At least you have a car that is titled against a chassis number. My
MGA is taitled against the engine number -- apparently common for
California MGAs.
Simon
On Tue, Apr 23, 2019 at 12:15 PM Max Heim via Mgs <mgs@autox.team.net> wrote:
>
> I bought this 66 MGB roadster as a rolling shell in 2014, from a friend that
> works at the auction and was just flipping it. The story was it had been
> stored indoors along with a complete 1965 roadster since possibly the late
> 1970s (last registration on the â??ran when parked" car was 1978). No
> paperwork of any kind, and no plates, but it had a VIN in the 137XXX range,
> which made it a mid-67.
>
> But the car had no reverse lamps, which made me dubious, and after it was
> trailered to the paint shop, they uncovered the chassis stamp, which was
> 97XXX, making it a very late 1966, which made more sense (this matched the
> instrument panel layout, as well). Looking at the VIN plate, the numbers were
> rather wobbly, like it had been hand stamped (well, they were all
> hand-stamped, but presumably by persons that were experienced at doing it).
>
> After some contemplation, I decided my easiest way forward was to order a
> blank plate and stamp it with the correct numbers, so when it did go to DMV
> they would match. I did this after a web search to confirm that the numbers
> were not in use. As it turned out, the VIN inspection was carried out by a
> 20-something that had never worked with a pre-1969 vehicle of any kind, and
> didnâ??t even look at the chassis number (he would have had to go underneath
> with a flashlight and a mirror to see it, anyway).
>
> I have no idea what the PO (presumably deceased) had been thinking of. Maybe
> he had several disassembled cars and just mixed up the tags. Or he acquired
> this shell with no VIN plate and just made one up, which seems rather
> negligent (also, it had a BMC 1967 secondary tag on it, which would have to
> have been transferred from a real 1967, I would think). Who knows? Doesnâ??t
> matter, now. It could hardly have been some kind of deception scheme or
> fraud, since an unrestored MGB shell, unlike your Maseratis or Ferraris, is
> not only practically valueless, the particular VIN digits have no
> significance whatsoever.
>
> The discrepancies in paperwork between the transfer of ownership and
> application for title, which were filed with the â??oldâ?? â??wrong" number,
> and the VIN verification of the â??newâ?? â??correctâ?? number were smoothed
> out by using an independent registration agent. Her services were invaluable.
> She not only saved me 3 or 4 trips to DMV purgatory, her credibility probably
> helped this peculiarity sail on through unquestioned. Basically, I just
> appended an affidavit saying we were mistaken about the number, and were
> correcting it. And her fee was ridiculously low.
>
> --
> Max Heim
> '66 MGB
>
>
>
> On Apr 23, 2019, at 11:33 AM, Richard Lindsay via Mgs <mgs@autox.team.net>
> wrote:
>
> > I...sorted out the POâ??s attempted VIN swap.
>
> Gulp! Glad that's sorted. I bought my Maserati Biturbo E with a lost
> California title...and then a dead PO! It took me over a year to get that one
> straightened out! I ended up with a bond title, but the car is mine now and
> licensed as such.
>
>
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