Odometer reset / body off?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 7,245
Likes: 4
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (tuxedo)
Good question! I don't have an answer, but you should also ask it in the Factory Correct Resto section where a lot of guys who do restorations hang out.
[Modified by 67HEAVEN, 2:24 PM 5/28/2002]
[Modified by 67HEAVEN, 2:24 PM 5/28/2002]
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 5,841
Likes: 376
From: Mobile AL
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (aobrien)
I'm not aware of any state that has a legal loophole for people restoring old Corvettes. In most states, lowering the odometer reading of any used car is just plain illegal.
[Modified by jerrybramlett, 2:17 PM 5/28/2002]
[Modified by jerrybramlett, 2:17 PM 5/28/2002]
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 2,848
Likes: 3
From: Atlanta, Ga, Fulton
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (jerrybramlett)
If it is not illegal anyplace it should be. I got a car from a guy who bought it "completely restored" with the meter set to zero. About the only thing set to original was the speedo. He got screwed, I got the car cheap cause he couldn't keep his fully restored beauty running.
Bad bad form turning back the numbers no matter what has (or has not) been restored to original.
Bad bad form turning back the numbers no matter what has (or has not) been restored to original.
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,359
Likes: 116
From: AUSTIN Tx
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (tuxedo)
Depending on the year, It probably makes little difference. Most states have an arbitrary point at which they quit tracking odmeter statements. I belive that most states use either 25 or 30 years. My 60 was set to 0 when I restored the car because the odometer drum had to be replaced due to peeling numbers. It had 65,000 miles on it then and I found a notation inside the spedo of another odometer change at 73,000 in 1968. If anybody buys a 30 year old car thinking that the odometer is correct without piles of documentation to prove it, then they are just kidding themselves. I have no qualms about setting the odometer to 0 on a car that I restored every nut and bolt on the car, but I would certianly never represent it as having original miles.
:seeya
:seeya
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,713
Likes: 0
CI 1 through 10 Vet
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (tuxedo)
Good question. If not for any legal reason , i would guess that it is up to the restorer. My 65 was restored 17 years ago (at 55K miles) and at that time they ran the odometer back to 0. I kinda wish they hadn't, because there are very few 65's around with 13k on them-which is what mine now shows. Now everyone who sees mine thinks it has 113k instead of 13k and says wow that car is in good shape to have 113K on it! ???? (actually the car has about 68K on it now) but I get tired of explaining and sometimes i just agree. I plan on keeping mine and driving the wheels off of it so it really didnt matter to me. Either way, like one of the guys before said, without documentation it really holds no water anyway. In Ky, they have a clause on the title for older cars for unsure mileage and it simply says "actual mileage exceeds capacity of odometer". I would imagine that is fairly universal in most states.
I say do it like you want to, just be honest if it's ever sold.
[Modified by Lightfoot, 4:53 PM 5/28/2002]
I say do it like you want to, just be honest if it's ever sold.
[Modified by Lightfoot, 4:53 PM 5/28/2002]
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 8,913
Likes: 283
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (tuxedo)
Much Like Lightfoot in KY. in SD there is two boxes to check on title, original miles, not original miles. I would much rather it read original miles, however many miles that may be. After all, these are just used cars, nobody cares or gives speacial exeption just because they are corvettes and that maybe someone restored there car to better them OEM specs.
Mark
Mark
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 862
Likes: 2
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (ghostrider20)
I set mine to 0. To me, the original 67000 reading meant nothing. First off, it was really either 167000 or even 267000, I don't know which. Maybe even actually 67000 (we'd be talking HARD miles if that were the case). Totally meaningless.
But to have the number of miles I drive it since I sweated for six years restoring this puppy? That would be a number that has at least some interest for me. Just my 2 cents.
- Mike Greene
But to have the number of miles I drive it since I sweated for six years restoring this puppy? That would be a number that has at least some interest for me. Just my 2 cents.
- Mike Greene
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,077
Likes: 2
From: The Garden Spot of the Garden State
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (tuxedo)
......tampering with an odometer (regardless of your intentions) is a felony...that's the feds - and they have NO sense of humor :nono:
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,359
Likes: 116
From: AUSTIN Tx
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (Kid_Again)
So Kid, Let me see if I have this right, If my odometer breaks then I cannot replace it? It is only a violation of law if you alter the odometer and seek to defraud someone by misrepresenting the mileage!
:seeya
:seeya
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,620
Likes: 0
From: 20 forward gears to shift through in MD
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (John McGraw)
Only my 2/100 of a dollar, I have restored both of my 66's and didn't touch the odometer on either. My feeling is that the title history is what it is and by maintaining the continuity I was doing everyone a service when I am long gone.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,334
Likes: 2
From: San Clemente Ca.
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (tuxedo)
Fact, most Midyrs odometer's stop between 45,000 and 60,000.
The guy I bought my car from counted fill ups after it stopped
and figured 13 mpg. (or 250 miles per tank to keep it simple)
(he kept a tally written down)
It has approx 80k at this point. (added about 5000 miles myself- 20 tanks)
Now I am counting them!:lol:
I plan on getting it fixed and setting it
at what ever it is based on 250 miles per tank.
Setting it at zero? I would think most buyers would rather
know the approx millage rather than zero.
Even if fully restored. But to each his own. :D
The guy I bought my car from counted fill ups after it stopped
and figured 13 mpg. (or 250 miles per tank to keep it simple)
(he kept a tally written down)
It has approx 80k at this point. (added about 5000 miles myself- 20 tanks)
Now I am counting them!:lol:
I plan on getting it fixed and setting it
at what ever it is based on 250 miles per tank.
Setting it at zero? I would think most buyers would rather
know the approx millage rather than zero.
Even if fully restored. But to each his own. :D
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 862
Likes: 2
Re: Odometer reset / body off? (396 RAT)
If I were 396RAT, when I fixed my odometer, I would set it to the number he's calculated, too. That's because the number MEANS something and we're reasonably sure it's accurate. Especially with a historically significant car like his! But for a car like mine (and I presume John's and many others), an odometer that may have broken and likely has rolled over doesn't really hold any useful information.
And any law on tampering would include the words "with intent to deceive." Rolling an odometer to 000000 AND telling a buyer that's the real mileage is deception. Telling the buyer you rolled it to 000000 during a restoration is not. No worries here.
- Mike Greene
And any law on tampering would include the words "with intent to deceive." Rolling an odometer to 000000 AND telling a buyer that's the real mileage is deception. Telling the buyer you rolled it to 000000 during a restoration is not. No worries here.
- Mike Greene
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 15,059
Likes: 79
From: central FL, near the beach.
Re: Odometer reset / body off?
imo, if you go to a lot of shows, you should set it to a number that the public will accept as believable. no sense explaining such a senseless topic, when you could be talking about all the fun you have had driving the car.
