Hi, I am having my newly acquired 61 Corvette re-restored. It hasn't had the column attached VIN for the past 30 years. I clearly want to have one that is legitimate on my car for future possible resale. Does anyone have a practical solution to this dilemma? I have a good New Jersey title,etc but will have problems getting a VIN verification done 'legally' here in Colorado. I know how I could 'get around this' but clearly when the car is sold this issue will resurface. Advice welcomed. Regards, Harland

 

There is a place in New Jersey that will make you a new VIN plate as long as you can prove to them you are the true owner of your car. I cant recall their name now, but if you do a search you will problaby find a topic discussing this very issue.

 

Hi

My brother bought a 1964 Corvette that had a "suspicious" tampering with the Vin plate...Someone had "reattached" the Vin plate to his car...We talked to a local law enforcement friend..That old us it looks like it was stolen and someone was trying to "cover up" this stolen car...It use to be a common practice in the day...Someone buys a totalled car with a vin and good title in tact...Reattach it to the stolen car..Presto! you own a Corvette..

My brother sold the car year later! We were told that if it does come up stolen you LOSE YOUR car..Returned to rightful owner!!

Suck to lose that money!

 

There is a comapny called A.G. Backeast that will make a new VIN tag for your car, providing that you meet his strict requirements as to proof of ownership.

He will require you to have a law enforcement officer from your state certify that he has seen the alternate VIN # on your car, and that it matches the VIN on your title. You will also need to provide a copy of the title in your name. The alternate VIN on your car is stamped in the frame rail at a location about even with where your butt sits in the driver's seat. It is several hours work to pull the body enough to get it to where the police can view the stamp, but it is worth the effort. The effect on the value of the car with a state-issued VIN tag is substantial, and you will have to show the stamp for the state-issued tag anyway! The failure of the spot welds on 60-62 cars was fairly common.
I will let you in on trick I use that makes the whole process go smoother. Most Law enforcement officers will balk at signing an affidavit for something that they are nor sure about, but if you go to your DMV, you will probably find that they have a form for doing this exact thing for a state-issued VIN. Just fill out the form as if you were applying for a state-issued VIN, and have the officer sign that he has seen the alternate VIN. Then just send the form to Backeast as your documentation rather than sending it to your DMV! It works nicely in my state, and the law enforcement officer never gives it a second thought, since it is an official state form.

This gentelman has made several VIN tags for me over the years, and has always done a very nice job. He recently moved to Colorado, so he may be very close to where you live.


Regards, John McGraw

 

Be aware that if you put a reproduction vin plate on your car you will NEVER be able to have it judged at NCRS or Bloomington GOLD. If your goal is to have it judged, you will be better off reporting the vin as missing and getting a state issued vin number and plate. NCRS will judge it with no deductions.

 

From what I have heard, the Backeast tags are very high quality and probably would not be detectable during judging.

 

The mans workmanship is excellent. He even puts the spotwelds in place.

oWEN

 

The discussion is not on trim tags, but Vin tags which are stainless not aluminum like the trim tags.

oWEN

 

he's talking about a 61; C1s don't have trim tags, only VIN tags
Bill

 

If you believe that, I have some land for sale.....
Look at Al Grennings and Roy Sinors book on trim tags. Every tag has the same anomaly. Can't be reproduced. The judges look at these tags with high powered magnifying glasses and are outsanding at picking out the fakes. They carry around samples of all the different versions of fake tags to compare to. If you go for judging and are found out they will not judge the car and it will go on the list of cars with fake tags. You might get away with it at a small chapter meet but not at a regional or national meet.

 

Bill, I was using the book as a reference on anomallys on trim tags that also applies to vin tags-same minute differences and teltale signs. And all detectable at higher level judging event. I am sure that someone will claim to have had a car with a fake tag judged and that may be true but for the most part they are detectable.

 

I have the book from Al Grenning and think it is an excellent a piece of research and observation. But as you should know, this book only covers trim tags. It does not mention VIN tags at all, nor is there any such book that currently covers these.

I am sure there are some folks with enough knowledge to detect a fake, but the reality is that there are far fewer of these being replaced than trim tags and consequently there may never be a published guide to detecting them, or an interest in such a guide. I for one would not spend the $50+ I gladly shelled out for my trim tag book on the same book for VIN tags. The people selling these apparently judge pretty harshly whether you legitimately own the car, so what is the point? Conversely, anyone with $150 can have a trim tag saying their car was painted with a 1 of a kind custom flame job.

 

i hope i'm not hijacking this thread (and if someone thinks so, let me know and i'll start a new one); to take this one VIN tag discussion one step further.... everyone who has done a C1 IFS replacement has probably had to replace/relocate their VIN tag because they usually replace their steering columns with an Ididit or Flaming River column.

the new column doesn't project very far past the firewall into the engine compartment. where did you relocate the tag to?
Bill

 

Bill,
My car is a 59, so I did not need to move like later models.It stayed on the driver's side hinge pillar, but mine is a A.G. Backeast tag, as the original one was in almost unusable condition. Not all cars are destined for Flight judging, but many such cars still need a new tag, and he is the best there is!

Regards, John McGraw