VIN swapping?

carguy123 wrote: I thought the hot rod guys did it all the time. You see lots of brand new hot rods running around with old Vins. In one article I'm almost certain I read that there were at least 3 times as many 32 Fords on the road today than the factory made.

Common myth. Ford built over a million 32 Fords. The aftermarket has made several thousand.

The new bodies they are making come with serial number plates on them, ones I've seen were usually on the firewall.

C.A.R.S. inc was selling new 57 Chevy bodies that had a cowl (or cowl section) from an original car. To me it would be the same as swapping VIN plates.

llegal, yes. Immoral, not necessarily. You can put the VIN plate in a jig and replace every single part of the car around it and that's legal, but putting a new VIN in a car is not legal. I had a motorcycle that was a similar thing. It didn't have a title. I bought a busted frame with a title for $10. Legally I had to switch all the parts over to the busted frame but I just moved the VIN plate over to the old bike.

I have a friend who works on and flips scooters and does this fairly regularly.

I wasn't aware that there was even a legal process for 'rebodying', so that is news to me. It doesnt apply to my particular case.

It is all just a means to an end. As long as you arent stealing any of the cars involved, i dont really care what anyone does. Honestly, a lot of companies that people consider legitimate do a lot more of what i would consider actually stealing, and they get the titles perfectly legally.

Ive gamed the shop lien thing too to get a title in the past. Usually thats the easiest way to go, but you have to either own the shop or be friendly with someone who does. Also, if theres a HUGE lien on the car, and the car still has some worth, it might not work. But generally, for old, crappy cars that noone cares about except for the one guy trying to get it registered.. you can just fudge what you need to to get it to work, and you're just fine in my book.

93EXCivic wrote: Ok so let's say you have two cars. One you are using the chassis from and one you are using the body from (of approximately the same model). And one of them has a clean title can you swap the VIN number around. I am not in this situation for any of this but I was digging around about titling vehicles and it just got me wondering.

Yes. In the one case, you are simply replacing the frame. In the other, you are simply replacing the body tub. Either way, it can legally and legitimately be described as installing replacement parts.

this brings up an interesting thought I had.

How much of a car do you need to keep it's vin intact?

Here in NJ, getting a 7 clone registered and inspected is easy.. if you use a modern, up to date drivetrain. Any replica in NJ gets a Vin/Title for the year it is registered. This means that if I build a 7 Clone next year.. it gets titled as a 2012 car and needs to conform to all emissions and safety gear.

Great if I had a 2012 doner.

I was thinking if I took a rusty Fiat, could I keep the bare "bones" of the body (trans tunnel, suspension pickup points, and firewall) and after some shortening of the floorplan, use it as a doner for a 7 and still be able to call it a Fiat?

Could you possibly call it a Fiat? Yes. Will you 100% be guaranteed with that approach? No. Not even if it is specified in the law book to be legal. MVA clerks and the like are not normally noted for their customer friendliness, thoughtfulness or the like. This is why around here creative things are best done through a tag and title service, where pesky problems just disapear.

Will wrote: Common myth. Ford built over a million 32 Fords. The aftermarket has made several thousand.

Nice try.

Lessee... Ford built more than a million 1932 fords?

That's pretty damn fast.

365 x 24 = 8760 hours.

8760 x 60 = 525600 minutes.

Wow, working around the clock, that's more than one Ford every minute for all of 1932!

Sorry, total production for Ford in 1932, including trucks, etc is about 210,000 vehicles.

I've got a feeling you were thinking of the Model T.

Trans_Maro wrote:

Will wrote: Common myth. Ford built over a million 32 Fords. The aftermarket has made several thousand.

Nice try. Lessee... Ford built more than a million 1932 fords? That's pretty damn fast. 365 x 24 = 8760 hours. 8760 x 60 = 525600 minutes. Wow, working around the clock, that's more than one Ford every minute for all of 1932! Sorry, total production for Ford in 1932, including trucks, etc is about 210,000 vehicles. I've got a feeling you were thinking of the Model T.

My math says it's closer to 276,000.

Cabriolet 6,091 Convertible sedan 926 Five-window Standard coupe 51,794 Fordor sedan 37,363 Panel delivery 6,122 Phaeton 2,490 Roadster 12,597 Sedan delivery 400 Station wagon 1,383 Sport coupe 2,911 Three-window Deluxe coupe 22,148 Tudor sedan 124,101 Victoria 8,580

Your point stands though.

You left out the knock-down kits, the UK production, the Argentina production, the Australian production and others...

modernbeat wrote: You left out the knock-down kits, the UK production, the Argentina production, the Australian production and others...

I'd love to know the production figures, but none of the books on the shelf behind me have them and I can't find them online. I'd also love to know how many cars are actually registered as 1932 Ford Model Bs today. I don't really believe there are more on the road than originally made, but I also don't think there were 1,000,000 made in 1932.

The only Ford I know of being anywhere at a million in a short production run was the 66 Mustang. But also they were running, what 4 plants, at the same time to meet demand.

It's a common myth.

The truth in it is, there are more 1932 ROADSTERS around today than they ever built.

So many have been cut down, converted or rebodied.

Shawn