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Hello all......new to the forum. Seems like a great gathering place for Corvette enthusiast. I'm starting a refurb on a '73 barn find with the LS4 454. I recently finished an 80 L-82. It's a daily driver with some engine mods to enhance it a bit, but I recently picked up the '73, and it's going to need a full body-off redo. Looking forward to it, but I'll need some advice from you sages along the way. Right off the bat......while the car has some rust along the visible portions of the birdcage, the vin Tag has nearly disintegrated due to rust. The car is complete numbers matching, and while I'm not a car flipper, I don't want to cause myself any undue headaches down the road. I'll try and enclose a picture so you can get an idea of my concern. I have pictures of both my cars, but wouldn't want to bore you folks with something you've seen a million times before.
I agree with Alan; try to leave it where it is. If you feel you have to remove it, you will want to check with your local DMV and law enforcement folks to determine your options before removing the tag.
If you want to preserve the original tag, you might try and remove
the surface rust as best you can and then you can cover it with a
rust treatment. Permatex has a rust treatment that you spray like
paint that goes on clear and then turns black that kills the rust.
My tag wasn't as bad as yours and I painted mine with POR-15
to kill the rust as I was already using it for my frame.
Just a thought.
Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try to clean it some......if it breaks......well....it breaks. The DMV in these parts......well, the kindest thing I can say publicly is.......I hope the tag stays on. :-). I'm about one good afternoon of tinkering and the body will be ready to lift. I see Donnie is not too far away.......small world.
And yep.....a bit of that mastick fell right on to the serial Tag as I lifted the window out......lol.
Last edited by 73BBVette; Aug 31, 2015 at 06:15 PM.
Hi,
I think you under estimate ("if it breaks, well, it breaks") the implications of what losing that plate means on a car that you want to be taken seriously.
The engine stamp pad, the trim tag, and the VIN plate, are vital to a car's value.
I certainly wouldn't put anything like POR15 on the plate.
I believe I'd gently brush any semi-loose material off it with a soft brass brush and then coat it with something like PreLube6 or RestoGuard Dry.
Regards,
Alan
Alan, just curious, POR 15 just kills the rust, how would that hurt
anything. That is why I used it, not to destroy anything.
Of course, my 73 is just for my use and not for judging if that
is what it harms.
I brushed it lightly as recommended. I used, sparingly, a de-rust agent called Krud-Kutter. Gave it time to work and lightly brushed again. I think I'll leave it as is.....looks like the rust is off, and the back rivet seems to be holding stronger than I thought. Any consideration of putting a little paint on it for the time being?
Engine pad indicates Tonawanda August 18th....1972 ? There's no hint of California emission control left on the car. Not a fan of it, even though it may detract from the value. I plan to raise the compression, better intake and ignition.......maybe research a better cam for it. All in good time though........I really got to see how the frame is. Nice photo bomb by the spider.......
I took the 350 in my '80 and doctored it up a bit. That motor was a wheezing, coughing bundle of mess when I got it.
When I researched it I was surprised to find the short block was actually not a bad build from the factory. Decent compression and a nice .450/.460 lift cam. I gave it a better set of lungs so to speak, runs really good now. Not a world beater, but will light'em up if desired, and turns up to around 6k, with that excellent small block growl we all love......
So allow me to grasp this...a die hard purist would rather have the rusted up nasty factory vin tag rather than a nice new state vin decal?
Attention NCRS members and other die hard purists please post a picture of your award winner with a rusted up factory vin tag....
What reaction would you expect from a future buyer if the car had a state issued VIN decal? A badly rusted VIN tag would raise flags, wondering if there's more rust hiding, but may be perceived as less risk of unknowns vs a state issued VIN?
What reaction would you expect from a future buyer if the car had a state issued VIN decal? A badly rusted VIN tag would raise flags, wondering if there's more rust hiding, but may be perceived as less risk of unknowns vs a state issued VIN?
Not really what I asked...but my answer is a basket case that has a pristine restoration would look rather silly with a rusted up factory VIN tag, and I do not recall seeing one like that...hum.
I will not ever believe that a state vin decal in and of itself means for sure the car has more, worse issues over the same car with a rusted out factory vin tag I understand some are really hung up on it but like in the other thread about state vin tags there really isnt a good reason for it to be a hang up,
In either case a rusted out factory tag or a state decal both should cause a savvy buyer to look deeper at the car.....
Back to my question...lets see some basket case restorations back to pristine factory orginal examples that do have a rusted factory vin tag...
VIN Tag on hinge Pilar post.
