SEXTY2

I am putting an Ididit column in my 62. What do folks do with the Vin Tag when putting in an aftermarket steering column. Is it common pratice to remove the tag from the old column and then attach it to some other part of the car, or the new column.

Or do you just have an aftermarket tag made and keep the old column intact.

My car is not 100% correct anyway so that is not an issue to me.

BB

AZDoug

Time for a refresher:

A long story about moved/missing VIN tags.

I bought my car in Helena, MT in 1974, it was wrecked in Blackfoot, ID in 1969,and sat in a junkyard in Helena in the intervening years.

During negotiations to buy the car, I noticed the VIN tag was on the door frame, attached with sheet metal screws . I asked the guy who I was buying it from if he thought the car was stolen (I knew the guy, it wasn't like he just rolled into town with 'Vettes for sale cheep). He said he didn't think so, but that steering column had been changed.

No problem, I bought the car, spent 6 months scraping up the money to buy a used engine and transmission for it and got it sort of running. I submitted the old Idaho title to MT DMV, and got registration and plates in 1974. Over the next 5 years, I restored the car to respectable appearance.

Fast forward to CA in 1980. When I went to register it there, I found out they wanted to retrofit it with smog devices, so I said to hell with that and just drove the car on expired MT license plates for 11 years until I found out they had they rescinded the smog retrofit rule.

Knowing that I am now safe from smog devices, I go to the Fullerton, CA DMV to register the car in 1991. Going to a CA DMV office is not for the faint of heart, just getting past the gauntlet of Hari-Krishnas milling outside the doors soliciting donations takes the agility of a quarterback, or the brawn of a fullback, coupled with the diplomacy of George Steinbrenner.

After my turn of 40 minutes of waiting in boredom, I get to the counter, and present my Montana title and registration. She looks at it and asks why the registration has been expired for 11 years. I told her the car was in storage in Montana all that time. OK, no problems there, then says she has to inspect the car, and to bring in around front, which I did.

DMV Lady comes out, looks at the car (At that time is was a 97% Concour show car, in the modified class, in other words, it was spotless inside and out, with 25 coats of nitrocellulose lacquer candy black cherry paint on the body;( I have literally have had several nubile young gals come up to me and ask if they could lick it. Unfortunately they were referring to the paint. ), she looks at the VIN tag and says "wait right here, don't leave" and runs inside. About 30 seconds later three big guys came running out, one with a wire brush in his hand and says: "You, outta the car, NOW, go stand against the wall".

Not quite knowing what was up, I get out and ask them what was wrong?

Sir, this car is probably stolen, the VIN tag has been removed and replaced, go stand against the wall, NOW (two big burly goons had now positioned themselves on either side of me, I think the Hillside Strangler got more assumption of innocence than I was getting at the time). Me: No, the steering column where the VIN tag usually resides has been replaced, so the tag was moved to the door jamb, the state of Montana didn't have a problem with the tag being moved.

So, one guy goes around the front of the car, fumbling under the grill for the hood latch. After watching him look for a latch in the grill area, and even crawl underneath the front of the car trying to figure out how to open the hood, he finally said to me:

"Open the hood, we will check the engine numbers"

So, I open the hood, and guy with the wire brush is all set to brush off inches of expected crud (you could see the gleam in his eye, and he literally was all ready leaning forward over the fender with wire brush in hand as the hood was being opened, ready to corral a dangerous criminal by proving the engine SN didn't match the body VIN), and after the shock of the rear opening hood wears off, he moves to the side of the car and sees a absolutely spotless Concour engine, and his mouth drops open and he kind of looks back and forth at true spotlessness, with chrome, new paint, neatly arranged plug wires etc.. I then tell him that the engine number is supposed to be right there on the right front side of the block, but it is only a block code, they didn't serialize engines back then, plus I installed a new factory L79 crate engine back in 1976.

Well, now they then go inside, while demanding I still stay at the wall, all but spread eagle, while they go inside and confer, making comments about secret VIN code locations to them selves.

After about 10 minutes they come out, release me from the wall, and they then tell me they can't register the car until they verify the ID, and that I need to call the CHP for that.

So, next day call the CHP and set up an appointment to go to their division in Orange, CA that does this stuff, and drive down there, and an officer whose name I can’t recall, so I will call him officer Smith, comes out and tells me to drive the car into a bay in the Chippie compound and then go wait in the front office.

I ask why is that?

Officer Smith replies: There are secret places where there are VIN codes on vehicles that we don't want known by the public.

I say, Oh, yeah, the one on this car is located on top of the frame, directly under the drivers seat. His jaw kind of dropped open. So much for their secret. Anyway, he made me go up front so they could confiscate the car if the numbers didn't match.

About 10 minutes later Officer Smith comes up front and tells me he can't read the number and that I was going to have to cut the floor pan out and bring the car back so they could read it.

I Said I ain't cutting the floor pan out. He says then you can't register it in CA until we verify the number; I say, but I am supposed to register it here, I am a Californian resident now; we went back and forth a few times, finally he says register it again in Montana.. I ask isn't that illegal since I now live in CA, he hems and haws and says yes, but, etc, etc.

I then ask him if I can raise the number to be visible, at my house, can he come out and look at it?

Officer Smith says yes he will come out to verify the serial number and gives me his card.

Driving straight home, I jack the car up get out some soapy water water, a scraper and wire brush and clean the top of the frame beneath the drivers seat. I get out a mirror and flash light out and BINGO, you can see the SN, and it matches the title (I was getting kinda worried about then, I wasn't sure if I was going to have to go on the lamb, sort of a Lost Dutchman existence, traveling from state to state, but never being able to register my car).

I promptly called up Officer Smith in case the serial number wanted to migrate or something in the next few hours and tell him I found it, and he comes out pronto in his black and white CHP Mustang, opens the trunk, pulls out and puts on his coveralls, crawls under there, and looks and says, "I can't see the whole number, but I can see the 9141 of the last digits and that is good enough for me".

So I ask him what now?

Officer Smith says bring the car on back and they will assign a new serial number and place a new CA VIN tag (In a real obnoxious place) on the car.

I ask: can't I use my old SN, and place your CA tag right below the Chev tag on the front of the doorjamb? Officer Smith says no, we have to place it where CA says it should be.


Knowing a California assigned VIN would be the Kiss of Death for the car, relegating it to a collectibility status somewhere between Dune Buggy, and Low Rider, I had to think of something.

OK, I have an idea; I went in and wrote a letter to his supervisor telling the supervisor how Officer Smith went out of his way, coming all the way out to my house to help me solve this insurmountable problem, when nobody else would, and how he was a credit to the CHP, etc, etc. I laid it on pretty thick; and took about 2 whole single spaced type written pages to lay it on thick. This letter was so good, that had I copied it to the appropriate people, Officer Smith would have been sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom, been Knighted by the Queen, and considered for Beatification by the Pope.

The next week, I go down to the Orange, CA CHP station to get my CA tag VIN Cert applied to the car, and Officer Smith, comes out kind of grinning,( obviously his supervisor had shown him the letter I had written and placed it in his file), and says, here, we got your old serial number put on the CA VIN tag, where did you want it installed? OK, under the old one is fine, would you like to install it? Here is the drill and punch.

I declined to install it myself, let him put the tag on, right under the old one, where I pointed out that was where I wanted it..

Then I had to go back to DMV with the certification of VIN.

Going back the second time to that den on incompetence, sullenness and hostility was enough to make me want to find a bridge to jump off of, that seemed less painful. Surly employees, screaming litters of kids be herded by moms that spoke foreign languages, Hari Krishnas (called ISCON now), begging donations at the door; I felt like I was in the bar from Starwars, and wondered why the place couldn’t instead be full of single 20-something babes, waiting for 40 minutes like I was to get their car registered.

Now my number is called and I finally get to the registration counter and the lady asks how much I paid for the car? I said $500, here is the bill of sale. I produce the bill of sale, dated March 16, 1974, written in crayola on a 3" by 5" scrap of paper ( it was all we could find at the time, what can I say).

She looks at it and says, "this car is worth a lot more than that, how much is it worth? I say: I paid $500 for it, there is the bill of sale.

We went back and forth a while, and then she tells me I have to get it appraised before I can register it. I say: I ain't paying for it to be appraised, if you want it appraised, you can hire an appraiser and have him come to my house and appraise it".

I get a dirty look and she gets a supervisor and they start looking through blue books and valuation guides and then get more and more desperate, and are furiously throwing new and old Kelly Blue Books around trying to find a 1961 Corvette in them that just isn't listed, to prove the car is worth lots more so the grand State of California can extort me for more money (This was before the KBB old car guide) , and finally the supervisor asks me how much the car is worth? I tell him: I paid $500 for it, there is the bill of sale, if it has gone up or down, since then, I have no idea, all I know is I paid $500 for it. (Car was appraised shortly after for $35K).

He shakes his head in disgust and tells the gal to put down $500 as the value.

So, my registration in CA was $18 a year, instead of the $1000 a year they were hoping to get.

All over two sheetmetal screws holding the VIN tag on.

bastards. :-)

Post script: After I registered my Corvette in Arizona after my escape from California and permanent move here , the California DMV sent me a letter, to my Arizona address, demanding I reregister the car in California or they were going to seize the vehicle. My written reply was: “Bite Me”. Haven’t heard a thing from them since.

78Vette-SA

You could make your life real easy by having another tag made by DATATAGS (www.datatags.com) and epoxy it inside the door jam.

When asked where's the vin, open the door. Done....