dashboard vin plate question

-
jos51700

jos51700

Green Bearing thread connoisseur
Joined
May 24, 2009
Messages
7,425
Reaction score
3,105
Location
Bel-Ray
I have a parts car that I bought from a member here, and it came with a clean title.

If I sell the dash, does the VIN plate and title ride with it and count as selling the vehicle, or. Do I remove the VIN and count the vehicle as still mine?
 
jos51700 said:
I have a parts car that I bought from a member here, and it came with a clean title.

If I sell the dash, does the VIN plate and title ride with it and count as selling the vehicle, or. Do I remove the VIN and count the vehicle as still mine?
Click to expand...

If you sell the VIN and title without the car, it is a felony.

Possession of a loose VIN tag is also a felony.
 
Ask your state's DMV, if you can get a hold of them- or stop in at the local state trooper's station (they can probably give you a better answer than the DMV in most cases).
 
To me it’s a parts car if your selling the dash. Who care what you do with the vin after you sell the dash. Either keep it whole and sell complete or properly dispose of the vin and part the car out. Vin swapping is illegal and just not cool. I am in no way saying you are doing that.
 
I understand your question. On the one hand, I can understand how one might think that the title could / should go with the VIV tag. Doing that could result in criminal charges being brought against you. If you sold the dash with VIN tag and title to someone who only wanted the dash and threw the title away, no problem. But if someone took that Vin tag and title and ginned up a phony car, or used it to change a stolen car, you could find yourself in serious trouble. Bottom line is that it is best to remove the VIN tag before selling the dash. If you are going to treat it as a parts car and sell as much as possible and then scrap the rest, I'd keep the title and the VIN tag until it was ALL gone, and then I'd destroy them. Letting the title and VIN go to someone who might do something illegal with it could get you in a lot of trouble.
 
Use a good sharp 1/8" drill bit, grip the rivet tails on the underside with vise grips so they dont spin when you attempt to drill the heads off. Steel rivets, high speed low pressure to just chip away at them till the heads pop off.

Remove the tag and keep it with the title and parts car. I bought this barracuda below as a parts car and it came with the vin tag that belongs to it, (matches the body numbers) but no dash frame. I bought a correct 69 barracuda dash frame and attached the vin back to it with the correct rosette rivets. I am putting it back together.

Legally according to federal statutes regarding vehicle I.D. numbers, I can do this. According to the federal gubmint it's legal to remove the vin for repair purposes which could include repairing or replacing a dash frame, as long as it goes back on the "same" vehicle it was removed from to perform the repair.

Where it gets to be a felony is moving the vin tag, and any other markings such as vin partial stampings and data plates from the body, and transferring these pieces to another vehicle with the intent to defraud or misrepresent.

Plus if you send the vin and title with the dash and keep the tag less body, in most states it's impossible to get rid of the remains of a vehicle to a scrap metal recycler without a title, unless you cut it into small chunks.


P1090479.jpg


20200427_063832.jpg
 
Last edited:
From what I hear from The department of motor vehicle a legal way is you have to sell the vin with the firewall. Not sure why that is considered a car. I am not in favor of this. I believe there was a Hemi Cuda or a 440-6 pack Cuda(can’t remember off the top of my head) where it was sold like this. It was considered complete car. The car is fully restored today.
 
Dave I think the reason the law is written this way is simply because it goes back to early motor vehicles which simply had their vin# stamped into the firewall sheetmetal. My dads 1930 model A has its vin# stamped into the firewall below the fuel tank. Laws and bureaucracy live on forever, and take forever if ever to change.
 
moparmat2000 said:
Dave I think the reason the law is written this way is simply because it goes back to early motor vehicles which simply had their vin# stamped into the firewall sheetmetal. My dads 1930 model A has its vin# stamped into the firewall below the fuel tank. Laws and bureaucracy live on forever, and take forever if ever to change.
Click to expand...
That could be. I know my 68 GTO has the most of the vin on the firewall. Ebodies same way
 
Do you know how many members on this site bought left over parts for the numbers to put their race car back on the road. Sell it as a car. transfer it as salvage and let the new owner decide what to do.

I walk through Carlisle and see many clones there. Even there white 69 coronet hemi R/T Give away car had the numbers from a Hemi on a coronet 500.

Numbers don't make the car. and if they do the car would have to be a perfect clone. If you cannot tell and it is all numbers matching and another mopar is saved. Who cares

a good example televised is the 71 Six pack Cuda from "Grave Yard Cars". That car was rebodied at AMD. and no one cared. The only thing they used was the roof frame and numbers.

Some of you guys need to wake up and smell your 50 year old coffee.

amd_installation_phantomcuda2-650x366.jpg
 
Thank you all for the replies. This question is complex and I haven't found a comprehensive answer
 
Its not that complex. If you feel it is, then your making it way harder in your head than it needs to be. Read the federal law regarding motor vehicle vins. It's pretty simple reading in black n white. Keep the vin# with the title, with the body. When done with the body, scrap it with the vin and the title at your local scrap yard. It takes less than a couple minutes to remove it from the dash frame.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top