State assigned VIN on 66 427 coupe.

[Doug Lyle]

I've got my eye on a 1966 427 Coupe. The numbers seem to match the VIN but....the VIN is state assigned. Does this mean we can't really trust the number on the new state assigned VIN? I need a little advice. Here's what the owner had to say.

If I recall, when I bought the car and took it to the state patrol, they said the vin tag was riveted with rivets that only had 6 stars or lobes and the rivets on my car had seven- actually it may have been 7 and they said it should only have 6, I'll have to look through my old records to see if they actually wrote a report on this. Anyway, they wanted me out of the room when they inspected the car so I wouldn't learn about the location of various ID #'s, etc on the frame. When they were done, they were satisfied that the car was clean, but being the duty-bound officers that they were, they had to put their mark on it in the form of the state VIN tag. I also remember asking if I'd have any problems later in life with regards to the authenticity of the vehicle and their reply was "not now that it has our tag on it". Personally, if I were to hold on to the car for investment purposes of at least several more years, I'd probably look into contacting Bloomington's or NCRS' experts and see if the state patrol really knew what they were doing and If I could have the VIN tag restored.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks, Doug
408-593-7375

[Justin N.]

Re: I didn't know officers spent their....

time away from work judging NCRS events and proper riveting of vin data plates on midyear Corvettes. I also have never seen a reassigned vin in California, I have in Florida because I owned one. Any car with a monkey'd vin tag should raise a red flag immediately, especially a pricey big block. I don't like what the owner says about the car! We used to have a house in Santa Cruz with that(408) telephone prefix. If I were you, I'd contact Joe Lucia or some other very knowledgeable person and pay him to check out the car. I don't know if he offers these services, but I believe he lives in the Bay Area. Do lots of homework before you make a move on this car.

Justin #41362

[Kevin M.]

Re: State assigned VIN on 66 427 coupe.

Yea the part about only 6 and not 7 lobes doesn't ad up, how would they know Then asking him to leave the room when it's well known and published where the various locations of VIN on Corvettes are located. The replacement VIN is it put in the same spot? did they remove the original? If the state removed an original VIN I would have sued to make it right. There was a post on this board about some jerk that tore the original VIN off at a state inspection and they are now defending themselves in court.

Kevin

[Loren L.]

The key here is the inspection report.

Copies of that should be on file in that car's history to backup the issuance of the state assigned # - if they found that # on the frame and it wasn't on a 'Hot sheet", that's the easiest # to use.

[Curt S.]

Re: State assigned VIN on 66 427 coupe.

State issued VINs are normally assigned in sequence in accordance with the states DMV office records - nothing remotely close to the cars original GM assigned / stamped VIN numbers. Regardless, a call to that state's DMV office should tell the whole story. Judging ? - no problem, NCRS judged events allow state issued VINs. Investment ? - look elsewhere, investment grade buyers avoid "modified" anything, especially tags.

[Doug Lyle]

State assigned VIN on 66 427 coupe.

The VIN that was assigned matches what's on the motor and tranny. So one wonders why they would duplicate the original VIN.

Thanks for all the responses.

Doug

[Tracy C.]

Re: State assigned VIN on 66 427 coupe.

Doug,

I wouldn't assume that just because the stampings on the engine and tranny match that they are original. There are ways to dupicate the Vins at these location as well.

You need someone who can spot restamps, maybe someone has a contact. Sorry but I don't.

tc

[Terry F.]

Situation

I purchased a corvette in Idaho and brought it to Washington state. Before Washington would issue a title, they insisted that it be investigated by the State patrol. The State patrol came out to my house and into my garage and checked the frame vins against the body vin. I did't have to leave the room. One vin was stamped on the frame behind the left rear body mount and the other one was near the front right hand side of the crossmember somewhere. I was a little worried about the situation also.

He said that the they were interested in corvettes and other cars that were frequently stolen. Bring cars in from out of state was a way of generating a new title on it after it was stolen??? He said.

[G B.]

Yes, CA does use the original VIN...

...when it can be determined and confirmed. I've seen it used several times on CA state-issued VIN tags that replaced originals removed by car thieves.

The owner's story sounds plausible to me with one exception. If the DMV questioned the authenticity/correctness of the original VIN tag number (based on the rivet shape?), why wouldn't they just check the frame BEFORE they removed the suspicious tag? Then when they found the SAME number on the frame, they would have said "I guess the VIN tag number is legit after all". Why would they replace the original tag with a state tag bearing the exact same VIN? "Because they liked their CA rivets better" sounds like BS to me. Especially when you know that CA uses regular pop rivets to attach state-issued VIN tags.

[Doug Lyle]

State assigned VIN on 66 427 coupe.

I should have mentioned that the state in question is Washington. Sounds like they are a bit too thorough.

[Jeff Simon]

[Doug Lyle]

damn state patrol

The car I'm dealing with is in Washington but it came from Arizona. The title says so. I wonder if the Arizona guys had done something prior to it coming to Washington. I agree Jeff, there should be some kind of paper trail to back up what they did. The current owner is currently trying to track that down.

Thanks for the input.