vin# how important?

[Everett Ogilvie]

Re: How's This for Important.. Everett?

No urban legend here - first-hand knowledge. I wrote a short article about this situation some months ago for our Chapter Newsletter - at that point the car had not yet been destroyed, but it had been sitting in the impound yard, behind an open fence, in the snow, for months. After months, the lawyers told the owner that the car was gone and they could not get it back. The most recent news was that it had been destroyed (the statute says that if impounded vehicles cannot be used officially, they must be destroyed). The ONLY item of this whole scenario that I don't have first-hand knowledge of is the actual destruction, which only happened recently. I hesitate to say more at this time because this is a very touchy situation around here. I will look into writing a summary article for the Restorer (with enough detail to communicate the important things for future owners/buyers to be aware of).

[Everett Ogilvie]

Re: How's This for Important.. Everett?

No urban legend here - first-hand knowledge. I wrote a short article about this situation some months ago for our Chapter Newsletter - at that point the car had not yet been destroyed, but it had been sitting in the impound yard, behind an open fence, in the snow, for months. After months, the lawyers told the owner that the car was gone and they could not get it back. The most recent news was that it had been destroyed (the statute says that if impounded vehicles cannot be used officially, they must be destroyed). The ONLY item of this whole scenario that I don't have first-hand knowledge of is the actual destruction, which only happened recently. I hesitate to say more at this time because this is a very touchy situation around here. I will look into writing a summary article for the Restorer (with enough detail to communicate the important things for future owners/buyers to be aware of).

[Everett Ogilvie]

Text from Chapter Newsletter Article

Here is the text of the short article I wrote last May about this situation and another potential bad situation.

"Watch Out For the Motor Vehicle Dept.- They Want Your Car!

Several months ago this newsletter posted the story of the Corvette owner whose car was impounded by the state because the VIN on the title did not match the VIN on the frame of the car. This mis-match was due to a title with a state-issued VIN, as the steering column tags on solid axle cars are easily lost. The owner wanted to find the correct VIN on the frame and had a state VIN inspector come out - when the number was found on the frame, the car was impounded on the spot because the frame number did not match the title number (DUH - we knew that going in...). The car is still in impound and the state can either confiscate it and use it for state business, or it must be destroyed. The latest information we have is that the owner's attorney had pretty much given up with the bad advice "it does not look like we will be able to get your car back". This is definitely an example of strict interpretation of the law causing an injustice, as the state had been re-registering this car year after year for 17 years with the state issued VIN number.

This month I went to title a recent Corvette purchase, and the out-of-state title from the previous owner required that I have the VIN inspected at the Motor Vehicle Dept.
Red flag number 1 - the inspector was alarmed when she could not find the VIN tag inside the driver's door (as on modern vehicles). I pointed out that it was a late 60's car and the VIN tags are mounted on the windshield pillar post.
Red flag number 2 - she inspected the pillar post number and that was OK, but because of her inexperience and this "different" location for the tag, she demanded to verify the number on another part of the car.
Red flag number 3- I said the VIN was on the frame but that we would not be able to read it, and I pointed out the block stamp pad (knowing that in this particular case the engine was the original). She inspected the number and that seemed to settle the case in her mind - lucky for me.
Red flag number 4- the NCRS discussion board recently had a thread going about VIN numbers and a police officer somewhere in the viewing area posted bad information to the effect that a mis-matched set of numbers anywhere on a car will cause the car to be impounded and the owner is subject to arrest.

The red flags above are full of mis-information and bad training that can and will cause issues for car owners. If the VIN derivative on my block stamp pad would not have matched the number on the pillar post, could my car have been impounded? We all know that many, if not most, old Corvettes may have replacement engines or decked blocks - the engine number will not match the VIN number in many cases. This type of situation appears to be happening at an increasing rate, so be sure to have all your ducks in a row every time you deal with these poorly informed and poorly trained state agencies.
Everett Ogilvie"

[Everett Ogilvie]

Text from Chapter Newsletter Article

Here is the text of the short article I wrote last May about this situation and another potential bad situation.

"Watch Out For the Motor Vehicle Dept.- They Want Your Car!

Several months ago this newsletter posted the story of the Corvette owner whose car was impounded by the state because the VIN on the title did not match the VIN on the frame of the car. This mis-match was due to a title with a state-issued VIN, as the steering column tags on solid axle cars are easily lost. The owner wanted to find the correct VIN on the frame and had a state VIN inspector come out - when the number was found on the frame, the car was impounded on the spot because the frame number did not match the title number (DUH - we knew that going in...). The car is still in impound and the state can either confiscate it and use it for state business, or it must be destroyed. The latest information we have is that the owner's attorney had pretty much given up with the bad advice "it does not look like we will be able to get your car back". This is definitely an example of strict interpretation of the law causing an injustice, as the state had been re-registering this car year after year for 17 years with the state issued VIN number.

This month I went to title a recent Corvette purchase, and the out-of-state title from the previous owner required that I have the VIN inspected at the Motor Vehicle Dept.
Red flag number 1 - the inspector was alarmed when she could not find the VIN tag inside the driver's door (as on modern vehicles). I pointed out that it was a late 60's car and the VIN tags are mounted on the windshield pillar post.
Red flag number 2 - she inspected the pillar post number and that was OK, but because of her inexperience and this "different" location for the tag, she demanded to verify the number on another part of the car.
Red flag number 3- I said the VIN was on the frame but that we would not be able to read it, and I pointed out the block stamp pad (knowing that in this particular case the engine was the original). She inspected the number and that seemed to settle the case in her mind - lucky for me.
Red flag number 4- the NCRS discussion board recently had a thread going about VIN numbers and a police officer somewhere in the viewing area posted bad information to the effect that a mis-matched set of numbers anywhere on a car will cause the car to be impounded and the owner is subject to arrest.

The red flags above are full of mis-information and bad training that can and will cause issues for car owners. If the VIN derivative on my block stamp pad would not have matched the number on the pillar post, could my car have been impounded? We all know that many, if not most, old Corvettes may have replacement engines or decked blocks - the engine number will not match the VIN number in many cases. This type of situation appears to be happening at an increasing rate, so be sure to have all your ducks in a row every time you deal with these poorly informed and poorly trained state agencies.
Everett Ogilvie"