Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

I purchased a May 1929 Tudor sedan back in 1973, from a neighbor who bought it from Kansas, in 1968.

When I bought it, it had a VIN that started with an 'AA'. The current motor number is not that number.

I imagine that sometime in Kansas, the motor was switched and the title was changed to be the rebuilt number, which was probably that AA number.

The date on the firewall is 5-2-29. The AA number is a late June 29 number.

The car has been in and out of the family, but I am the current owner, again. The incorrect VIN has always bothered me.

I recently found some cracks in the frame that I had to have welded, so I had to raise the body. I decided to look for the VIN and like I thought it starts with just an A and it is an early May 29 number.

I called the DMV to see what I would need to do to get the VIN corrected on the title. They said that I would need to bring the car in, with the body lifted for them to inspect it. If there was a problem, I might have to make an appointment to have the California Highway Patrol inspect it. I went ahead and made an appointment over the phone, but it is 6 weeks from now.

Like most VIN's there are a few numbers that are not all there, but a reasonable person could make an educated guess as to what they are.

I had hoped to take the Tudor to the Orange County Model A pancake breakfast on April 22nd, but the body will still be raised. I do have 1929 truck that I can probably take instead, but it is disappointing.

What would you guys do? Would you just leave things alone, live with the error, reassemble it and take it to the breakfast. Or would you take the risk that everything will be fine and attempt to get it corrected?

Neil

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

I'm sort of in the same boat. I'll fix the title if and when I need to take the body off the frame. This is not a serious enough problem for me to get neurotic over it. I'm neurotic about too many other things as it is.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

I would leave well enough alone, u may end up with more trouble from the CHP than u intended.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

Since the car has been registered in California since the 1970's I would change the number on the engine to match the registration that has been used all these years. I would not trust the government to accept the change in the engine/registration number. In my most humble opinion, you would be opening a can or worms that you might well not be able to close. Put the car together and go to the breakfast. Ernie

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

I'm with 44. Have yet to meet a "reasonable person" that works for DMV in CA. That said, I had a 56 Lincoln Continental that had a bunch of names on it and only one signature. I went to the window and the nice lady told me I needed to have them all sign. I told her they are all out in my car and I'll get them to sign it Used two pens and wrote what looked like the three names not signed and went back in. Ten minutes later drove away and a couple of weeks later the pink showed up in my mail. Now I just go to AAA with whatever it says on the registration and pink slip, except if the car comes from out of state. Then its DMV and hope. So far, so good.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

I am starting the same process on my '30 Tudor now. It is registered by a 4 digit number stamped on the engine after the original number was ground off. When I discover the frame number I will stamp in on the inside edge of the frame where it can be seen by removing the floorboard. My experiences with DMV verifiers and the CHP have always been good, mostly because I know what I am doing and what to and not to say.
NEVER EVER TELL THEM THE CAR WAS BUILT FROM PARTS.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

Make an appointment? Six weeks?
Dealing with the California DMV?
The problem, as well as the solution is obvious

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

If you are never going to actually have the orginal engine that came with the car, why worry?

Your cars numbers might match, but who are we kidding? It will never be as built again.

Once registered and/or titled your home free.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

We have a member of our "A team" who has a problem with his title. The VIN on the 1930 title only has six digits. It's worrying him to death. The suggestion of the rest of the "team" is to leave it alone. If it ain't broke - - - -
Marty

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

I thaink it's too late to leave things as is, because you already have an appointment and they know you have "a problem with the vin umber". So there is a file.
That's what I think, and that's what would happen over here.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

Really “GOOD” free advice.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

always amazed when fellas are "bothered" by " incidentals" of life.....
a bother to me would be living in Africa and starving...........

leave it alone, or if it bothers you that much, sell it and buy one where all of the ducks are lined in a row.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

It's registered and you have a title and can drive it??? Who is going to stop you and lift the body to check the numbers? You have done nothing wrong and used due diligence in registering it. If California declared it OK, who can be uncomfortable with that?

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

yup - leave stuff alone.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

I don't think it's unreasonable to be concerned about these things. I had a '30 pickup where the engine number didn't match the number on the title, and during restoration I found that the frame numbers had completely corroded away. When I sold it I explained these things to the buyer who bought it anyway. I do still wonder, though, how he got a new title and plates. Back in 1979 when I had finished restoring the truck, which started out as a literal basket case of parts, a state policeman came to check it out, and never even looked at the engine number and surely didn't even know there was supposed to be a frame number. But the new title was issued with the number, again, that did not match anything at all on the vehicle. I probably should have made up one of those ID plates with the title number and riveted it to the firewall.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

I like this response the best. :-)


I bought a car in Florida that had a title from Pennsylvania 40 years old. The vin on the title was not even like any other vin number. It was apparently something that Pennsylvania just made up at the time. I went to the Florida DMV and got instructions to have a sheriff deputy come out and verify that the number was on the car someplace. I had an engraved tag made up for $6 and riveted it to the front of the seat frame. The deputy signed off on the requisite form and I was on my way. I couldn't care less.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

Now here is a wrinkle to all of this. I am building an a from the scrap that is lying around and in ny state they just check the number against a database to see if that number is already being used. So do i use the frame number or the engine number? Either will work as long as they don't find someone else with that number like a hot rodder that needed to register his car. I wish i could just ask the dmv if either number is in use but that does not seem to be an alternative. I can make the two numbers become one with my magic once i decide which to use.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

Having registered Model A’s in New York. There not a title state for cars this old.

My recommendation would be to use the motor number. It can be easily seen once your car is together. I would not use frame number and than have a different engine number. This could cause real problems for next owner or even you if down the road wanted to register car in another state.

Ideally frame and engine should match. After 90 years this can be a hard thing to do.

If you have any old paperwork, registrations, insurance policy’s, what every, that show number your going to register car under. Bring them with you.

I don’t know where you live in New York, but if you can, pick a small DMV office.

I have never had a problem registering a Model A in New York State.

Re: Confirmed, VIN problem that has always bothered me. What would you do?
 

You don't need to go to the DMV for a vin verification. There are organizations that can come to your house and do it. That's how I did mine when the body was off.

http://www.asapvehicleverifiers.com/...onsServed.html