Need some help on this one guys... My buddy bought a 85 Camaro from a guy locally, decent deal, no rust, no body damage, just some faded paint... well after looking it over after the sale, we found that there was no VIN plate in the area under the glass where it should be. Now, it might have fallen down, or rusted out or whatever and he intends on removing the windshield to look in there, but what happens if it isnt in there? Has anyone ever been in this situation before? can it be replaced? whats the circumstances of this? All feedback is apreciated!

Thanks

 

the vin number is also on the options sticker. I think on an '85 you'll find it on the inside of the center console glovebox. The VIN will also be on transfer and insurance papers. good luck.

 

What paperwork did your friend receive with the car?The VIN should be on there.If the original drivetrain is in the car then there will be a partial VIN,the actual build sequence,either stamped on a pad on the block just in front of the passenger side head and on a tag on the trans.There are other places on a car where the VIN is stamped into also.Hopefully when you pull the dash it will be there.make sure you look inside the defroster vents too.

 

I have never heard of a VIN plate not being intact in a car. I know they are a PITA to get off in the first place without removing the windshield. Let us know what you find out.

 

Out here on salvage and stolen cars, the authorities are nice enough to remove them so you can have a VIN riveted to your door, or at least they were doing that 5-10 years ago.

You cant replace a VIN, at least not with the identical thing. The material isnt available.

Sounds real fishy to me though, I'd be real careful right now, that car could be stolen.

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

Yeah he received the title with it, but thats was about it... Never thought to look unit i just happened to glance at it one night. We are going to check the rest of the car over to see if we can make any matches to the title. We are also going to remove the glass and see if it fell down, or anything like that. He needs new windshield seal anyways. I hope this works out. The previous seller says he knows nothing about it, and that it was there when he was trying to sell the car on ebay, because he looked at it to write down the VIN on there. So we dont know much for sure right now, but thanks for the info so far, and I will keep you posted on what we find out.

Thanks

 

Seller has your money and you have a questionable car title. I would get serious about that the Title and possible fraud charges against the Seller.

 

There are lots of other places on the car that have the vin #.The easiest ones to see are the door jams,hood,rear deck and on the rear 1/4 panal behind the plastic trim.Also the front and rear steel bumpers and the inside of the fenders.Good luck

 

Does any one know where to get a new vin plate made? I just had my car painted and the vin plate has almost rusted away.

 

NO, you can not get a duplicate plate made. Its against State & Federal Laws.

 

There should be another VIN plate under the dash.. I believe there are 3 places on the car where they should be. If i remember right though, if you can not find a VIN number on a car then it is illegal to sell it i believe. might want to check with your local police about it. Never know. it might be a stolen car with the vin plates removed. I have had 54 chevy trucks with intact original VIN Plates. every on of my third gens have one, and even my old 2ndgen had an intact one.. true that after a while they can get pretty hard to read, but a little cleaning is all they need then. There is absolutely NO reason to remove a VIN plate off a vehicle unless there is something shady going on

 

if you open the rear locking glove box and look up past the cardboard cubby you should be able to see a vin sticker on the inside of the rear fender. that one is the easyest. the door jamb ones are often missing or illagible (mine was painted over )

good luck, hope your car is not stollen.

 

An 85 has no vin stickers other than the one on the door. I know that the vin is stamped elsewhere on the car but where is something I would like to know also.

 

not sure but i hve found one under the dash as well on another car. still not easy to see though. not sure if the car would have it... you could take it to a dealer and they could check all the spots.. since they know where they are

 

You can have my VIN plate for what it's worth It's a joke because the VIN says 85 T/A, but car is 1983 - at least in the UK it doesn't really matter as long as something was written on the registration document (log book) when it was imported..

 

If no VIN tag, depending on where u live, u will have to have the car inspected by the police and possibly retitled.

The VIN tag is held in much higher regard than mvin markings elsewhere on the vehicle and people at the BMV are boxes of rocks for the most part.

Check the rules out before you buy it just to make sure and maybe save yourself some aggravation.

later
Jeremy

 

I'm helping a buddy of mine restore an 86 SC, and we have the windshield out of it, and the VIN was over half way rusted away.
It's a V-6 car that he's already put a 355 in it, and has no plans on selling it, so no problem, for him.

But you may never find it, when you remove the windshield.
They DO rust away

Leon.

 

No Vin plate might result in insurance problems and the same with licence plates. So he thinks that its no porblem.

 

LOL yea.. considering in order to get insurance you have to have a VIN number for the car. and for plates the VIN number must match the VIN on the title. Pretty big problem if you ask me.. And the only way i have ever seen a VIN plate rust away was if the front windshield was missing. and even then some acid etching very well might restore the plate to where it is at least readable.

 

DJP87Z28:

When was the last time you had either the insurance man or someone at the DMV actually go out to your car, and read the VIN?
His VIN is on his title, and all he has to do is mail in the renewal, to get his tabs.
I have NEVER once had anyone like the Ins.man or the DMV look at my car, or need to verify the VIN, I give them over the phone or in person.

Angelis83LT:

If you have never seen one rust away, with the windshield still in place, just means you haven't seen everything yet. And you shouldn't doubt it, when someone says so, unless you can prove otherwise. It DOES happen. And acid won't help bring back, what's NOT THERE.

LOL... the wealth of knowledge here, overwhelms me.

Leon.

 

I just bought a car from Baltimore MD and the DMV in NM stated to me that in order to register it I had to bring the vehicle in for a VIN inspection?

 

That may be all well and good.

But my buddies car, I was referring too, was already bought and payed for, title transferred, and registered.
He has since then, started the restoration, and will just put his current plates back on the car, when he's finished.

So his paper work is all in order, for him to insure and licence it, anytime in the future.

Leon.

 

Lets see, the last time I had the Vin checked was to get my Insurnace, milage & Vin verified by Law enforcement to register my car. And most recent when I had a insurance claim, the first thing they checked was the Vin number. So do I think its a important item, YES. By your replies, NO

 

Well, instead of taking up an attitude over this, just realize that things are different from state to state, and what I said of my buddies car still stands true. We don't have the VINs checked here in that way.
You make it sound like he's got serious trouble ahead, just because, while restoring a car he already owns, he discovers the VIN plate to be rusted away.
He already owns the car, has transferred the title, insured it, and registered it with no plans of selling it.
So tell me, where is the problem?

If people would stop acting like "Know-it-alls" ,and realize there is more than ONE way of looking at things, then we would have a better understanding of things, such as this.

Leon.

 

The problem is that the title and registration he has bought and paid for might not actually be for the car he has now in his possession, which means that he doesn't actually own the car. He should have checked before buying, or he could have ended up getting seriously ripped off.

I would doubt that you can even legally sell a titled car without a VIN plate.

 

OK, First of all, he's not SELLING the car.
Second, he bought it from the dealership he works at, and only paid $50.00 for it, so he's not getting "seriously ripped off".

And when he bought it, it still had pieces of the VIN plate attached, but was mostly unreadable due to the rust.

You guys don't need to get in such a panick over this, he's got it under control, and not worried one bit over it.

So let it drop, already! I regret ever posting here because of all the EXPERT advice, this has brought.

It's not even my car, so I really don't give a ****. I've talked to him several times about the VIN, and he's not worried about, so neither am I. You just have to realize, that things like this DO happen, and people deal with it.
End of Story.

Leon.

 

I don't know about you, but I'm talking about the situation described by the original poster, not your friend's.

 

The DMV office in Jacksonville Florida walked out to every car I ever registered there or renewed the tag and verified the VIN.
Same when I lived in VA Beach and did emissions testing. They checked the VIN plate, every time.

 

Here in WA they have never looked. In fact they want us to renew our tabs on-line if we can. Some areas don't have emissions or inspection so the state never sees the car.

 

If (when?) a cop stops you it's pretty much guaranteed he will have a look at the vin tag.If it's not there you will have some serious explaining to do.If he is in a bad mood that day he might just decide to haul you in first and ask questions later.something to think about...

 

Why do you think they always wanted the insurance and registration. In a ticket situation where they want insurance information.. the VIN number is most always on the insurance, so they will look at the cars VIN to make sure that it is the insurance for THAT car...

 

Last year,I got puilled over for no front license plate.My Z is salvage titled and still has the front clip in primer.He never checked my VIN plate?Also,when I was ready to license this car,the local authorities had to inspect the car for safety equipment and look at all my receipts to make sure all the parts were bought and not stolen.Outside of that,no one EVER showed interest in my VIN plates.At least in this part of Wisconsin!!
..............................BILL

 

The local finest stopped me not too long ago and yes he had a good long look at the vin tag to make sure it matched the registration

 

I have a buddy who has a 82 camaro. His vin tag practicaly rusted away. So in the state of michigan he was able to have a state trooper come to his house and issue him a new vin tag. After inspecting the car and doing a backround report on it. I think it cost him 80-100 bucks.