New law in Kansas...

https://www.hagerty.com/media/news/...estored-1959-corvette-from-the-crusher/?

That's the way it should be across all 50 States.....LE/RMV/DMV officials are usually "lost" when inspecting older vehicles, VIN laws written 50+ yrs ago need to be amended.... plus shops/owners/restorers need to be more diligent when removing/adding/replacing VINs/Tags/stamps/etc to avoid the droopy eye of the law....

I saw that on the SEMA email update. Made me think of the dedicated guys on here that say sliding a different car under a VIN is not an issue at all. Yet here this law change is. But but but it never was an issue…

What?!? Common sense is making a comeback? Say it ain't so...

Ohhh not an issue at all, it (rebody) just needs to be done properly re: correctly to keep LE/RMV/DMV in check....

I think it makes sense but they should also be looking for something to document the vin tag is legit for the car or legitimat reason it was removed all of which might be tough if you bought the car that way. It is ridiculous for an older vehicle where you legitimately need to remove it for dash restoration or paint work or whatever. And what about the stupidity of some vehicles with the vin plate on the door?

Stopped by my parents house on a Saturday after I got off work. My father had the dash pad out of his 80 Lincoln to work on the radio. The dash pad was sitting on top of the car, with the vin tag securely attached to the dash pad. Said the pad came out by removing six screws. That's gotta be an open invitation for crooks.

That really depends on the car and the state in the US.

In Texas 55(?) and earlier, except Fords, use the engine serial number as the VIN, even though my 51 Plymouth has a vehicle serial number on the door jamb. Now I am building a 230 out of a 52 Dodge for my Plymouth, different engine serial number. So last time I was at the county tax assessor (this is who handles this stuff out here) I explained what I was doing and asked how to deal with it. The clerk went to ask and about 5 minutes later the tax assessor herself came out with the paper work and info I needed to address this. In my case I can either get it retitled with the new engine serial number or get a state issued VIN. Just paperwork to deal with. Well, I guess I could play swap the original engine back in before the annual inspection game, but no I don't think so.

I wonder if I put the original 51 engine in my 65 Cuda would it now be a 51 Plymouth, lol.

Sometimes it pays to ask what the rules are before you proceed and in any case a "pro" shop already ought to have done that and knew. But too many hacks in the "pro" shop world.

that makes even less sense. How confusing is that if you buy an old car with changed engine and the VIN on your ownership is for a completely different year/model of car even tho the right VIN is there on the body?

The DMV has no idea what the vehicle serial number is as they used engine serial numbers back then and there is no provision to put a title in with the vehicle numbers on my 51. Stupid law? Probably, but it is what it is and checking beforehand will save me issues later.

The center of this debate has been the VIN plate on Martinez’s Corvette. He bought the car in 2016, a beloved ride that got a full restoration some years ago and as part of the repainting process had the VIN plate removed. Upon presenting it for routine state inspection, the Kansas Highway Patrol seized the Corvette.


Looks like to me he took it for an inspection and there was no VIN plate on it.

Possibly, or the vin rivets were wrong, or who knows.

i know in Wisconsin the early text on VIN tampering laws says almost the same thing. then way at the end of the text there is a provision that allows the removal for restoration purposes. a LOT of states have this text that a lot of LEO never read or refuse to acknowledge.
i almost had a car impounded by a know it all state DOT inspector who looked at another car i had in the shop. the car he looked at was from another state and had to be inspected so i could get a title for it. while he was in the shop he decided to look at another car that had the VIN tag removed. he made a big thing about it and tried to get the car impounded. the thing that saved me was his supervisor showed up at the shop and also tried to get the car impounded also. he pulled out his trusty book showing me the law that allowed this to happen. i asked to see the book. turned the page in his book and showed and read the exemption to them. they still tried making a big deal and continued trying to impound the car. i called my lawyer and he worked it out with the DOT. cost me a few $$$. i sued the DOT for reimbursement of those $$$. after several months of legal troubles, i got my $$$ back, the know it all inspector got fired and the supervisor got demoted with a pay cut.

No expert here but I believe most states have a provision for removal of the tag as part of a repair.

The intent of the tampering laws is to punish fraudulent or stolen cars. Not to punish Joe Blow for repainting his car.

If this is the story I'm thinking, Steve Lehto did a video on it.

I bought a 67 Dart GTS out of Wisconsin that had had a paint change, and of course the VIN plate was removed as it is on the door A-Pillar and was lost during the repaint. The PO had to get the State Police involved and because he had all the documentation and title in his name they were able to do that. Had to wait quite a while but finally a State cop showed up and affixed the new VIN plate on with rivets that were stamped with a large "W" on each one, and the plate had the correct VIN with STATE OF WISCONSIN printed on it. Of course every state is different, you can forget about doing anything like that in Illinois...

Nebraska is one of those states that will deny title if the numbers cannot be proven or appear altered in any way. I have had several customers find the out the hard way.
A number of vehicles as stated did use the motor number only. Others stamped the frames in more than one place. IF the numbers don't match, aren't visible your not getting titled. They are thorough enough to know where to look but those areas sometimes require lifting the body.
In one instance a 1931 Chevrolet had been in the same family for over 70 years. The son now about 75, inherited the car and had it licensed in Iowa where he lived. Iowa is quite lax on Vin inspections or were a few years back.
When the son moved back to Omaha to be closer to his kids and grandchildren Nebraska wouldn't accept the Iowa title as the motor numbers didn't match. This in spite of the fact the car had been registered and titled in Ne. for 65 or so years in his father's name and he had the documents to prove so.
Ne. said Iowa should have caught it and sent it back to Ne for an assigned VIN, but they didn't, so he needed to take the car back to Iowa and get an assigned number. Iowa said no can do as you are no longer a resident of the state. BEAURACACY at it's finest. After several hours over a couple of day's I finally found a lady at DMV in Lincoln that said she would authorize it IF we could provide a dated receipt that showed his father buying a motor. One hand written, tea stained, yellowed, greasy fingerprinted receipt coming up. never saw or heard from him again
So yes, It can get real messy

So did the guy finally get his title? Says one receipt coming up, but then you never heard from him again?

Yes he did get his title. Maybe he or they did not realize the amount of time and effort I put in to help them with all of the calls
and making a receipt for them. No biggy, as karma works both ways and I'm sure it came back to me in a different way

It was difficult to figure out exactly what was going on with the guy from Nebraska who bought the Corvette. It was reported by a bunch of different news outlets and all had a different slant on the story it seemed. Best I could figure out from sorting through the stories was that the VIN tag was attached with incorrect style rivets and that is why the authorities impounded it.
All this grief because someone used hardware store rivets instead of finding the correct ones?
Each state has different regulations it seems. Frustrating as it is living in Illinois, at least having car purchases inspected or even annual safety inspections is not one of our burdens here. Jim’s experience with a car missing it’s VIN tag notwithstanding, every state has assigned VIN procedures so unless you can get an acceptable looking repro made on the sly, you’ll need to jump through hoops to get an assigned one.
I bought a vintage ride from out of state last summer. Took the signed over title in to the DMV, paid my fees, walked out 30 minutes later with temporary registration and plates.
No one will ever need to inspect it, and I never will be required to take it in for any safety or emissions test. They do require emissions tests here but only on cars with OBD ports.
Another thing to research when considering moving to another state. Car registration fees and requirements. Nebraska would not be a place I want to move to if I have to have each car inspected before they will register it.