<VV> VIN Numbers

[Bill Hubbell]

There was once a company that actually would take a floorpan from a USA
titled VW Beetle (rear-engined, air-cooled), cleans it up and then attaches
all new parts (from Mexico or Brazil) to make essentially a "brand-new" VW
Beetle that is legal to license and drive in the US.  See these links:
http://www.vwheritage.com/blog/volksworld_beetle_build/
http://people.westminstercollege.edu/staff/bknorr/html/future.htm


Now, I ask you, how would that be different from taking the "frame" (or
frame-rail, if you will) of a CORSA and attaching it to an otherwise
unmolested MONZA of the same year, outfitting it with all the correct CORSA
parts and titling it as a CORSA?

At what point does replacing parts end up creating an all new vehicle?  What
part of the original vehicle needs to be present to call it the same
vehicle?

Bill Hubbell

-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of
rbuckridge at comcast.net
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 10:20 AM
To: Virtual Vairs
Cc: One List Fast Vairs
Subject: <VV> VIN Numbers



>From the late models I have seen, all the VIN numbers were in deed located
under the right front frame rail. All were crudely stamped and not all in
the same position, I guess the hand stamping comes into play here. 



If you are in a position to pay a lot of money for a show quality car, what
do you think the response would be from the owner if you told him to drop
the front cross member so you could check the VIN? Granted a valid request I
would think, but how many owners would do this? 



Also, on the VIN number topic, it is not uncommon to "re-body" race cars.
Are all these race cars now frauds? 



We also routinely swap out engines, transmissions, rear ends, front & rear
suspensions, interiors, etc., etc. We can actually "change" out all the
parts, so where does the original car become a fake? 



Offered in one of the Corvette publications a number of years ago was the
following that supposedly happened. 



A vintage race car was in a bad accident, one guy bought the drive train,
another bought the body and the third guy bought the frame. All three guys
restore the car back to original condition. The question is, who owns the
actual vintage race car? 



And the answer is, the guy with the paper work, which in this case also
included the log book. 



I think the idea of fraud comes into play when the INTENT is to cheat a
future owner by misrepresenting the actual article. 



Roy - Bayshore 
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