Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I live in California and bought our '51 which came out of Iowa where the paperwork used the engine SN for an vin. Went to DMV and told them that I didn't want to use engine SN. They sent me to the California Highway Patrol. They said I could use the frame number or the anti-thief number or the model/car number combo. It took about 10 minutes at the CHP office and without any hassel.

That's where a licensed VIN verifier comes in handy as they go to your car! There is, of course, a small fee but for most people it's minimal and worth it to save the hassle of dealing with getting it done at the CHP or DMV, especially when a car isn't drivable.

Odd, though, that they sent you to the CHP as the DMV itself typically also has verifiers. In fact, any DMV employee may verify a vehicle. However you really need only the number from the plate on the door jamb so I have no idea why they also used the anti-theft number.

Quote:
When the 47 was inspected they chose to register by the embossed or anti theft number because the inspector said it was the only number that could not be removed from the car.

That makes no sense as any VIN plate can be removed. Nearly every vintage vehicle I verify has a plate with just rivets or screws.

Not disagreein' but apparently the inspectors have their own preferences and there must be a lot of leeway in how they can interpret the rules -- if there even are any rules for old cars that have fallen out of the system, do not have modern VINs, and have limited old paperwork. At least that one had very few problems getting registered compared to my first Packard.

My first 56 was a miserable DMV experience and I even had signed paperwork. Problem on that car was the owners had sold the car to another party and signed off on the wrong line of the form. The other party had never registered the car so it had sat unregistered for years and was out of the system when I bought it. During that time the original owners had died so couldn't resign the paperwork that was given to me. Fun times, let me tell you and each DMV clerk had their own interpretation of what was needed for correcting the problem.