[bergy]

If there are 2 cars out there with the same VIN, who is entitled to the VIN plate is a function of the continuous registration history of the car & what the intention of the rightful owner was during his ownership period. So, if you own a car & somebody steals your VIN plate, of course the car that it was stolen from is entitled to get it back. On the other hand, if you wreck your car and deem the area where the body stamps are to be unrepairable - thus necessitating replacement panels - the repaired car is entitled to have the original VIN plate on it (if the tag had to be removed, better replace it with police/court supervision - as I'm sure that they did in Marlin's example). This applies even if the "unrepairable" parts (with the VIN stamps) are later grafted into a new car. It's all about the intent of the rightful owner at the time of the repair or theft.

I have a legal opinion on this with court cases cited. The Cobra world has had its' share of litigation on this topic! So, in the case of 616431 - IMO, it's important to figure out what was going on at the time of VIN tag removal. Was the VIN tag merely stolen, or was the original car in a bad wreck and still out there with the original tag still on it?