[njsteve]

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1) Early Vettes have a VIN tag that is screwed on with two phillips head. Is removing those screws to paint the car a crime? What happens when said painter removes the tag and loses it? I personally know of a car that that happened to. A new VIN tag was made by a company and it was reapplied to the car. What would you classify this car as.

2) I also know of a 65 post 442 that was sold with a hardtop VIN at Holt Auto Sales in Michigan. Cowl tag was right but VIN was wrong and had rusty round rivets holding it on. Car still exists and owner knows of the VIN issue. In his case the car has the wrong VIN and the wrong title. Should a car like this should be destroyed?

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On 1) You are not listening to the facts of this situation. Removing a VIN from a car and putting it back on THE SAME CAR is not a crime. The crime occurs when you put it ON A DIFFERENT CAR. As for the VIN lost by the body shop (which unfortunately happens too often) the owner has to go to DMV and get a state issued identification number for the lost VIN plate. The manufacture and sale of a Vehicle Identification Number is a crime. And there probably are guys that do it...and I imagine those guys are just waiting for that knock on the door in the middle of the night.

On example #2) that owner and the dealer have a big problem. That's a rebody and the owner doesn't know what the body's VIN is - it could be a donor or a stolen car from way back when. He should bring that car back to the dealer now and try to get his money back. The local law enforcement officers in that dealer's town would probably love to know about the transaction in the event he doesn't get his money refunded. (And he should tell them anyway if he does get his money back, just to stop it from happening again)