Re: Car Titles, engine numbers and vin #

Posted by HH56 On 2021/5/26 11:46:51

At least your DMV inspector is willing to work with you and the engine swap in trying to keep things mostly original. Some are not as lucky.

Fun times back then when some states would use the engine number and others used the vehicle number -- both removable. My 47 has the original engine and patent plate with the correct vehicle number and had old paperwork but the car fell out of the Calif DMV system when it was not registered for years. It had to be inspected before it could be re-registered.

The car was bought by a friend before I got it and when he went to register the car he said the Calif hiway patrol inspector took the old paperwork but totally ignored it. Inspector said he would only use the body ID or thief proof number because that was the only number on the car that could not be removed or changed.

In other documented cases on various forums there have been some strange numbers found. No one knew where they came from but speculation has been they were assigned by the state DMV -- most likely due to service engines being installed.