Look at this ebay listing...

I'm guessing nobody is going to buy that for the fiberglass! There is definately something wrong with that whole thing.What a great topic of discussion.(comes up all the time in my business.)


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevr...spagenameZWDVW

 

I know this will stir some controversy as it should. In another thread there were plenty of opinions offered in just RE-stamping an original block.

This is going to be fun for the reading

 

It's a gray area at best. I'm actually interested in the '63 SWC he has for sale with a VIN just because I don't have a VIN or Title for my '63 SWC body that I bought a few years ago. My '63 body is in much better condition than the one he is selling and I need a VIN if I want to title it as a real corvette. That said, I'm not paying $8K for it.

I'll probably end up registering my '63 as "assembled from parts" but I hate that then it will have to meet emissions requirements for a new car instead of those for a '63 here in Florida. I'll probably put an LS? engine in it anyway on an SRIII Motorsports frame with full C5 running gear so it won't really matter. Plus, I don't intend to sell it after its done anyway. I'd still like it to be registered as a real corvette rather than from parts. Obviously I'd never try to sell it as original with the SRIII frame and C5 running gear anyway. Plus lately I've been thinking it would look good with a C5 interior as well.

The guy I bought my body from bought several vettes at an estate sale and they popped the VINs off of all of them supposedly before he got them. Seems shady but since there wasn't a frame or any other parts with it I bought it anyway. The others he had were complete; he apparently goes to a lot of estate sales for cars.

Anyway, I think ebay allows this type of sale because part of the firewall is included. I'm sure the guy knows that what he is really selling is the VIN.

 

Looks like the makings of a $200,000 all original big block at Barrett Jackson this winter

 

 

I see crap like that all the time on ebay!! i even contacted ebay when i saw a guy selling 70 hemi cuda tags nothing else just the tags and they told me its not illegal to buy or sell them just unethical (which they didnt care about!)
ebay and BJ will be the down fall of the classic car hobbie in my opinion!!

 

 

Or, the data plates could be sent to China, mass produced at pinnies each, for many $200K BJ cars.

 

 

So all he is selling is the part of the car that has the VIN number on it? Then a person can buy that part, and graft it onto a salvaged car and have a vette that is registered under the VIN of the door frame part. Is that the deal? Add a restamped engine, and find the person that is selling Vintage Reproduction copies of tank stickers, and you have a pretty good survivor car.

kdf

 

Never would have imagined....but I guess if you have to have a VIN, you would pay dearly for it.

 

My question is how someone ends up with a car with no vin anyway.I wouldnt buy one!!!!!!! Or what happened ,your dog ate yours???? You put it down somewhere and it got lost? Give me a brake. If you have a body with no vin legally, then someone sold it to you for parts. Cant sell it as a car.!!! Then if you purposely buy a vin tag, then you are doing something just a little fishy as far as I am concerned.

 

they dont need a car without a vin they just take the one off their sb plain janer and reatatch the bb rare option one and wula a high end original bb is reborn from nothing!!

 

WELL,then there is definately something fishy about that!!!!!

 

Somebody should tell this azzhat about Unique Performance in TX. He might want to rethink what he's doing. /:\

 

It's illegal to sell only the tags and no vehicle. How much of the vehicle needs to be intact and attached? That's a different question.

 

This is a big dillema in my bussiness especially since restoration of cars is so popular now.
EXAMPLE:

you are restoring a car that lets say for the sake of argument needs everything replaced except the vin tag area. With some of the aftermarket parts available out there (lets say for a 69 camaro)you can build that car from scratch. So, you can theoreticaly replace every part around that vin #, or you can get another body to switch the vin number to. That is where the gray area comes in.!!!! (this again would not be to mislead anyone about what the car is but to just restore the car).
According to most state laws whether you are doing it for legit purposes or fraud it is all illegal.

With automotive restoration being so prominent nowadays, I think some new legislation needs to be written in order to set guide lines for this sort of thing. With proper documentation(photo and written) in hand ,you should be able to restore your car without being called a criminal especially if you are using parts to build exactly what you had originaly.

Look at all the crate cars out there.Do you really think that all are being registered as kit cars ?? I highly doubt it.
I am building a 69 crate camaro for a customer and according to the state police in MA, (I did my home work) it will have to be registered as a kit car because the vin from the original car cannot be removed.I already got the application and will do just that, meaning when this car is completed We will take it to the state police where they will examine it and assign it a vin# and it will be called a 69 camaro kit replica.(like a cobra.). The only problem with this is that the owner is only trying to restore his car, and instead of buying the restoration parts needed all in pieces , he bought them all in one piece..

Like I said, a lot of gray area.

Some day the law makers will have to figure this one out, and come up with solutions that will punish the people commiting fraud, and also allow legit people to restore their cars.


Let me know what you guys think.

 

Agreed that swapping the tag is illegal. The issue is purchasing an extremely rusty vehicle with a clear title, then replacing just about every piece of metal around the tag and the metal it sits on. It's like the old axe - it's still the same axe, even though the head's been replaced twice and the handle has been replaced five times.

There HAS to be some procedure for this - after all, vehicles are sometimes damaged in serial number areas. How do collision shops handle it?

This is really fun with some older vehicles - for instance, some late 40s GMCs screwed on the serial number tag at the factory, rather than riveting. It has been documented as a factory practice, but it has still caused some owners headaches with the DMV.

 

the only way to avoid all of this b**lsh*t is to have the owner history well documentd and to call all of the old farts - if they are even alive anyomore i know where there is a 69 camaro L-78 convertible rusted shell with matching numbers engine (basically just the firewall) and a 350 hp camaro convertible in the same condition for $45K and $35K - are they real???

 

yeah but the ebay scum have thought of that as well i have seen aged build sheets with any options or numbers you would like!!!