Calling all Mopar Experts!!!!

[Troy]

I don't know what to tell you but what are the odds of having 2 sunroof cars in the same junkyard?

Troy

[AKcharger]

There are too many self righteous types that want a pat on the back from a supervisor & will jump to conclusions to look good & not care about you, the car, or what you're trying to do.

Good advise, get the answers to your questions BEFORE you self ID. something like "A friend of mine has a car he bought from a junkyard back in the 70's..."

I do think it was just a case of lazy Junkyard guys...they're worse than Carnies!

Best of luck

[ws23rt]

I don't know what to tell you but what are the odds of having 2 sunroof cars in the same junkyard?

Troy

I was thinking the same thing but stranger things have happened. A junkyard guy maybe saw an opportunity.
I see the vin tag with wrong rivets as being trouble. It is a shame that something like that for a few bucks at the time can have such a long term down the road affect.
I had a vin issue when I bought my hemi coronet. After a long story and had it home I noticed that on the title was a v where a j should have been. Of all the possible errors that could happen why the one about the hemi? I cleared it up with an inspection by state trooper as mentioned earlier and was glad it was that easy.

[mopartybob]

Has the car been registered to you...   

[Paul G]

The vin on the build sheets which were in the correct locations and they match the vin on the rad support. It called out a sunroof car which it is. So the build sheets match the body of the car correct? The dash vin tag matches nothing, and has been this way since 1979 according to the previous owner?

My take is this;
Worst case is the body the vin belongs too was totaled, no insurance, owner screwed badly. Or someone bought a totaled car for scrap, gets the car for cheap, with a good title and vin tag off the dash. He goes and steals another 74, swaps the vin tag on the dash, removes the door tag and removes the fender tag. Easy enough right. This happened a lot back then. Now the title matches the dash vin tag and no one really looked any further than that. Back then it was easy to do. Lots of these cars around and easy to steal. Now, today you could be screwed if you investigate and/or report it. A real dilemma you face.

Since this happened in 1979 when the car was only 4 years old, and just paid off since most auto loans then were only 36 month loans, I cant think of any way that would make this non matching vin ordeal legit.

It could be that the car you now own was paid off by the insurance company after the theft and the insurance company really has no concern about recovering the car now. If this is the case you can rest easy knowing the car is yours now free and clear. Even then what do you do about mis matched vins?  If the insurance company claims ownership you could lose the car. Or end up in a court fight between the insurance company, the previous owner, etc.

[mopartybob]

The vin on the build sheets which were in the correct locations and they match the vin on the rad support. It called out a sunroof car which it is. So the build sheets match the body of the car correct? The dash vin tag matches nothing, and has been this way since 1979 according to the previous owner?

My take is this;
Worst case is the body the vin belongs too was totaled, no insurance, owner screwed badly. Or someone bought a totaled car for scrap, gets the car for cheap, with a good title and vin tag off the dash. He goes and steals another 74, swaps the vin tag on the dash, removes the door tag and removes the fender tag. Easy enough right. This happened a lot back then. Now the title matches the dash vin tag and no one really looked any further than that. Back then it was easy to do. Lots of these cars around and easy to steal. Now, today you could be screwed if you investigate and/or report it. A real dilemma you face.

Since this happened in 1979 when the car was only 4 years old, and just paid off since most auto loans then were only 36 month loans, I cant think of any way that would make this non matching vin ordeal legit.

It could be that the car you now own was paid off by the insurance company after the theft and the insurance company really has no concern about recovering the car now. If this is the case you can rest easy knowing the car is yours now free and clear. Even then what do you do about mis matched vins?  If the insurance company claims ownership you could lose the car. Or end up in a court fight between the insurance company, the previous owner, etc.

On a happier note, while the above is true, maybe this was done by the original owner who bought the car back from the insurance co.after an accident and did rebuild the car with a scrapped / salvaged title from the "other" car... maybe it could be the front clip and rad sup. were salvaged  all kinds of screwy things happened back in the 70"s with repair yards and the DMV,along with unscrupulous other entities in order to salvage a car to make it legal ..........

[AKcharger]

...He goes and steals another 74, swaps the vin tag on the dash, removes the door tag and removes the fender tag. Easy enough right. This happened a lot back then...

My Step brother was a MASTER at that! Saw him do that to at least 5 E-bodies when I pal'd around him when I was in High school (It's seemed fishy but to a teenager I didn't think much of it) In fact, I know there's someone out there with a Black 1970 Hemi Challanger convertible  that's "re-bodied" wonder if they know 

[Ghoste]

That's why I get so pissed about so much of the rebody stuff.  Its a slippery slope man.

[Old Moparz]

That's why I get so pissed about so much of the rebody stuff.  Its a slippery slope man.

Same here, but anyone that favors VIN tag swaps will never change their mind & still say it's harmless.  

Years ago, maybe 1982 or so, I bought a 1970 GTX that had a title with the buyer's name erased & re-written. The car changed hands at least 3 times without ever being registered before I bought it. Obviously the DMV wouldn't accept it, so I took the long road to solve it. The guy I bought it from never titled it, the guy he bought it from bought it from never titled it & had gotten it from another state where it was titled in two names. The DMV said I had to get the two people listed as the owner to get a new title. I wrote a letter to them explaining the situation & asking for help & also needed to write a letter & have it notarized that the car wasn't fraudulently acquired.  

It took 9 months to finally straighten this mess out. During this time I met a guy at a swap meet selling parts. We were talking about car stuff & the title problem I had came up. He outright offered to sell me a dash frame with a VIN tag from a 1970 GTX WITH A TITLE for $400.     I could have literally swapped frames & tags in a weekend & go back to the DMV & avoid the 9 month hassle. I suppose this kind of crap was & is common, but even 30 years ago for a $400 car I wouldn't get involved with it.

[Cooter]

I have a puzzle that is just driving me crazy. I have a 74 Charger SE that I bought about 7 years ago. I got it without a motor or trany, so i put one in
and have just been driving it. I decided to put a new interior in it a couple weeks ago so I started taking the old one out last weekend. I found two build sheets in the car, one behind the back seat and the other under the carpet. They match each other. I quickly checked them out to make sure they called out a sunroof car which I have and they did, I never bothered to check the VIN at that time. I sat down that night to decode the sheet and quickly noticed that the VIN did not match, so I thought that I had the sheets for some other sunroof car. The VIN on the car states it had a 318 and made at Lynch Road, the build sheet says 400 HP and made at St Louis. I checked the door sticker for the VIN and it is just a blank sticker nothing on it. I checked the cowl for the VIN nothing there, so I checked behind the radiator support and found the VIN that matches the build sheet. There was no fender tag on the car when I got it. The VIN tag has the round rivets not the rosette style that is supposed to be there? Any thoughts, theories?

SO is the car registered in your name yet?
If so, and the title is clear, and as long as you aren't concerned with selling it, then you should be ok. I've seen this done a million times. Only time it becomes a problem is when someone wants to resell for HUGE money thinking they got a "Rare" car.

[maxwellwedge]

...He goes and steals another 74, swaps the vin tag on the dash, removes the door tag and removes the fender tag. Easy enough right. This happened a lot back then...

My Step brother was a MASTER at that! Saw him do that to at least 5 E-bodies when I pal'd around him when I was in High school (It's seemed fishy but to a teenager I didn't think much of it) In fact, I know there's someone out there with a Black 1970 Hemi Challanger convertible  that's "re-bodied" wonder if they know 

Is that the so called Reggie Jackson car that burned? It is about 5 miles from me

[AKcharger]

...He goes and steals another 74, swaps the vin tag on the dash, removes the door tag and removes the fender tag. Easy enough right. This happened a lot back then...

My Step brother was a MASTER at that! Saw him do that to at least 5 E-bodies when I pal'd around him when I was in High school (It's seemed fishy but to a teenager I didn't think much of it) In fact, I know there's someone out there with a Black 1970 Hemi Challanger convertible  that's "re-bodied" wonder if they know 

Is that the so called Reggie Jackson car that burned? It is about 5 miles from me

Unknown. Last time I saw it, it was at his house in New Port Richey Fl in 1982. He had a nice 383 vert for the body, a '70 warranty block Hemi, a Hemi K frame and Dash pad & fender tags.  He was trying to find a shaker set-up for it. I suspect he swapped the big parts and sold it as a "project". He ripped me off on a 3:91 gear so I stopped hanging out with him...he was dirt!

[Old School]

Well after a VIN check everything comes up clean no problems. Nobody seems to know how to fix it. Anybody know if this is going to
be a problem insurance wise?

[Old Moparz]

In all the years of driving & having cars insured, I've never had an insurance company ask me questions about, or look at the VIN tags. They want the number for the policy & either a verbal on the phone, a fax, or written on the paperwork is all they need. Now if the car was wrecked & you file a claim, or somehow you were involved with an accident, I bet they would definitely want verify the VIN tag at that point. It's one of those chances that only you can decide if you want to take it or not.

[AKcharger]

Well after a VIN check everything comes up clean no problems. Nobody seems to know how to fix it. Anybody know if this is going to
be a problem insurance wise?

Which VIN the current one on the car or the "Old" VIN?

[Old School]

The old vin was checked, not the one on the dash.

[Paul G]

No claims against that vin is a good thing. Now was that check just in your home state? Or would it have checked nation wide?

[AKcharger]

Hmmmm wonder if you can have a new title created and with a legal title a new VIN tag 

[Old School]

Well that's a good question, the DMV did the check.

[AKcharger]

Similar problem:

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/reproduction-vin-tags-194325.html

sources
http://vin-tag.com/
http://www.datatags.com/