-
Valmet	1993	93001	94000		-
Masnedo	1994	94001	95000
Masnedo	1995	95001	96000	95048	48
Masnedo	1996	96001	97000		-
Masnedo	1997	97001	98000		-
Masnedo	1998	98001	99000		-
Masnedo	1999	99001	99999		-
Masnedo	2000	00001	01000	00042	42
Masnedo	2001	01001	02000		-
Masnedo	2002	02001	???		?

* Not all numbers were used every year

How old is your Vire BVR ?

For the older BV series, the numbers seem to consist of two digits, letters representing the model, and seven tailing digits. I believe, but I'm really only guessing, that the last two digits represented the year. So, for example, Serial Number 03-BVR-14437-70 was a Vire BVR built (probably) in 1970. If I'm wrong, or if you can confirm that I'm right, please E-mail me.