<VV> Rebodied car

[Bill Elliott]

As I mentioned before, in the big picture this is simply a philosopical discussion. Some of you are 
thinking too narrowly...this is NOT a black and white case when all of the potential variations are 
considered.   Possibly in the specifc case you're commenting on, you are right... but this is too 
complicated for a simple statement like you make to really be accurate across the board.

The body of a car is a car PART just like say, a wiper motor. In many cars, the VIN isn't on the body at all, 
but rather on the chassis, which is routinely replaced on some cars. That's why laws in other parts of the 
world are a bit clearer here.

Think about it logically.... you have a rusty Corvair that you wish to restore (maybe becvause it's a Corsa) 
and a nice solid Corvair for a donor and you legally own both. You cut a fender off the donor Corvair and 
weld it to the rusty one. Have you committed your felony yet? 

You take the front fenders from the solid car and weld it to the rusty one. How about now? 

Now you take the whole front clip, moving the hidden VIN. How about now? (If you say "yes" how does 
the placement of the hidden VIN dictate when the car's ID has been changed. On a Mustang, the 
hidden vin is elsewhere... so you can do the same operation to one car and be legal while commit a 
felony on another due to a manufacturer's design that you may not even know about? I don't think so... 
not logical)

You haven't touched the official VIN, but you've now moved the hidden VIN. Or the other way around... 
you use the rear of the donor car (moving the official VIN) and weld it to the rusty car. Now the hidden 
VIN and official VIN don't match. Which is the accurate VIN? Is it a felony to correct this mismatch? And 
which is the correct way to fix the mismatch? Now you might see the shades of grey that creep into this 
discussion... 

I fully understand why US laws are as they are, but once you start talking specific cases, making the 
plain statement that doing anything with the VIN is a felony cannot be followed through logically in each 
case. Again, the bits the VIN is attached to (esepecially on older cars) is simply a potentially replaceable 
part!

I think there is no "right" answer (I doubt the laws are specific enough to provide firm guidance) which 
makes it a topic for discussion and a place where I maintain that as long as everything is documented, 
you would never be prosecuted.

 (That is one reason the US moved VINs to the the dash... in a location that would be readily visible from 
the outside and unlikely to be changed out in most cases....)

Bill

On Fri, 1 Jul 2005 23:52:53 EDT, NicolCS at aol.com wrote:

>Anyone who thinks this suggestion is "legal" is delusional.  Changing  the 
>VIN number on a car is a FELONY. C. Nicol

>Just cut  the hidden Vin out on the Corsa and weld it into the 500 do same   
>with Vin in back. Grind the welds smooth, Paint to hide and our done  and  
>legal. 
>