T confiscated because of engine number?

so are they saying if you leave the engine and take your car you then have no right to the engine even if they can;t prove it was stolen?

 

for one this isn't a towed vehicle it was brought to the station , so storage for the impounded vehicle cannot apply as a moving violation was not committed and towed in , the police dept has to store the evidence at there own expense and cannot charge storage as they will not release it without a court order ( went thru this with my kids car ( supposedly stolen ) and the P.D. had to eat the cost of the storage as we attempted to pay the tow and storage and release the car as it was a legal sale just the officer misread the vin code and transposed a number )

around here they have there own lock ups to store such vehicles to prevent evidence tampering , also thats were they store the Drug vehicles till they tear them down to make sure they are clean and then reauction them ,

also they are not allowed to auction personal property till the judge says its state property ( as if found guilty or stolen by the 4th admendment of the USC as if its sold without a judgement its a illegal seizure ) if the numbers do not come up as a stolen Piece of property , then its not stolen , since the Feds did not require drivetrain numbering till the late 1960's its going to be impossible to chase this block down to the car or truck it came out of . thats the reason why they started the vin tag on the blocks code ,

the Police office is only doing his job on suspecting the motor might be stolen since the numbers were defaced . since the current owner has a letter from the previous owner , stating he bought it of him , and if he can get a professional witness to prove the production umber is not a Id number , he might be able to get it back . but, I would look at cost , unless this motor has sentimental value ( like coming out of Dads car) let it go as the legal fees will outweigh a new rebuilt engine, if you want you can keep tabs on it , but if it is stolen , I doubt they would release it or auction it and probably would scrap the engine for recycling ,but still keep tabs on it as if its not stolen they have to return it to you as your the one who its legally turned it in on paperwork ) also get a certified letter form the agency saying the engine is clean and the noted the numbers are defaced in case you sell the vehicle . but just in case since it is in texas and some of there laws are wacky ( like some of Illinois ) I would lawyer up just in case .

 

never seen GM stamp the numbers from top to bottom like that....the originals are stamped side by side. So that was done later. If you have paper work it shouldn't be a problem when you show them in court.

 

Lots of things can be "red flags" to cops and if my engine had been stolen I'd be happy that a cop took the initiative to investigate it, but confiscation for an obliterated production number is another story. Many guys grind them off or remove them when polishing parts. Production numbers are not VIN numbers. Is his a VIN number or a production number? If engines of that era didn't have VIN numbers was a VIN number issued later when someone titled it a reconstructed vehicle? I have a 1950 H-D with a big block Chevy in it and since HDs used only an engine number back then the bike is titled using the big block's VIN number. I hope our OP gives us the results of his investigation.

 

If he can read #'s out of that , he can read hieroglyphics !!!

 

What he said.
And Model T's are/were registered by engine # even if the '56 Chevy wasn't.

 

A lawyer is going to charge you more than another engine costs just to talk about it. If you can yank the engine and take your car, do it because they are probably charging you daily storage at the yard.

 

Should of bought a T title and been done with it. I avoid law enforcement involvement much at possible when registering cars. For the fear of what happened to yours. Very sorry to hear that man.


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Maybe I missed it in your posts, but are you going to take everyone's advice and go pull the engine immediately or not ? If you don't you are a fool. The cops are telling you that they are willing to let you do it, all you would be giving up would be a 265 that isn't really all that valuable anyway.

I would be down there with an engine lift and some wrenches today if it were me. You can always fight for the motor later, if it is really worth doing at all.

Don

 

Yes!! Pull the engine. My buddy spent the night in jail, got his car impounded and lost a 700r4 because the tranny turned up stolen. He did get his car back from the impound yard with lots of parts missing........

 

They don't have to be original numbers to be a VIN number. Some States issue reconstructed vehile titles and have you stamp an assigned number on it.

 

Sorry I just had too; saying vin number is redundant kinda like a 32 deuce

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Yes, because that's so much more legal and better when the cops come checking things out.

 

And what are they going to find?? That you turned in a title for ownership transfer. And the car now has your name on it?? All the tax office in Texas requires is a title and a scribbling of the block number. Nothing illegal about it. And no inspection.


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A lot of funny opinions here.

Ive actually been in your shoes and delt w/ this in NY w/ a motorcycle!

I received a lot of similar advice and most of it wasn't right. Heres my old post for comparison.
http://www.jockeyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55220&highlight=jcs64

1- forget the lawyer, its not worth it
2- remember they are just doing there jobs, looking for stolen parts
3- face it, those #'s have been defaced/altered, and that makes them illegal.
4- Go pull the motor for them. You don't want them to do it for you since they really don't care about anything attatched to it.
5- I know It sucks but you will have a great story when its all over

PS. After I pulled my tranny for them and they did the acid trick to raise the old #s, they found it was stolen in 1973 from Kansas when the bike was 1 yr old, and "my" tranny was the only pc ever recovered, LOL

jeff

 

AND, he probably would've had to have a vin inspection done anyhow if it was an out of state title. He is trying to be up and up about his car.

Could you imagine the comments if he said he went in with a "BOUGHT" TITLE and had punched those numbers on the frame and it came up stolen?

What the advice be then?

Just a shitty deal all the way around.

Currently you can only do what they will let you do, like get your car without the engine, SO DO IT

 

TEXAS. I had written a long post and deleted it because in order for some of you to realize just how screwed up this is going to get, you'll just have to follow the OP's experience. Texas has it's own ways of doing things. A lot of it is antiquated and outdated, unfortunately, you never really know how bad it is, until you're in the system.

People ask me all the time, "Why did it take so long for the City of Houston to settle my accident case, when the police had admitted fault? "Why did I have to get a lawyer?" I tell them the same thing my lawyer told me, "Because this is Texas." If I had tried to get my car fixed, by following the way the city wanted to take, I'd probably just be getting done with the rebuild.

I hope the OP gets his car and all this works out. He made some mistakes, but nothing worth losing his car or reputation over. In all likelihood, he'll at least get his car back. The reputation thing will rear it's ugly head when he goes to register it again. Ask some of the Texas HAMBer's about being black balled in our DMV system.

 

Got the car back yet?

 

I have to make an appointment to do it because a cop has to sit out there while I do it. I just hope they will let me move it out of the rocks onto some concrete.
Hopefully they will call me back Monday morning.

 

if you have a pick up truck buy 4 sheets of 1/2 cdx plywood to move the cherry picker on . I doubt they will let you move it .

 

Call me again if you can't get something going on monday. I'll do what I can to help you out. PM me the name of the agent as well.

 

Brother used to live there ( DFW area ) and told me about some of the weird stuff they have , he got sick of some of it and moved up to Ok . Illinois is about as bad on some of the stuff but atleast some people go out of there way to get the stupid laws which at one time were useful or just not enforced because they were lambrained , off the books .

hopefully Noah will get his car back , and also his engine .

 

I agree, go jerk the motor out of it & get the car home. Even if evey thing goes to shit you've got the car & if it comes to it Chevy motors are a dime a dozen. I would expect this in the northeast, but Texas? No way !!

 

Not really. The posted law covers VIN numbers, and as mentioned many times, the number on a Chevy V8 block is NOT a VIN number, or any number that ties the block to a specific car. It only dates the block, and where it was made, plus size of the engine. So even though the numbers are obliterated, and it appears someone was attempting to hide something; in fact they weren't hiding anything.
Someone has to prove to the authorities that this number means nothing important, and obliterating or altering it is no different than grinding the casting numbers off the block.
And I also agree that the OP needs to get his car, pull the motor, and take every item off the motor they'll allow him to remove. When all the dust settles, an attorney will cost more than another used SBC.

 

That's a prime example of why I don't do things like the law wishes I would. And I was a law enforcement officer for 18 years. There's always a way other than standing with your hat in your hand in front of a motor vehicle inspector. he probably has the job because he was a road officer that screwed up and is being punished.

 

Below is what I posted earlier and I think you are spot on!

IMO....those don’t look like rust pits. Those look like someone took a punch or something similar and beat the shit out of the spot where the numbers should be trying to fake a rough casting appearance......but I'm no Chevy expert

 

I am in the middle here. Noah is getting the shaft by the inspecting Cop Shop. I pulled that motor out of my 57 which was an assembled car...1982. I have given Noah copies of receipts from rebuilding and maintenance on that motor since 1982. I never noticed that number problem when I bought it and owned it. The car had an assigned Colorado VIN and is tagged as such. It was legally registered and still is. Previous owners and builder were straight Folks. They did not need to buy a shady 500 dollar motor...My guess would be that when the builder, in 1982, got the assigned VIN he put marks over the old numbers to avoid confusion in the future. See how well that worked out? When Noah told me about this I went to the Theft Task Force Office in Denton....now closed. However, the person there said from his experience this confiscation or concern is bogus. He referred me to Wichita Fall Supervisory Office. The Supervisor there had the same WTF comments. Could not even consider a reason for the problem. So, you guessed it....he referred me to the original office which is giving Noah grief. You know how that will go. Here is a picture of the casting number for those of you wondering about it being a 1956.

 

Dude what a dick!! I'M a retired Policeman and also a Hot Rodder I don't understand people like you! He will end up getting his whole car, engine and all with proper documentation! The cop is doing his job! It would be a different story if it were a stolen engine and it happen to be out of your rod WOULDN'T It!!!! NOT all Cops are ASSHOLES, Asshole!

 

So--has this been resolved yet??

 

Statute of limitations applies to the act not the item. A stolen item is the property of the legal owner forever. The thief is clear after a certain time