VIN tag # vs title # question

[WIDESIDE72]

I looked at a 72 c10 for sale today, and ran across something i have never seen before. The seller said he bought a rusty swb stepside for the swb chassis. The story is he scrapped the cab on it and installed the cab from a lwb truck onto this chassis. The VIN tag started off "CE142..." But the title read "CE132...". All of the subsequent numbers (unique sequence numbers) match. Has anyone ever seen this? Should i be concerned? Should I ask the seller to get a corrected title? He said he didnt have the title to the
Swb truck. It has a different number stamped on the frame by the steering box. The engine is out of yet another truck with a unique number. ???

[liftlawssuck]

As far as nothing is original that's up to you as to what you want the truck for. There isn't anything on my truck that's original. New frame and has had 2 different cabs on it and everything in between. But the bottom line is the title has to match the VIN no matter what cab is on it. So yes he should correct the title or get a title for the cab he put on it.

[WIDESIDE72]

I checked online and the "3" indicates a cab and chassis and a "4" indicates a pickup. The SPID label matches the VIN tag.

[WIDESIDE72]

I can get the truck pretty cheap, but i am worried about it being a "Frankenstein". If i buy it and ask the Texas DPS for an inspection, im afraid all of the different numbers will throw up too many red flags.

[WIDESIDE72]

Originally Posted by liftlawssuck

As far as nothing is original that's up to you as to what you want the truck for. There isn't anything on my truck that's original. New frame and has had 2 different cabs on it and everything in between. But the bottom line is the title has to match the VIN no matter what cab is on it. So yes he should correct the title or get a title for the cab he put on it.

The seller said he has owned the lwb truck for some tiMe and bought it with the vin discrepancy. As i mentioned, the last six numbers, or however many it is, match on the vin tag and title. The only issue is the "3" vs "4" between the vin tag and title.

[liftlawssuck]

It sounds like it is a Frankenstein. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Like I said nothing is original on mine and no numbers match. Other than the VIN matches the title. The SPID means nothing other than what options it came with. That's just a sticker on the glove box. Maybe it's just a typo as it is tough to think he got 2 different trucks with VIN off by 1 number and the rest is the same. Not sure what the laws are where you are but here the VIN on the title has to match the VIN tag on cab. You could always check the VIN on frame to see if it comes back with a discrepancy. Then you would know the frame is ok. Still have an issue with the title not matching though. Hope this helps.

[WIDESIDE72]

Originally Posted by liftlawssuck

It sounds like it is a Frankenstein. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Like I said nothing is original on mine and no numbers match. Other than the VIN matches the title. The SPID means nothing other than what options it came with. That's just a sticker on the glove box. Maybe it's just a typo as it is tough to think he got 2 different trucks with VIN off by 1 number and the rest is the same. Not sure what the laws are where you are but here the VIN on the title has to match the VIN tag on cab. You could always check the VIN on frame to see if it comes back with a discrepancy. Then you would know the frame is ok. Still have an issue with the title not matching though. Hope this helps.

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[WIDESIDE72]

As mentioned above "it has a different number stamped on the frame by the steering box." He said he pulled the cab off of a lwb truck that he owned for years and unstalled ut in a swb frame he bought as a complete eusty truck with no title.
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[SS Tim]

These are generated numbers but illustrate the concept.

Door plate. CE142Z100001 a pickup either body style

Title...... CE132Z100001 a chassis cab

Since any assembly plant only used a sequence number (last six) once a year one, of the above numbers would be a typo. Since the plate is stamped at the factory and the DMV was involved in the other, guess which I believe.

So based on what you have told us it was a pickup cab, provided it has the correct and unaltered rivets. The title is simply a case of an errant character.

If you had the original frame the frame number would be in this case 2Z100001.

In any event the engine was not VIN coded. If there is a VIN code on the engine (below the engine assembly code) it came from a car or a later vehicle.

What you do is up to you. But technically that title does not match the VIN plate/SPID and should be corrected. However it may be an easy "no problem" to a full blown vehicle inspection and verification. If it were my money I would not pay more than parts prices without a valid correct title.

On a final note all 72 VIN should be preceeded by a C (Chevy) or a T (GMC). So a Chevy would be in this example case CCE142Z1000001. Hopefully you just dropped the first character in your original posting.

[BLT gmc]

I have a similar one digit discrepancy on a parts truck i bought. My situation was different than yours, as i was parting it. But I believe cause was probably the same. Human error, punching the one digit wrong. I would discuss this with the DMV in person, before the purchase and keep track of names and their advise. Bruce
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[volksworld]

i'd ask the owner to go to the dmv and get a duplicate title with the misprint corrected...that way if the s hits the fan he still owns it, not you

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by SS Tim

These are generated numbers but illustrate the concept.

Door plate. CE142Z100001 a pickup either body style

Title...... CE132Z100001 a chassis cab

Since any assembly plant only used a sequence number (last six) once a year one, of the above numbers would be a typo. Since the plate is stamped at the factory and the DMV was involved in the other, guess which I believe.

So based on what you have told us it was a pickup cab, provided it has the correct and unaltered rivets. The title is simply a case of an errant character.

If you had the original frame the frame number would be in this case 2Z100001.

In any event the engine was not VIN coded. If there is a VIN code on the engine (below the engine assembly code) it came from a car or a later vehicle.

What you do is up to you. But technically that title does not match the VIN plate/SPID and should be corrected. However it may be an easy "no problem" to a full blown vehicle inspection and verification. If it were my money I would not pay more than parts prices without a valid correct title.

On a final note all 72 VIN should be preceeded by a C (Chevy) or a T (GMC). So a Chevy would be in this example case CCE142Z1000001. Hopefully you just dropped the first character in your original posting.

Joining late but for what it's worth I concurr with Tim.

Said differently: There might be multiple VIN sequences in use per plant (one for Chevy, one for GMC, one for Cadillac, for example) but once that sequential number is used in a model year per plant - it's gone. It won't come up again.

That is a control which is in place to make sure that there are never two vehicles produced with the same VIN (a Federal regulatory requirement).

That means any discrepancy in the prefix portion of the VIN is a straight up typo or transcription error. It should be fixed and the logical person to get that done would be the current owner.

K

[jdalexa84]

My truck is a 71 and Texas keyed it in as a 1981 which is a 17 digit vin. I would call the local Tax office and see what they tell you about it or the Txdot office on Parmer rd in Austin and talk to them.

[1968aj]

last week I looked at a truck in Harlingen texas. it was a nice looking truck that is on craigslist. the vin tag was one he had engraved at a local jewelery store. somehow he has been driving it like this for 3 years. never titled in texas and had a Missouri title.i was about to buy it when I saw the homemade vin tag I got in my truck and drove 350 miles back home.

[72 Super]

I would definetly want the title to match. If you are interested I would have the current owner have this taken care of. It will be really hectic for you or someone else to have to deal with later on.

Ray

[67ChevyRedneck]

I've had to have the title corrected on two different vehicles.

When I moved to SC the DMV changed a "5" to an "S" which I didn't notice until years later. I brought the title and pics of my vin and glovebox to DMV and was polite with the DMV person, explained the error, and got a new title.

The other was a pain in the butt... I had a budget for a first gen mustang... found a rust free original Ford panels car (which after a year of looking I determined is damn near impossible on my side of the country) so I went a good bit above budget and took out a small loan. Paid it off a few months later and wanted my title. DMV wouldn't release it to me because they didn't match. After weeks of going back and forth it was finally determined on their paperwork someone put an "O" where a zero should have been, which wasn't really noticable on a printout, but the computer was picking it up as a discrepancy? Finally got that taken care of.

My point? It happens, so he should be able to get it cleared up with an hour or so at the DMV.

Get the current owner to take care of it. If he wants to get paid, he needs to do some legwork. Also, check that frame out really good... if the body was scrapped because of rust, I'd want to take a close look at the frame. Check the crossmember connections, especially in the back, it may have been a "northern" truck.

[special-K]

Once, I cancelled my insurance, went to turn in the tags, and they wouldn't accept them because they weren't issued to me. All that time I had the tags of the next in line or one before. I had to go to the main DMV to sort it out. They can make mistakes, GM better not!

[briank]

In Illinois all you would have to do is have a vin verification form filled out and signed by a law enforcement officer noting the discrepancy. Thats about the only title error in Illinois that is a relatively easy fix. You send that form in with the title for a transfer and get the corrected title with the new owners name.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by special-K

They can make mistakes, GM better not!

Ten years ago I would have fought tooth and nail to say that no VIN errors made it out of the assembly plant. It is a Federal requirement that the VIN is correct, and unique, and we put a lot of effort into making sure that was the case.

With the advent of the internet, though, I've seen so many that there is no denying that mistakes got out.

From a previous thread:

The VIN stamper is a large hydraulic "press" hanging from a tool rail and with the weight offset by a "balancer" (imagine a Harley-Davidson hanging from the ceiling that you are supposed to maneuver into position and activate the turn signal). It is supposed to index to the next digit automatically -but - if you mis hit or get out of sequence for some reason then you have to make a repair. Chevy and GMC have different VIN sequence numbers, requiring different stampers hanging there, so if the operator grabs the wrong press and stamps a Chevy VIN on a GMC, for example, then not only is that particular truck wrong but you are out of sequence on every truck after that.

The assembly line repair person and/or the "quality man" (the foreman's right hand man) follow the vehicles down the line with an "X" stamp and a 5 lb hammer and correct the VIN sequence number as required.

Usually it's not just one truck. It normally takes several trucks before somebody notices, so you'll have five or six trucks that have to be fixed - all without the line stopping - it's quite a scramble for a few minutes while you figure out what went wrong and what has to happen to make it right. You pray nothing else goes to crap while you've got your two best guys otherwise unavailable.

In all that confusion it is easy to imagine how one truck every now and then could slip through.

K