47-59 Lost title and can't find VIN, 55 Cameo

[mr48chev]

You would have to go through the process in California to get an assigned vin. That is probably the best way with the tag on the door post missing anyhow. That with copies of the paperwork From the California DMV on the assigned vin in your 3 ring binder on the truck = papers in page savers to be easily available should get you across the border. You can get non opt on the paperwork from Cali and that doesn't mean anything in anyplace else. it's still a clear title in your name.

At this point I am going to suggest contacting a vintage car title processing outfit (One of the legitimate ones listed here or one closer to where the truck is) and ask how to proceed correctly. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...#post-15317830


If you haven't done so already and didn't totally clean the truck out when you bought it I would be going through every nook and cranny in the cab looking for any item with the vin on it. Old registration slip, old insurance card are two. Door post tag tossed in the glove box or in a box that came with the truck or under the seat. Have someone get in under and behind the seat and look for anything with that vin on it. Even the old license plate might be an aid in the right hands for research.


If the original engine block is in the truck it still may have been titled as the engine serial number being the vin number.

[dsraven]

there are ways to raise the stampings using the techniques that a police forensic department would use.
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/f...number.203569/

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by dsraven

there are ways to raise the stampings using the techniques that a police forensic department would use.
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/f...number.203569/

Currently for him that might be best left to the pros. He most likely isn't able to get in there and do any cleaning himself at this time and outside of mild cleaning and possibly using paint remover to clean the top of the rail I wouldn't get carried away with various methods. If the truck is in the Redding area do we have any other member Close enough to Redding who can help for a couple of hours. Being in the wheel chair he physically can't do some of the simple things that the rest of us take for granted and that might include looking in the nooks and crannies of the cab for anything with that vin on it. He may also not have anyone available who can help do the search.

Also Michelle at Auburn Auto registration service may know someone she trusts who is a lot closer to the truck that can do the inspection.

[unclebrad]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

It looks like there is a number there.

Be very careful about cleaning it or when someone else cleans it as those numbers are easy to erase if it is done wrong. It shouldn't take much more than a good stiff old tooth brush or one of those brass bristle brushes that come in the pack at HF or other places.

Agreed.

[dsraven]

Yup, I actually just posted that stuff so the OP would have a few ideas to work with. Being in a wheelchair really puts a damper on doing stuff that's easy for most. A pro from a police dept could likely help if one could be found that is interested in that sort of thing.
Getting someone to clean and check the area first would really help. The commute is a killer for me.

[mr48chev]

The trouble with having an officer or dmv check this one is that without the door post tag they might redflag it. That may be the deal killer on the whole deal. The private agent can state that the vin is damaged, not readable and process it for an assigned vin number.

We had a guy in Cali with a truck that had had the door post tag removed for paint and was pop riveted back in place that didn't pass Cali inspection and then was red flagged in the system on a similar inspection. That is one reason that I have harped on do not remove the door post tags on AD and TF trucks to keep them clean when you paint the truck and do not have NEW door post tags stamped and replace the old scruffy looking ones on AD trucks as it will burn your buns in the long run.

[leegreen]

A non operable title 'may' translate to a dismantle only title on import to Canada. Something to check on.

Don't crush it! Put an ad in marketplace for $500 and you will have people lining up. At least it will get reused / parted / dreamed over

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by leegreen

A non operable title 'may' translate to a dismantle only title on import to Canada. Something to check on.

Don't crush it! Put an ad in marketplace for $500 and you will have people lining up. At least it will get reused / parted / dreamed over

Non op in Cali is so you don't have to pay back registrations for the years that you didn't tag it. Cali guys get burned on that all the time including when they buy a car that hasn't been tagged for several years but doesn't have non opt.

Agreed that he may better off to register it and have plates on it with current tabs. Another expense but nice up to date tabs might mean something at the border.

Worst case, strip the parts off and haul everything but the bare empty cab to Canada as parts with a bill of sale . That might not be doable though.

Personally I would be going through every drawer, box and file cabinet that I might have stuck the paperwork in piece by piece. When My aunt gave me my 71 GMC they had filed for a lost title several years before when they couldn't find the title and when they were cleaning out the house to move to Mississippi and going through drawers piece by piece they found the original title with my uncle's name on it that I now have even though now it is only a nostalgia piece for me as it tells when my uncle got the truck.

[DarksideDave]

Found it! I had to first propane torch then sand the frame paint off but there it is!

[leegreen]

there should be another 3 or 4 digits?

[Lokin4AReason]

sweet baby jelly bean s

awesome news

seems like that are additional letter s/ number s behind the 0 s

either way , glad you are having positive result s in obtaining a title

[dsraven]

that really shows well, super glad you found it. hopefully you didn't strain yourself in doing so and possibly had some help.
curious, and don't feel compelled to answer, but what caused the wheelchair use, how mobile are you, can you drive the cameo once it is driveable?

[dsraven]

carefull with that torch and have a hose or extinguisher ready. you can't outwheel a fire. doing the torch stuff outside is obviously the right place, just in case. as a structural firefighter in Calgary I can say I have been to a lot of house fires caused by car fires in the attached garage or carport.
be carefull, have help if you can. keep a hose and a phone handy
post up more pics and info as you get it. I also think there are more digits waiting for your time and effort. I really hope you get a title without too much issue or expense.

[dsraven]

how long till you do the move back to Canada?

[unclebrad]

Definitely more numbers behind those, or we have a problem...
;-)

[mr48chev]

That should have been the 154999th truck off the line at that plant that year but isn't a Vin.

Personally I am at the point where I have to believe that it is a lot cause to try to get that truck titled as it sits. The honest way would be to buy a bare cab with door post tag not disturbed with proper paperwork for said cab up to and including a bill of sale for a Cameo truck as is where is as long as the cab was for a 3100. Serial numbers only indicate the size of the truck and a 1/2 ton cab is a 1/2 ton cab.

The other option and you won't like it is strip every thing off the truck down to the bare cab and bare frame and haul it to BC as parts with a bill of sale for parts. Then buy a big window truck in BC or Washington with a title and build your Cameo. You could probably take every piece except the actual cab shell without too much hassles with bills of sale for the body parts and a bill of sale for the frame.

[unclebrad]

My frame stamp and door tag have the same number, except for the "H" added to the door tag, and that is the VIN on my registration and pink.

[mr48chev]

Looking at Daves again his frame number reads 255 as the model year O for Oakland and the unit number. That might be enough. H prefix would be 3100.

That is well worth a try.

[Second Series]

I had looked for the frame stamping on my '55 before and couldn't find it. Somehow this thread really helped and I was able to finally see it on my truck. My truck was also from the Oakland plant with the fourth digit being an O followed by a 0. I find it curious that Unclebrad has the O 0 on the frame stamping, but the door tag shows 00.

[unclebrad]

Good catch.
No idea about why it would be that way though.