What do you do about VIN# after major modifications?

You can go to the AAA in CA and ***le cars too, I did.

 

All good advice above but start at your own state's BMV first (hopefully before the major modifications are made and before you get rid of pieces & parts with numbers on them). Only they can tell you what you can do - and what you can't! They are the ones you will ultimately have to deal with!

 

there is nothing wrong with taking the vin off and moving it for restoration purposes.. its just when its done to cover up a no ***le issue that the law gets involved.

 

Just transfer the data plate from the damaged door to the replacement and you are done.

 

Bad advice as far as Oregon. Oregon requires a physical examination of all vehicles transferring ***les into the state. This is a DMV inspection of the tags, and frame numbers, so it wont fly here either.
Oregon is also cracking down on owners with RV's that have PO boxes, as they know a lot of non-residents are using the state to avoid high taxes and registration in their home states. Lots of RV owners getting busted and fined on the news lately.
I'm amazed how many hotrodders begin builds without getting all the legal stuff straight before starting. I know of a number of people here in Oregon who've had issues because they went all out on a build and then in the end began worriying about how to ***le their cars.
When I started my project I took the basic car to DMV on a trailer and had them inspect it. Then I told the inspector what my plans were, and how it would affect the VIN number location. He was great to was great to work with, and asked me to choose a location that wouldn't be affected by the build, and that's where he installed the new Oregon VIN number. Took all of about 15 minutes, and saved me a lot of sleepless nights.

 

If you read the vehicle code, that doesn't work if you're caught. Depends are where you live and who you pay taxes to, California or Montana. CHP even has a web-site to turn in people that register their cars out of state. When caught, you have to pay back registration and taxes from the time you transferred the car into your name. We had a lady in the neighborhood that got caught driving her OT dually. It was registered in Texas but she lived in California. She bought the truck in Texas new. She had to pay back registration for several years.

 

California has nothing to do with it. As you and I stated, in my other post, the door tag is NOT the VIN tag. It is the warranty tag. It doesn't mean squat to the DMV, the cops or anyone else. He cut off the actual VIN and threw it away when he did the frame clip. I really doubt if Texas, or any other state or country for that matter, will allow anyone to remove the LEGAL VIN from their car and not expect some potential problems down the road

 

Triple A of California is "TOPS"... (at least they were several years ago) they cut through the bureaucratic b.s. and actually get things done!

CA DMV is a convoluted mess and one hand doesn't know what the other is doing...!

SEMA pretends to have a grasp on all licensing laws but they have their own agenda (selling "Green Parts" for your Hot Rod!).

Check out AAA in your area.. you might be surprised.

 

Wow! Thanks fellas for the great feedback and helpful advice.
I was starting to having second thoughts about posting this topic.I even asked the Mod's to delete the thread so It wouldn't come around and bite me in the *** for the reasons just like what gtkane mentioned.
The door tag is all I have and it does have the VIN# on it.

 

You know I didn't think it was a big deal and thought no one would ever look.

First show I took the car to had the Jesse White tumblers at it and a personal visit by the secretary of state of the state of Illinois and he had a guy wandering about the show checking tags and yes he did request to see all of my paperwork. It's a tough thing to decide. Sorry you are in this spot.

 

You're right; 70-74 Barracudas and Challengers had the VIN riveted onto the dash pad shell. Then when people started sending their dashpads to a company out west to be re-vacuum covered in vinyl, the company was forced to advertise in BIG letters on their ads that they COULD NOT return a VIN tag if it was accidentally shipped to them. THAT'd be a *****, to have a high dollar car with no VIN tag (of course the VIN is stamped in about ten other places on the unibody, but still...) without the "CHRYSLER CORPORATION" VIN tag up on the dash, who wants THAT car?

If you already have the ***le for the truck and it's in your name, etc. I wouldn't worry about it. In Virginia, the vehicle must be ***led to reflect what the car/truck looks like. I'm putting a 49 Dodge truck body on a 95 Dakota ch***is, but it has to be ***led as a 49 Dodge (even though only the cab, front clip, and bed are from the 49. Everything else is Dakota! (I saved the VIN tag and ***le from the Dakota, just in case.) Weird, I know!

 

My buddy has a 54 chevy truck and he thought the only number was on the block. So when he blew up that 235 he cut the number out of the block and put it in his glove box. hes a nutcase though.

 

^ now that's funny!

 

So many opinions here. Best bet is if you can pop the original rivets out and re-use them. Even if you have to epoxy what's left of them in place, that will do it. They don't inspect it from inside the door, and if they do, you know nothing it came that way. Why Ford put that tag on the door who knows, it's super common to swap out doors.