Selling Trim Tags ?????

[Racefan]

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I would think you would hear opinions at least...

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And i think the most final opinion would be from your local or Federal law enforcement officer who would seize the car based on the VIN swap. Regardless of whether you would be prosecuted, you would lose the car and everything you had invested in it. It would never be returned and most likely would be scrapped based upon its contraband illegal status: a car with a known history of VIN tampering cannot be placed back in circulation.

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Anyone else willing to stand up and admit they know what car I am talking about?

[BARN FIND]

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I would think you would hear opinions at least...

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And i think the most final opinion would be from your local or Federal law enforcement officer who would seize the car based on the VIN swap. Regardless of whether you would be prosecuted, you would lose the car and everything you had invested in it. It would never be returned and most likely would be scrapped based upon its contraband illegal status: a car with a known history of VIN tampering cannot be placed back in circulation.

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Anyone else willing to stand up and admit they know what car I am talking about?

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Do I get 7 guesses?

[jfkheat]

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Personal preference I guess....would you buy a known rebody COPO that was sold as a set of tags if it was rebodied with a nice original base car ?

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That is my question exactly. Add to that, if I were going to buy such a car would anyone here who knew the history of said car tell me that it was a nice set of tags on a clean plain jane body?

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I think it depends on who the seller of said car was.
James

[Belair62]

"hearing" and "knowing" are 2 different animals...

[RichSchmidt]

Actually cars with known VIN tampering are almost always put back into circulation as long as they are in otherwise good working order.The govenment removes the bogus tag and installs a brand new government issue VIN plate that identifies the car as having a VIN change.The also do this with any drug or crime seized car that they sell with a clean title since nobody would by one of those infamous "$200 Ferarris" from the police auction if they thought that the criminal could track the car down and retalliate against them for buying the car.I also know that if you have an early car with a missing VIN and no title,the state will issue a new VIN tag with a new number on it and a new title after they investigate the car to make sure it isnt stolen.My friend looked into this when he got harrassed by a state trooper when his 65 chevelle puked the engine on the side of the highway.The cop asked him for paperwork,and then went to check the numbers against the VIN on th car and neither the cop nor my friend could find the VIN tag.The cop allowed him to tow the car home,and informed him of how to get a tag issued,but the car was a rust bucket hot rod and my friend just parted it out.Another friend of mine bought his own car back with a new VIN after it was confiscated for being tagged.It turns out that he got busted at the street races in the early 90's,and it seems that his car was reported stolen back in about 1972{back when my friend was about 4 years old},and the car ended up tagged and led a long life until it got impounded in the 90's.The car was a nice car,so the state issued a new VIN and my friend had a friend with a dealer liscence go and buy the car for a few hundred bucks from the auction,and he was back in his own old car legit by the end of the year.The cops pretty much told him that had it been under any other circumstances,he could have proactivly inquired about his cars questionable history before he got into trouble and more likely then not he would have been issued a new VIN and get to the keep the car after maybe paying some legal fees and squaring up with the insurance company or the previous owner or whoever.But since the car was impounded in a big street race crackdown,he didnt have as much leverage when it came to getting his car back.The really bad part is that on all the reissued cars I know of,the cops also removed the trim tag and destroyed as many of the original VIN numbers as possible.This makes documenting a supercar with a reissued VIN even harder.Another friend of mine has a reissed VIN from 1971 when he bought is RS/SS 396/375 4 speed 67 camaro from an insurance auction after it was recovered from a chop shop in 1970 as a freshly done tag job.His car has no trim tag,but it is the real deal.

So anything can be fixed if you play nice with the cops.

[Racefan]

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"hearing" and "knowing" are 2 different animals...

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Agreed, Bob. I would hope that people who had heard about it would contact me and tell me about the murmurings that would be occuring behind my back about said vehicle (please keep in mind that I am not actually trying to solicit responses as I am not purchasing the car-- just trying to illicit thought). I will drop the subject now, as the goal has been accomplsihed-- just to get people thinking about how wrong selling trim/VIN tags really is. It may seem like a crime without a victim, but there will certainly always be a victim somewhere down the line. This kind of thing is ALWAYS going to happen given the $$ amounts we are dealing with. However, if we stick together and let people know there may be suspicions or whatever......then prospective buyers can search a little further/deeper to prove a particular car (such as somparing hidden VINs). That is all I am saying/asking of the community.