Hi everyone. Have been looking at a '68 Camaro for sale, and ran across a discrepancy between the VIN and the Cowl Code. The VIN is 124378N405834. The Cowl code is ST-68-12437 LOS24281. So, the issue is the manufacture location, one stating Van Nuys, and the other stating Ohio. It has been confirmed by the title and the partial VIN in the vent that the VIN is correct.

The car originally had a 3 speed per the owner, but he converted to a 4 speed automatic. So I was thinking that maybe the car came from the factory as a V-6, and when the V-8 was put in, someone wanted to hide that by placing an incorrect cowl plate on. However, the VIN already states that it is a V-8, and from what I understand, 3 speeds were also available with V-8's, so what would be the point of altering the cowl plate? The owner also says that the original color of the car was Lemans Blue, which matches up with the cowl plate as well.

The only thing that I can think of is that it was some kind of ironic mistake when the car was painted, and the wrong plate was reinstalled, although it does not look like it was a rotisserie paint job, so that might not make any sense.

Any thoughts to this issue, and would it keep you from buying the car from a later resell standpoint?

Thanks.

 

That is interesting. The 3rd digit on the cowl tag had nothing to do with L-6 or V8 in 68/69, it was always 4 so it would not have been for that reason. Plus the VIN indicates V8.

 

Somebody switched the cowl tag. Any potential buyer who knows these cars will think something's fishy, and may wonder what else may have been defrauded. Would that stop me from buying the car? Not if it's a heck of a good deal. But keep in mind you won't get top dollar if and when you go to sell it.