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Fri Mar 19, 2010 7:47 pm

I'd still check to see if that rear shock tower has a VIN. If it does, then you can do some research on the real car you have.

Check there and then show the state the VIN in that location.

Fri Mar 19, 2010 8:01 pm

So I have a question related to this. I'm doing a full restoration, got the body off, and notice the VIN# on the pan. I was going to use a wire wheel on an angle grinder to take the car to metal, was kind of afraid it might mess up that VIN imprint. But, does it not matter since I have the pink slip and papers for the car?

Fri Mar 19, 2010 9:46 pm

Ketterer wrote: Just go to a Highway Patrol inspection office and ask them how they usually handle this situation. They're the ones that would probably do the inspection and reassign a VIN.

asked them before. they said they will take the car and crush it

Sat Mar 20, 2010 6:42 am

Had a guy in our club get a sweet deal on a vert with some questionable past. Did some work on it and went to register it. Found out it was stolen. Had to give it back to the original owners. It was 16 year since they had reported it stolen.

Don't mess with it. It may be a car reported stolen here on the Samba.

Geoff

Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:56 am

hitest wrote: In all seriousness Chris- be aware of the huge thread in the splittie section on the standard microbus from Spokane. It cleared CA DMV- because weak interstate trace brought up nothing of it's past hot status. Your vert just came from state- and it was for sale for a long time. I'd say save your energy and find a donor pan with a legal VIN and title.

The last thing you want is to invest 13k in a car- only to have it come up stolen when it is resold in another state. My hunch is you could find a titled pan in your neighborhood for around $400. That's a much better starting point than the risk of losing that car after you've dumped a ton of money into it.

The title check should have been fixed in CA as of Jan this year. As far as getting another pan.... if the old pan and the car were stolen then it should be returned to the actual owner, otherwise you are just a plain crook yourself.

Also if you invest a ton of money into a car that you don't hold the title to, then you aren't a very smart person (not that, that happened in the above scenario, sounds like a DMV problem which again should have been fixed.)

Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:59 am

Vinnems wrote: So I have a question related to this. I'm doing a full restoration, got the body off, and notice the VIN# on the pan. I was going to use a wire wheel on an angle grinder to take the car to metal, was kind of afraid it might mess up that VIN imprint. But, does it not matter since I have the pink slip and papers for the car?

Yes it matters, a wire wheel should be fine, but an angle grinder, or something that would destroy the VIN should not be done. Altering/ destroying VINs is illegal, and down the road could cause you some huge headaches.

Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:21 am

john7 wrote: [asked them before. they said they will take the car and crush it
I'd have to disagree, since I spoke with CHP yesterday. They don't impound a vehicle brought in for an inspection and crush it because a VIN is missing or altered. There is a process, albeit not an instant one, for a VIN reassignment.

Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:22 am

RA 70 wrote: Vinnems wrote: So I have a question related to this. I'm doing a full restoration, got the body off, and notice the VIN# on the pan. I was going to use a wire wheel on an angle grinder to take the car to metal, was kind of afraid it might mess up that VIN imprint. But, does it not matter since I have the pink slip and papers for the car?

Yes it matters, a wire wheel should be fine, but an angle grinder, or something that would destroy the VIN should not be done. Altering/ destroying VINs is illegal, and down the road could cause you some huge headaches.

X2. Just grind around the VIN. Take some sandpaper by hand if you think you need to clean it up.

Sat Mar 20, 2010 12:12 pm

Gotcha guys. I'll go around it.