eBay audacity

[MikeW]

If it were just a VIN tag I'd be less concerned. The fact that it includes the VIN cut from the firewall indicates that this auction has potential for serious abuse even if the action itself is perfectly legal.

[sblake01]

If it were just a VIN tag I'd be less concerned. The fact that it includes the VIN cut from the firewall indicates that this auction has potential for serious abuse even if the action itself is perfectly legal.

And the title!

[John Coffey]

That VIN package can be used for good or bad, it all depends on the buyer. The seller is offering a product, that's all. I might be interested in buying the package, but not for $300. One day I may want to return a race car with no title back to the street.

Edited September 11, 2008 by John Coffey

[Weasel73240Z]

That VIN package can be used for good or bad, it all depends on the buyer. The seller is offering a product, that's all. I might be interested in buying the package, but not for $300. One day I may want to return a race car with no title back to the street.

That was my point also. I recently had a chance to buy a 72 but the owner had lost the title, and since died. I was talking to the owners kid, who had no idea where the title may have gone. It would have been a huge pain in the arse to get a new title so the car could be registered, so I passed on the deal. But, if I had those tags, I may have bought it.

Technically illegal, but isn't that better than allowing a roadworthy 72 to rust to the ground because theres no title for it?

[MikeW]

Technically illegal, but isn't that better than allowing a roadworthy 72 to rust to the ground because theres no title for it?

I'd have to think there's a more legal way of going about it. Here in Georgia titles are not even required for old cars. My car sat in my garage for years without being driven and therefore wasn't insured and didn't have a valid license plate. I simply went to the local DMV and got it straightened out by paying back the taxes. Surely there's a method to properly reinstate a title and I'd have to think that it would cost less than $300 for the VINs, the time and effort to weld the new VIN into the firewall, and to repaint the firewall so that it's not completely obviously a fraud.

[Lazeum]

this is a member of the French board I belong!

Regarding French laws, having a low VIN number can help to pass emission test.

240z's are right in between 2 laws, cars before October 72 do not have to get emission tested (easy then to be registered as street legal car)

Of Course it's perfectly illegal but this is why, I guess, it is sold.

You have to know that my Z in France is worth €20,000 whereas it is worth less than 10,000$ in the US. (1€ = $1.40 !!!)

They are very few S30 sold in France at this time (less than 1,000) so most of them are imported from the US. You have to do the whole nine yard to make it French legal (lights wiring to be modified, customs, brakes have to be good, emmision...)

So you get a 260/280 which is worth less, you swap the VIN, swap the bumpers, leave the engine and your selling a 240z with a L28 swap for big money...

Edited September 11, 2008 by Lazeum

[Mike]

Well, if it's the only thing left of the car... why not save it?

I would like to see this guy put the parts in a nice display along with a photo of the car. Now that would be great for posterity.

[Big sam]

While this is a shade dodgey,it can be put to good use to re register an otherwise perfectly useable z car who's registration may have been allowed to lapse during a long restoration (for example), without all the rediculous rules imposed by an old car hating government.Its just a pitty this can fall into the wrong hands,and a tad brazen putting it up on ebay!!

[Mr Camouflage]

I also have a chassis number cut from the firewall hanging in my garage. Was a 2+2 and too far gone with rust to fix. Even the rust repairs had re-rusted.

[hls30.com]

More to the point, somewhere a '73 will magicaly transform to a low vin that is missing the perforated deck, thinner steel front cross member, earlier appointments, and '69 wiring, but it will retian the low vin price until it gets proudly displayed somewhere that it gets identified as changeling. Then the current owner finds out what he bought is not what he paid for...sort of like one of our members a while back, and hopefully not like a more recent member.

Will

Edited September 11, 2008 by hls30.com

[bpilati]

It's called "Air Car" and it was the topic of hot discussion in the muscle car market years ago. I could build HLS30-00403 if I wanted to. It is generally considered dishonest.

In the race car world, renumbering a chassis is a common thing. Many Ford GT-40s and Porsche 917s were renumbered, for example, when the chassis needed to be replaced.

Yeah, but this was done through a dealership, right? I mean the manufacturer knew about it, right?

[BRE-240Z]

More to the point, somewhere a '73 will magicaly transform to a low vin that is missing the perforated deck, thinner steel front cross member, earlier appointments, and '69 wiring, but it will retian the low vin price until it gets proudly displayed somewhere that it gets identified as changeling. Then the current owner finds out what he bought is not what he paid for...sort of like one of our members a while back, and hopefully not like a more recent member.

This is what I was thinking, too. Shazam, a Series I.

As others have stated, the item that is being sold on eBay is not dangerous, but what a new owner could do with that item is.

Does anyone have a list somewhere of 'known crushed' cars? Might help someone later on who is researching a potential purchase. They would definitely be able to determine that something was funny about that VIN if they saw a document that claimed that the car was crushed and the VIN plates were saved.

Anyway, it's just a thought.