2 different VIN numbers. Which should I go with?

T

Tugmaster

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2 different VIN numbers. Which should I go with?***Updated***

I slid the body back on the frame today to get a look at the number stamped in it. It is a totally different number than the on on the engine. I am thinking I should use that as my VIN. If I use the engine number and were ever to change out engines it would make my registration totally bogus. Actually, my frame number is a 1931 number and my engine number is 1930. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Todd
 
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I think your answer may be easy (you may not have a choice). Ask your local DMV. I am in California and would expect the DMV to say use the frame number. After they looked at the frame number and checked to see it was not stolen (they might check the engine number also to see if it was stolen) they would put a VIN tag on your door jam and tell you to put the body back on the frame.

Charlie Stephens
 
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Humble Opinion:

I would use frame because it "is" a 1931.

Also, I was "told" recently by DMV, to stamp same numbers on frame where one can see them without having to ever remove the body later.

Rule of Thumb: Each DMV employee's answer is about as unpredictable as asking the local Post Office employees , "Are the fish biting today?"
 
In Cow Hampshire it matters not. Titles are not required for registration of vehicles over 15 years of age. http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/dmv/title/apply/exempt.htm

A title can be issued at request of the Owner. The number does not even need to be documented.

Per their web site:http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/dmv/title/apply/index.htm

The title is one of the key documents for maintaining the chain of ownership since it will identify the previous owner and title, specifically by including the previous title number and state of issuance on the title. It will:
  • Provide motor vehicle departments with data about previous owners, and therefore, aid in the searching of registration and titling files to locate previous records.
  • Provide a readily identifiable ownership chain, which would describe the history of the vehicle.
  • Make it more difficult for fraudulent ownership of a vehicle to be obtained.
Click to expand...

The powers that be here are not sufficiently conversant on antique automobiles to look or even know if it is a bona-fide number to begin with. For Cow Hampshire there is no duplication search done that I am aware.

A bill of sale would help establish above, but is not necessary.

My singular experience involved doing a first time title to a 1930ish truck chassis. This was to be sold to a buyer located in Texas, where Titling is taken more seriously. And providing a title became a detail aspect of the sale.

The chassis had numbers that match (original engine and 26K original miles.) The bill of sale did not mention a VIN.

I chose not to mention the frame number to the cop woman who came to the house to do the verification. But she did look that engine number over pretty closely using the drop light at various angles and checking the numbering against what was on the form (which I myself had filled in by hand after reading the number off the block.)

And about 30 days later a title certificate arrived in the mail - just in time to turn it over to the new owner as he picked up the frame on a trailer.

So stupid - but perhaps titling does inhibit car theft. Just not so much in Cow Hampshire.

Hope your experience is similarly easy.

Joe K
 
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Whatever number is on the title, I would stick with for a "VIN" number. You may want to attach this number somewhere on you rig for future conversations with DMV about fishing.
 
If you use the frame number, then what will you do in the future if someone wants to confirm that that number is correct? You'd have to remove the body. For that nightmarish reason alone, I'd go with the engine number. If you feel you need the number also somewhere on the body, I'd do as suggested above, and get some sort of plate with the number (the engine number) stamped on it--and run over in the driveway and left in the rain to make it look old and then pinned to some accessible but inconspicuous place on the firewall. Nobody at your DMV would know the difference but Model A people will.
 
Obviously if it is registered, that is the number, for better or worse. My '29 coupe is registered with a 1931 vin number, but as a 1929. The number corresponds with the engine. Of course the block is cracked and I pulled the motor recently and raised the body to check the number and found it to be an april 1929 number. Still need to decide next step.
 
seems to me if you change engines later, or someone steals the car down the road the frame is the one number you would be looking for. It would be great if the number was out in the open.
 
In California I've had the DMV do it both ways. My sedan title uses the engine number, but that engine is not in the car any longer. When I got my pickup registered, it had been non-op for 30 plus years, the DMV sent me to the Highway Patrol and they applied a new pair vin number tags. I got a vin tag on the door jamb and one on the firewall. One of the CHPs warned the other one about not drilling into the gas tank. Hmmmm
 
I would go with the frame number. Take a trip to your DMV now while you have the VIN number on the frame exposed and get it squared away. This way you will not have to pull the body off later so they can check it.
 
use the frame number and re-stamp the engine block to match it BEFORE you allow any minions of the state to become involved.

that is how I would handle this one if it were my car.....
 
Chris Haynes said:
Restamping is altering. That is a felony in CA. Section 10751 CVC.
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cannot believe any law enforcement would give a darn about re-stamping that is done without intent to defraud. I would be willing to take my chances on this.

search the serial number to see if anyone has registered a car with the original number. if they have, chances are it is a rodder who likely does not have the block and certainly does not have the frame. in which case HE would be the perpetrator of fraud, not the Model A guy, since he is registering an assembled car and claiming it to be an antique.

are you trying to say that if my block is damaged to the point of being un-usable and I
replace it with a block that has the same serial number, I may be guilty of a crime? just because I replaced a broken part on MY car with a replacement part?
again, I'd be very willing to take my chances on this one.

j.m.h.o.....
 
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