What year bodies are the same?

Norm

Norm

Donating Member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

DaveP said:
Cool. I'm a felon. Maybe even 5 counts. I changed the vin tag on a $500, 25 year old Ford van, that is my own personal property. With my luck, I'll spend the next 10 years in jail for it. Come visit me, Ken.

Yet the fraud going on in the financial industry has STOLEN Trillions from the U.S. Taxpayer, destroyed the value of our currency's buying power, and NOT ONE perp has been put in jail, or even indited. Well, Maddoff and Martha Stewart.

This country is going mad.........
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Free room, free food, and with good behaviour you can maybe work in a shop and get paid for it. You can get the h1n1 shot before alot of others who actually need it. Not a bad deal in the long run.
 
BoostedSUV

BoostedSUV

Active member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

Maybe the "what nodody knows, won't hurt anyone" policy? Want to sell those rivets? Haha
 
turbodig

turbodig

Active member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

Soooo... riddle me this....

What % of the old vehicle needs to remain to be legal?

Theoretically, you could cut lots of "patch panels" out of a donor, and weld them in.
So much, that it might comprise 80-90% of the "new" vehicle.

There really should be a legal way to to this. All you would need, is a notary 3rd party to "witness" that both VINs were in the owner's possession and the swap was performed.

The old vin then destroyed, and the new VIN noted as salvage or rebuilt title.

They let so much crap go that they shouldn't, yet they come down hard on this...
 
warmpancakes

warmpancakes

New member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

DaveP said:
Cool. I'm a felon. Maybe even 5 counts. I changed the vin tag on a $500, 25 year old Ford van, that is my own personal property. With my luck, I'll spend the next 10 years in jail for it. Come visit me, Ken.

Yet the fraud going on in the financial industry has STOLEN Trillions from the U.S. Taxpayer, destroyed the value of our currency's buying power, and NOT ONE perp has been put in jail, or even indited. Well, Maddoff and Martha Stewart.

This country is going mad.........
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oh I agree these laws are only enforced on big dollar cars too , Heck I know of a VIN swap that was pointed out while the vehicle was in possesion of the auto theft division they did nothing
 
BoostedSUV

BoostedSUV

Active member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

I agree with dig... So what's the limit? I can replace hood, fenders, doors, tailgate, windows, quater panels etc... Where does the line cross? Can I leave the firewall with vin tag and cut the rest off and weld in a donor body? I mean really where is does the line get drawn? Its kind of ridiculous!
 
warmpancakes

warmpancakes

New member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

BoostedSUV said:
I agree with dig... So what's the limit? I can replace hood, fenders, doors, tailgate, windows, quater panels etc... Where does the line cross? Can I leave the firewall with vin tag and cut the rest off and weld in a donor body? I mean really where is does the line get drawn? Its kind of ridiculous!
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by law once you replace 2 major VINed components the vehicle should have a NEW vin issued, on a truck anything but the cab can be replaced without getting a new VIN In michigan by law if the MOTOT and Trans are changed the vehicle is supposed to get a new vin
 
syclone3

syclone3

Member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

Anyone remember CA VW buyers getting brand new Beetles from Mexico, buying an old VW for the title and PAN. Swapping the pan over. And driving a "72" Beetle which was actually a 1998. WAS very common in CA for many years. The laws leave so many loopholes yet crack down on an average Joe who is not doing it for profit. But to have a rust free vehicle to drive till it rusts out again.
Lot of the import cars I work on have so many VIN stickers and tags. Have seen as many 40 different tags on a Mitsubishi. Most are stickers but metal tags, as many as 5-6 on the same vehicle.
 
turbodog

turbodog

Donating Member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

The way I see it, if you have a SyTy with severe rust issues, you can forget about resale/market value. You are probably increasing the true value of the vehicle by converting it to a rust-free 'clone' over that of a rust-riddled authentic SyTy. What more do you want? The reality is, the value of the vehicle was compromised when it was allowed to rust out. I personally would convert to a clone and drive it forever. That way the market/resale value is never an issue. Not swap VIN tags and risk some overzealous cop busting you (or your insurance refusing to pay out on a claim), for the dubious "increase" in value. Just MHO......

Look at it this way:
You are the potential buyer for a collector car. You have narrowed it down to 2 candidates. You believe both to be original survivors, but one is actually rebuilt from a non-authentic body and the VIN tag swapped. The other is a true original. Is the seller of the clone not perpetrating a crime against you? Admittedly, it only becomes objectionable to me, personally, if and when the seller tries to pass it off as original.... but if that is not the intent, why bother?
 
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vinnieTy

vinnieTy

TY # 1889
Re: What year bodies are the same?

What do you think the companies do when they are hired to do a car restoration. Year one actually is able to manufacture fender vin tags. Send them the old one or give them all the information off the old one and they will send you new ones.

If you have rust issues on the fenders replace the fenders, if you have rust on the quarters weld in new quarters what else can be shot. Floor and trunk pans.....thats even easier to do.

I guess becasue i worked at a mechanic/Body shop growing up i have seen guys do crazy things that to you and me would seem crazy to do but on the other hand its actually not. Cut out old, line up new, weld in new, grind down welds, prime and paint. That way you have no issues with the law. Even if you take off the cab and send it out that will save alot on costs.

just my opionion
 
BoostedSUV

BoostedSUV

Active member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

Well for somebody like me who is very mechanically inclined but paint and body work is not my forte the options are limited. My truck needs floor pans, rear quarters, and the area above rear hatch repaired. To pay someone to do that kind of work would be more money than it's worth. I'm totally capable of swapping bodies and such which cuts down on costs because you can buy a rust free shell for much less than the cost of rust repair (since I can't do it myself).

It's a shame these trucks are so prone to rust and even repairing them it's almost guaranteed the rust will come back. So to say if you "allowed" the truck to rust away is a bold statement since unless you leave the truck in a garage and only use it fair weather they will almost always rust away. Mine has 141k miles on it because it gets driven... Rust is inevitable.
 
turbodog

turbodog

Donating Member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

BoostedSUV said:
So to say if you "allowed" the truck to rust away is a bold statement since unless you leave the truck in a garage and only use it fair weather they will almost always rust away. Mine has 141k miles on it because it gets driven... Rust is inevitable.
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No offense intended. Mine has 130k mi, and no rust. But, it lives in Texas, and I have taken extreme care to prevent rust due to the standard S-10 moisture 'traps'.

But, if you want to maintain collector car value, you have to treat it like a collector car. If you want to treat it like a daily driver in a rust-prone part of the country, you give up the value of a collector car, and just wanting that value back is not justification for falsifying the VIN.

I realize restorers can remove and replace (and even re-create) a VIN tag for a properly documented restoration. A really valuable car which has been restored will have tons of pics and details of the resto process, or the value is greatly reduced. That's NOT what we're discussing here. And even the pro's can find themselves in a pickle. In one episode of the show "Chasing Classic Cars" the main dude was acting as the licensed dealer behind an auction (I think in Pennsylvania?). The Staties crashed the auction because they saw evidence of VIN tag R&R and questioned if it was done legally. In the end, the auction went on, but every buyer had to sign a document acknowledging their purchased car was under investigation and could be siezed as evidence.

Bottom line is, swapping the TY VIN tag to a standard S-15 body is illegal, for a lot of good reasons. The only reason to do so is to misrepresent the vehicle so to increase it's value for sale or insurance purposes. Is this a cime of great proportions? Not really. We're not talking about a 6-figure value here. But, imagine my imaginary buyer (was that redundant?) who buys the misrepresented clone. He gets in a wreck. During repairs, the body shop spots mismatched vin markings. They report it to the insurance company. The Insurance company denys the claim (and they will). Now the buyer is SOL.

Again, IMHO, hang the Ty VIN plate from the rearview mirror as a keepsake.
 
b00n

b00n

'Noma GT #0380
Re: What year bodies are the same?

I see both sides of this Clearly. I say swap the vins .... IF You're not going to sell it anytime soon then swap bodies & keep your Ty a Ty but make sure you put it back as close as possible to what your Ty was ORIGINALLY down to the SyTy specifics before re-embodiment the 1st time. IF you ever decide to sell it then don't be a douche bag (not saying you are) but make sure it's known to all buyers that have interests in it that's it's all SyTy correct not a well done clone but it has been re-bodied due to previous rust/repairs. Otherwise you're kinda scamming people.

Advice also .... DOCUMENT EVERYTHING YOU DO TO IT WITH PICTURES OF BOTH BODIES UNDERGOING SWAPPING @least there's proof that you're NOT trying to be a con-artist or anything of the low life nature.:2cents:
 
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warmpancakes

warmpancakes

New member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

b00n said:
I see both sides of this Clearly. I say swap the vins .... IF You're not going to sell it anytime soon then swap bodies & keep your Ty a Ty but make sure you put it back as close as possible to what your Ty was ORIGINALLY down to the SyTy specifics before re-embodiment the 1st time. IF you ever decide to sell it then don't be a douche bag (not saying you are) but make sure it's known to all buyers that have interests in it that's it's all SyTy correct not a well done clone but it has been re-bodied due to previous rust/repairs. Otherwise you're kinda scamming people.

Advice also .... DOCUMENT EVERYTHING YOU DO TO IT WITH PICTURES OF BOTH BODIES UNDERGOING SWAPPING @least there's proof that you're trying to be a con-artist or anything of the low life nature.:2cents:
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yea photo document yourself commiting 5 felonys
 
warmpancakes

warmpancakes

New member
Re: What year bodies are the same?

No im just being honest, I dont give anybody shit well except beavis but he likes it
 
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