Hey there guys, got a situation i hiope you guys can help with.

found a pretty nice 72 thats been stored for a long while, needs a bit of work, but the bodyis almost perfect. the catch is, the owner says it was taken off the road in the 80s and used only as a drag car, the interior is stripped and fitted with a cage which runs into the engine bay, fuel cell, no dash etc. the car has no VIN numbers on the firewall area andas mentioned it has no dash, ( so no VIN there either )

Cant find any VIN numbers on the door jams either, where else can i lookto find a VIN on this thing.

The bottom line is i dont want to buy a stolen car, or one thats got any kind of shady history, the owner seems honest enough, but you never know.

help

 

From what I understand it is in the blower motor compartment area on the engine side. I don't have first hand experience. I was gonna check on my 1976. Lemme know if it was there.

 

personally i wouldnt buy a car that was meant for the tracks; that interior is gonna cost you a huge chunk of money, should you plan to restore it. but if you plan to re-use itas a track car, then one way i would suggest guaranteeing whether or not it was stolen is to ask the seller if you can see the title andthe seller's driver's license/ID. if the names match, then it should be his car. if the names don't match (if its registered under a relative's name or something just ask to see that person and his/her ID) or he makes showing you his title a hassle, then you can assume something fishy is going on.

 

There's a cowl tag but that only tells you the interior and basic RPO codes. If it has the original engine you can get a partial vin number and possibly track from there. Also if the transmission is original you can gather parts of the VIN from there but that's only if it's original. It would be nice if you could find the early registration for the car. You could possibly track it through the original owners and request it from your DMV but I don't know if they'd even be helpful in a matter like this.

When I pulled mine off a few months ago for repairs I noticed some numbers. Don't remember if they were VIN numbers because I just really glanced at them. I don't remember them being long enough for a VIN. Again, it might be a partial VIN though.

 

thanks for the responses guys

went out there and looked it over again, couldnt find anything on the firewall, by the blower motor.

The engine and trans are out of the car, so no help there either.

I tried the local CHP, who were less than helpfull, even asked one of the guys who i know owns a couple of hotrods in the department to come over and take a look for a beer, but he wouldnt do it, the car being about an hour away dosent help.

The CA DMV are useless.

The car is well worth saving, the body and frame look in almost perfect shape, its been stored inside most of its life, its had one paintjob whichwas done very well.
the owner seems like an honest guy, older guy who isnt going anywhere. he dosent know a great deal about the history of the car. he says he bought it in the late 80s already built, raced it for a few years, then parked it up.

i plan to go out there tomorrow and crawl around under the car with a flashlight to see if the frame or floor has any numbers on it.

wish me luck

 

Does the guy even have a title to the car?
Here's some VIN info: Camaro Hidden VIN

 

Nice find Camaro69, like I said, I remember a number down there but didn't really take any notes on it. In a few more months I'll be pulling it again and when I do I will definantly look.