Eric,
Your missing VIN tag could get you in a world of trouble here in Texas.
Any law inforcement officer can confiscate your truck on the spot for not
having a factory installed VIN tag. A good friend of mine is a Texas DPS
Motor Vehicle Theft Service Investgator. He was looking at my Panel a few
months ago and noticed that the VIN tag was attached with pop rivets. He
asked me if I had done that and if the VIN number stamped in the frame
matched the tag. They did not. He told me to check my title and see which
number it matched. I told him that I had not changed the VIN tag, that it
was that way when I bought it. He told me to check it out and get back to
him. He said he would have to "run" the frame munber if it didn't match
the title and hopefully it wouldn't come up stolen. Scary thought. He
said if the tile did match the frame he would help me get a state assigned
VIN tag. He said I would need to fill out a Form 68A, with his assistance,
and he would process it. He said the only way to get the assigned VIN tag
was to go through a DPS Motor Vehicle Theft Service Investigator because
they have to verify all of the numbers and they have to process the form.
I , like you, started to loose sleep over my title problem.
When I checked my title, I found it matched the body, not the frame. This
made me a little sick. When I bought my Panel several years ago I also
bought a 55-2 3600 that came with a big wad of paperwork. The previous
owner was trying to get a title for the Panel so he switched the VIN tags
between the two trucks. In the wad of paper work I found a VIN tag that
matches my frame and a bill of sale from the Weatherford Sheriff's office.
I showed all of this to my DPS buddy and he suggested that I call the
Weatherford Sheriff's office and see if they would reissue the bill of sale
in my name. They did. Every thing is cool now, my buddy is processing my
Form 68A and I'm not loosing any sleep.
As for your question about a replacement original style VIN tag, I've never
seen one and if you found one, you would still need the state assigned tag
as well.
Happy Hunting
BelAir Bob
57 1/2 ton Panel custom
57 Belair Sport Coupe restored to factory specs.
----------
> From: varanus@mail.phoenix.net
> To: oletrucks@autox.team.net
> Subject: [oletrucks] VIN plate question
> Date: Monday, February 08, 1999 4:14 PM
>
> Hi again: my vin plate is missing. This sometimes makes it hard to
> get inspection as the inspectors don't know that vin numbers
> were same as engine numbers prior to 1958. I would like to put a vin
> plate back where it should be. Are there any options such as
> having the state dmv approve a new vin plate? They will give me a
> vin sticker but I also want the original style plate. It keeps me
> awake nights knowing it is not there.
>
> Maybe I am wrong but I thought that for a restoration, there was a
> way to do this.
> Maybe not.
> Thanks
> oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
|