An interesting article appeared in the local newspaper this morning about a 1956 Ford T-Bird that a local couple purchased on ebay.
Since the car was purchased out of state the VIN had to be verified by the CHP before the DMV would transfer the ownership to the CA couple.
According to the article, the CHP officer could not find the VIN data plate on the firewall, where it should have been, so he went looking for the secondary location.
It is a little known fact that a vast majority of the vehicles have VIN's stamped into the frame, sometimes in a couple of places, which might require the removal of the body.
In the case of the T-Bird the officer knew right where to look because he is an expert at VIN verification. It turned out that the VIN on the frame did not match the VIN on the paperwoork. The CHP officer ran the frame VIN throught a national data base that lists stolen vehicles, it turned out that the car was stolen from a parking lot in Palo Alto, CA 31 years ago.
The vehicle has been impounded by the CHP pending the location of the original owner in Palo Alto and or the insurance company that might have paid the loss claim on the vehicle. The people that purchased the vehicle are out of luck, their only recourse is to go after the person that sold them the car.
According to a spokesman for the CHP, ebay has/is evloving into an avenue for the selling of stolen vehiicles, cars, trucks and motor cycles. I have heard this before from other sourses. In Idaho and Montana, old cars and/or car bodies that have sat out in the "north forty" for years are dissapearing in the middle of the night.
The point to this story is....... BUYER BE AWARE..... Be very careful in purchasing old cars, etc., verify the VIN number is where it should be and that the number is consistant with the number sequence for that model of vehicle. VIN number plates don't just fall off of a body, most of them are secured with rivets. Secondly, honest people don't grind numbers off frames and engines so they will look neater when painted....Bill
That's great advise. My 69 Roadrunner was found through Ebay. When it didn't meet reserve I took the two hour ride to check it out. It turned out to be correct numbered car, no clones for me, so I made the purchase. A vin story took place at the All Chrysler show at Carlisle, Pa. My friend had spotted a 67 Satellite in a lot just off the fairgrounds. It had been redone including new paint. He was very interested in the car, so as he talked to the owner I was checking the numbers. It did have a fender tag, but it didn't have the VIN plate where it should have been. I knew the location from the 65 satellite I had. I asked where the VIN Plate was and he said that it didn't have one. I explained where it should be, and he replied with the same answer. To be sure of the location, we walked back into the show field to check the cars there. Sure enough, the plate was where I said they were. We once again asked the owner about this, with the same response. We asked what number he used to register the car and he said the serial number from the fender tag. That didn't sound right to me, and I knew that my home state wouldn't accept that as a VIN. The whole deal didn't sound right so we walked away from it and I hope no one else got suckered. Too bad, because even I would have liked the have the car.
I purchased my 80 Volare on E-Bay and traveled to Cincinnati to pick it up.? I purchased temporary plates in Ohio to drive home on and made sure everything was ok before leaving town.? Maybe I would just lucky but all went well for me. After returning to Ill. I was able to get plates and title transfer with no trouble. Although I did provide my insurance company with the Vin before going to get the car and they did not find any problem with the title that was obvious.