Ask the Editors: What’s This Mystery Suzuki?

By Jason Giacchino - October 20, 2019

Spent a little time in the field.

Dear ATVC: I acquired an older Suzuki quad but don’t know much about it. It was sitting in an open field for years so all the plastic and identifying decals are disintegrated. I could not find an engine cc stamp and the VIN tag is not legible. Any information on how to determine the year and size and model would be greatly appreciated. I had taken the back rack and fenders off of it before I took pictures, it appears to be complete. Thanks.

That is absolutely a late 80s to early/ mid 90s Suzuki King Quad 300 4×4. To figure out the exact year, you need only the 10th digit of the VIN. The VIN number was located to the rear of the machines on the frame spar near the exhaust:

You say the numbers on the plate are wore down so there are a few techniques we usually implement to make easier the process of identifying the original numbers. First pick up a handful of kid’s modeling clay. Work it till it’s nice and malleable, flatten it out into a slab and push it firmly against the plate. Often that provides just enough of an imprint to make sense of the digits.