Thread: vin tag and title rip-off

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My biggest fear would be a stolen car, where the thief wants to sell it for big bucks, so he changesthe the tags and vin numbers, and suddenly the car looks legal to all of us!

I read an article which said that the company creating the new 69 camaros are building them around old firewalls with the VIN still attached. I think the quote was something like "..they are using up most of the junk 69 camaros around to build these cars..."

I thought that Unique, in Texas, was busted for basically doing the same thing with Mustangs?

Isn't SS is indicated by the cowl tag (under the hood), not the vin (on the dash)?

Kind of like what happened to the old Chargers after the Dukes of Hazzard!. I can't tell you how much it pained me to see the front end bend after a duke jump, only to be straight a second later as it rolled down the dirt road!

Originally Posted by 41willys

I read an article which said that the company creating the new 69 camaros are building them around old firewalls with the VIN still attached. I think the quote was something like "..they are using up most of the junk 69 camaros around to build these cars..."

I thought that Unique, in Texas, was busted for basically doing the same thing with Mustangs?

It is to my understanding that the 1's doing the '57 Chevy convert bodies are building around factory firewalls that the owners/ puchaser provides. wonder if the 1's with the Cameros are doing the same thing.

There is a difference between changing VIN tags on cars and building a new car around an existing firewall. A significant difference.

Changing VIN numbers on a car is fraud and, like others have pointed out, is a Federal offense. There is an element of deception involved.

Building a car using an old firewall plus a new sheetmetal body does not entail the element of deception since the existing VIN is not exchanged with another VIN....the lineage of the VIN is not changed. The latter (new sheetmetal and old firewall) is akin to reconstructing a wrecked car.

As someone said, the Body Tag has the SS info....but for some cars, the VIN also has some basic info....IF the SS was a trim option on that car in that year, the Trim Tag has it. If the SS is a model, the VIN may have a designator. For instance, my 1970 Z/28 had the Z/28 as a specific digit in the VIN and when I tried to pawn it off to the insurance company, they wouldnt believe it was a 6 cyl. because the model indicator said Z/28.

mike in tucson

Here is a VIN decoder for a 1965 Chevelle

1965 Chevelle/El Camino VINS ~ Chevellestuff.com

note that the VIN indicates the SS model plus the info if it is either a 6 cylinder SS or a V8 SS!!