BT7 vin plates

[Marvin Gruber]

Picked up a 3000 bulkhead today with vin plates HBT7 L , black car with red interior. Anyone need plates.

Marv

 

[BJ8Healeys]

Marv, if I understand you correctly, you have the remains of a BT7 that has been scrapped. If it were a BJ8, I would be interested in the VIN number. I don't know if the keeper of the BT7 registry would like to know the number, but if you'll tell me what it is I'll pass it on to him.

I hope these plates aren't made available for someone to stick them on a car they don't belong to.

 

[Marvin Gruber]

Steve,
will PM you the numbers.

 

[stevebn2bj7]

Steve brings up an interesting thought about VIN plates. At what point is a vehicle not its original self? How much of the car needs to be deteriorated to where the VIN must be scrapped? If the frame needs to be replaced is the car still its original self? If you take the original frame of one car to rebuild another car which one survives? Say you have a rusted out original frame and one becomes available that does not have a VIN or title should that resulting car be scrapped?

i have often thought about that and the legality of companies such as Kilmartin or Jule producing new frames. Or in the muscle car word companies producing new body shells for Camaro's, Firebird's Mustang's etc.

At what point are we forced to say that this is not an original car because it has a certain percentage of new parts in it? What part of the original VIN structure must survive to be considered a "real" car?

 

[BJ8Healeys]

Steve brings up an interesting thought about VIN plates. At what point is a vehicle not its original self? How much of the car needs to be deteriorated to where the VIN must be scrapped? If the frame needs to be replaced is the car still its original self? If you take the original frame of one car to rebuild another car which one survives? Say you have a rusted out original frame and one becomes available that does not have a VIN or title should that resulting car be scrapped?

i have often thought about that and the legality of companies such as Kilmartin or Jule producing new frames. Or in the muscle car word companies producing new body shells for Camaro's, Firebird's Mustang's etc.

At what point are we forced to say that this is not an original car because it has a certain percentage of new parts in it? What part of the original VIN structure must survive to be considered a "real" car?

The only purpose of a VIN is to allow one car to be distinguished from all others. That allows it to have a "history". My concern as BJ8 Registrar with switching VIN plates is that it can mask the true identity of both cars and cause the histories of the two cars to be confused. Switching VIN plates is also illegal in most places and at least in North Carolina is a felony if the authorities become aware of it. Strangely, getting the authorities to accept a bogus VIN seems to be very common and easy enough, but getting them to change it back to what it should be is nigh onto impossible, no matter how much proof is given.

Pretty much all 50-year old vehicles are going to have parts that were not on that car when it left the factory. Non-serialized parts are impossible to track and are therefore not important. Use of serialized parts from another car, such as frames, engines, gearboxes, rear axles, etc., is fine in my view as long as the substitution is known to the buyer if he is interested in the integrity of the car. I know of one case where one car's unrestorable remains were sent to the junkyard -- except for the VIN plate. That VIN plate turned up at Barrett-Jackson on another high-dollar restoration. To me, that is not a legitimate use of the VIN plate.
Another example: someone bought a beautifully-restored car from a well-known dealer. Because of some discrepancies in the information provided to me, I asked him to look for the VIN on the shock tower. He found it, and it didn't agree with the VIN plate. He took the car back to the dealer, who proceeded to grind off the number from the shock tower (without being asked to do so)!