1949 Station Wagon VIN ID #

Posted by auto.nut On 2021/12/15 19:24:01

I have a 1949 Station Wagon that I have owned for about 30 years and did not get around to restoring it. But now I cannot find the title. The state of WA only keeps title info for 5 or 7 years and then they delete it from their records. Ya that's really nice isn't it.
Anyway I lost the title, & could not find a VIN number and could only find a number on the cowl which is 805810. What kind of ID# is that? I gave them that number and they could not find it anywhere in their records. Thus they say I have to trailer the auto to the WA State Patrol, have to make an appointment and pay $65 etc and then wait three years to get a valid title. The only thing they do is to verify the VIN# I believe. If they cannot find one, then what? Now does that make any sense? I am a 91 year old person and have paid state licenses and other stuff for 66 years and this is how they treat you. Why do they purge their records after 5 years? My question is which ID number would the state of WA use to identify the automobile?? When I gave them the 805810 number that was perhaps the wrong number. But if not available anywhere in there records anymore it wouldn't make any difference if I had the correct number anyway.
Any help would be appreciated. Lee