Strange VIN number on e-Bay

[Rob M.]

All,

Check this one out (see link underneath), pretty strange VIN number...

greetings,
Rob.




Custom Corvette

[Terry D.]

Re: Strange VIN number on e-Bay

Well the ad does say it is a custum body and chrome moly frame, so it is probably a builders title. You can give them any number you want.
Terry

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Strange VIN number on e-Bay

VIN decoding is an art, at least at getting results. You can search Yahoo and find dozens of sites, yet many will work to some extent on this VIN and give you several different answers.

1C9AA1110K1369172

Most agree it is
1 - North America
C - Chrysler

K- 1989

Most likely, the VIN is the donor car, as this makes building a kit much easier in the registration. Many are Camaro/Firebird platforms so the Chrysler donor is odd, unless they just scrapped out an old Chrylser product on the back 40 of the farm and kept the VIN plate and title to use on the kit car.

http://www.jonsteiger.com/www/CGI-BIN/81-upMoparVINDecoder.cgi

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Strange VIN number on e-Bay

According to Carfax, there are two reports on this VIN. Since I'm not curious enough to pay, I have no idea what they are.




car fax report

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Strange VIN number on e-Bay

Country : USA
Make : Chrysler
Type : Type not in database!
Model Year : 1989
Safety System : Airbag
Body : AA: Lebaron, Spirit, Acclaim
Series : Economy
Style : 2-Door Sedan/Coupe
Engine : Engine not in database!
Check Digit : 0
Plant : Plant not in database!
Serial Number : 369172

Now since we see no evidence of chassis or engine from these, it is no doubt the VIN plate and title donor, and not much else.

[Rob M.]

Re: Strange VIN number on e-Bay

Mike,

Weird way of deal with VIN's you've got in the States. Over here a car has a VIN (and fixed license plate as well). The VIN is assosiated with the frame, engine and body. It is not just the frame determening the car...

greetings,
Rob Musquetier
The Netherlands

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Strange VIN number on e-Bay

Actually, the US version exceeds the ISO standards for VINs used in Europe. (this from a European site.) The VIN is associated with the engine, frame or chassis, and body primarily.

The confusion is that prior to around 1980, each made their own VIN along rough guidelines and had different lengths depending on year and car.

For example, in Chevy's line up, a Chevy has a model number that determines doors, model, style, and sometimes engine. In Corvette, the same number of digits tell you coupe or convertible only. Why, when it would have been easy to have one of those digits say 250 hp, 300 hp, etc.?

Accounting. With the low number of Corvettes produced, even a dollar extra for the paperwork to track it is spread over a relatively low number of cars when compared to the full-size or the intermediate lines. 20,000 cars vs 500,000 means Corvette took shortcuts whenever possible.

What does happen is lack of law enforcement or even lack of laws. In Florida, if you sell a car and your tag (license plate) is still valid, you must turn it into the state or have your driver's license suspended. Yet many states you can keep that license plate.

In most states, when you junk out a car (scrap it), you are supposed to get a dismantler or scrap title for the car and then turn that in when the car is gone. However, very few do this because it cost money. Why give the state money to take apart your car. Just let it disappear off the registration rolls and the same is accomplished - car is gone.

No doubt, this is what they did with this kit Corvette, ripped the VIN plate off the donor car and riveted it to the kit car. Doubful if they actually stamped that number into the frame.

This does a couple of things for the builder: It gives him an easy way to get a title and registration for the car. It keeps him out of liability hassles which he would have to become a "manufacturer". It isn't tainted as a preceived low-quality vehicle as would be if you had a "homebuilt" title.

And in the case of our hobby, if people had actually turned in titles with every car wrecked, probably 25% of the Corvettes shown and driven today would not be, as they would have dismantler or scrap titles, and those can never be returned to the street.

The salvage title is a perfect example. Today, anytime a wreck results in the insurance taking a car, the insurance company slaps a salvage title on the car and it is forever marked (branded). Yet if you check, you will find that probably half of the Corvettes were in wrecks that would have resulted in a salvage title if wrecked today, but back 20 or 30 years, someone sat it behind a barn, then some restoration nut came along and found the greatest prize ever.

After 2000 hours of work, the car is perfect. But if a salvage title had been issued, the car would be tainted, even though a full frame off restoration returns the car to "as it left the factory" new.