Ownership question ?

[Bill W.]

This is a made up question , its not happening to anyone I know .
What if you found or bought a complete chassis with original engine and vin stamps and built a car out of it . And someone else has the body in a different state with the vin tag and makes a hot rod out of it . can both people own the car with the same vin ?????
I have always heard of mutiple 67 BBs being built out of paper work , engine , frame , vin plate , body, or title .Who owns them ???? . That could explain so many 67 L88s !!!

[Keith B.]

Re: Ownership question ?

In Pa they go by the vin plate attached to the car/body. Once did they ask to inspect the frame vin or engine stamp. Other states might have different regulations

[Joe L.]

Re: Ownership question ?

This is a made up question , its not happening to anyone I know .
What if you found or bought a complete chassis with original engine and vin stamps and built a car out of it . And someone else has the body in a different state with the vin tag and makes a hot rod out of it . can both people own the car with the same vin ?????
I have always heard of mutiple 67 BBs being built out of paper work , engine , frame , vin plate , body, or title .Who owns them ???? . That could explain so many 67 L88s !!!

Bill-------


In every state I'm aware of, the VIN tag is the only thing that's recognized as the basis for registration and it's the only thing on the car that includes a complete VIN number. All other components which are VIN stamped include only a derivative (shortened version) of the VIN.

[Gary S.]

Re: Ownership question ?

Relying on reaaalllly old memory here but wasn't there a 1953 Corvette, maybe serial number 1 or 2, that had this issue? I vaguely recall that the body or chassis was on one and the engine installed in the other. Do I even have this close?

[Paul D.]

Re: Ownership question ?

I guess you would need to do some extensive research on how that matching numbers chassis and drivetrain came to exist. You would need to be sure it is clean as far as law enforcement were concerned. Otherwise, you may as well steal a nice, matching numbers car and change the VIN/Trim tags and save yourself a lot of work. In the end you will still have the same car (chassis VIN not matching body VIN), you just went to a whole lot more trouble and effort to get it. Life is too short to spend the time required explaining a situation like that every time someone questions the mismatch with the numbers. I may be just lazy. Chip.

[Harry S.]

Re: Ownership question ?

This happens all the time these days when a Rest-o-mod is created. The rolling chassis goes one way and the body another way, Then a C4 or newer chassis is placed under the old body. As I recall the VIN tag drives ownership. When states register a car isn't there a National search on the VIN looking for stolen cars or duplicates, Neither is good if caught.

Saying that, if you have a rolling chassis, forget what is stamped on it.

[Dan D.]

Re: Ownership question ?

In any jurisdiction I'm aware of...if you have a bill of sale for a body with a VIN tag attached...and you pay the sales tax...you will get a title.
There are situations that require a "Reconstruct Title" in some situations but, believe me for someone who has an inclination for dishonesty, there are ways of getting around that.

[Terry M.]

Re: Ownership question ?

This is a made up question , its not happening to anyone I know .
What if you found or bought a complete chassis with original engine and vin stamps and built a car out of it . And someone else has the body in a different state with the vin tag and makes a hot rod out of it . can both people own the car with the same vin ?????
I have always heard of mutiple 67 BBs being built out of paper work , engine , frame , vin plate , body, or title .Who owns them ???? . That could explain so many 67 L88s !!!

Don't be confused Bill. It has (sort of) happened already.

I believe it was either a 53 or 54, but there were two cars registered with the same serial number in different states. One of those states was Florida. There was a big internet dust up about this on this site and more so on the Corvette Forum.

This came to light because there is now a Federal Vehicle Registry of vehicle registration numbers and some states (I think the majority, but not yet all) run the registration number through that Federal Registry to be sure the car is clean when the car is an out-of-state transfer.

I am not sure of the outcome because as the swamp got deeper those with a vested interest in the outcome became more and more silent.