Given the rarity of these cars, it just allows us to see what's left. As it gets more complete, we can more closely see the true value as we will actually see how many are on the road. Needless to say, the fewer, the more expensive. I dont' have the actual production numbers in front of me, but realatively speaking, there weren't a lot.
A few things about the VIN...
First, it's a matter of validation. The original thing we did was omit the check digit. Of course, it's not all that hard to guess which one it is, but unless you have something to check against, guessing isn't going to help. Without this, the whole effort is moot.
Secondly, the goal was to make it only available to current owners. It was certainly not a public thing. However, I think we were working on having only so much information publicly displayable. Of course, over time, those that have sold and whatnot would still potentially have access to said information. That said, we could perhaps add a piece that would require you to renew or revalidate that info every year, else you loose access.
Next, we didn't see the point of hiding it. If someone has your VIN, chances are nothing is going to happen anyway. All anyone has to do is come up to the car and there it is. Potentially, more people can see it that way than who will see it here.
Lastly, it's nice to see who has what. As in "he has the first CYM in the US" or what have you. I don't recall if Mazda had information to dechiper the VIN to determine came equiped with what, but that's something else we'd like to do. We have ALL the VINs for all US made cars, and those owners (or past owners) fill in the blanks.
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