VIN location 86 928?
03-28-2019, 12:43 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
VIN location 86 928?
Hi guys,
After the engine fire last month of my 86.5, I am looking at either rebuilding it or rebuilding another car.
I found a black 86.5 imported from Texas. The car was seized by the police, and set at a police station for ~7 years.
The car comes with a title but has a 'new' VIN, probably provided by the Police Dept. The only place where this new number is attached, is at the front window pillar.
The original VIN has been removed from the right Fender.
Are there any other places where I could find the original VIN of the car, otherwise I think it will become very hard to register this car.
Might still be a good donor though for my fire-damaged car.
Thanks
Kind regards
Michel
After the engine fire last month of my 86.5, I am looking at either rebuilding it or rebuilding another car.
I found a black 86.5 imported from Texas. The car was seized by the police, and set at a police station for ~7 years.
The car comes with a title but has a 'new' VIN, probably provided by the Police Dept. The only place where this new number is attached, is at the front window pillar.
The original VIN has been removed from the right Fender.
Are there any other places where I could find the original VIN of the car, otherwise I think it will become very hard to register this car.
Might still be a good donor though for my fire-damaged car.
Thanks
Kind regards
Michel
03-28-2019, 01:33 PM
#3
Chronic Tool Dropper
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Member
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Plus the door sticker with the build date color and interior colors listed.
It would be interesting to learn why the VIN was changed. I've discussed this need with the California DMV on a few interesting cars, and their argument was that they do it whenever there's a question about the car and the title history. It's a defense mechanism for them to eliminate the possibility of them being liable for allowing a possibly stolen car to be sold. Whether a possible problem like that would follow the car from Texas to The Netherlands would be a big question, along with how having an "assigned" VIN might affect future collector value.
Decades ago now, I bought a grey-market Lotus car that happened to share a VIN with an early 50's Porsche 356. The California Department of Motor Vehicles tried to assume that the Lotus was in fact a fiberglass kit car, built on the 356 tub, and that I needed a transfer title from that 356 to finish the title on the Lotus. We went back and forth, and settled on a 5-year title insurance bond that held them harmless in case the title was later contested by a claimant to the title on the long-deceased 356. Part of that process included having a new VIN attached to the car. I balked at that part until I figured out that I could specify the new VIN to be assigned. Easy stuff... I recovered the two original VIN plates from the car, and had the original VIN assigned to it with the addition of one leading zero. Then no issues putting the original VIN plates back on it. Pop-rivets through the fiberglass to match the originals, after the body/chassis restoration was done.
It would be interesting to learn why the VIN was changed. I've discussed this need with the California DMV on a few interesting cars, and their argument was that they do it whenever there's a question about the car and the title history. It's a defense mechanism for them to eliminate the possibility of them being liable for allowing a possibly stolen car to be sold. Whether a possible problem like that would follow the car from Texas to The Netherlands would be a big question, along with how having an "assigned" VIN might affect future collector value.
Decades ago now, I bought a grey-market Lotus car that happened to share a VIN with an early 50's Porsche 356. The California Department of Motor Vehicles tried to assume that the Lotus was in fact a fiberglass kit car, built on the 356 tub, and that I needed a transfer title from that 356 to finish the title on the Lotus. We went back and forth, and settled on a 5-year title insurance bond that held them harmless in case the title was later contested by a claimant to the title on the long-deceased 356. Part of that process included having a new VIN attached to the car. I balked at that part until I figured out that I could specify the new VIN to be assigned. Easy stuff... I recovered the two original VIN plates from the car, and had the original VIN assigned to it with the addition of one leading zero. Then no issues putting the original VIN plates back on it. Pop-rivets through the fiberglass to match the originals, after the body/chassis restoration was done.