White-on-white houndstooth '69 with power windows

[scuncio]

Cool car. Would be a looker restored to its original color combo.

http://ebay.to/2gjgxMr

[Jonesy]

Ya too bad its got a LOS body tag and a Norwood VIN. Something aint right here!!


124379N521236

LOS164985

[scuncio]

I totally missed that. Will email the seller and ask if there's a typo in the VIN.

[Jonesy]

Its gonna have to be a big typo because if you change the N to an L in the VIN, its still way off.

[JohnTheobald]

Guys, this is my Camaro. I was just made aware of this today by somebody who noticed the N in the VIN code. I bought this car when I was 17 years old (I'm 47 now). My family flew out to CA from IL with the intention of driving home a 1969 Camaro that I was getting my first loan from a bank to purchase. We didn't have a car in mind, we just flew out and bought a bunch of auto traders and newspapers and spent a week driving all over southern California looking for the perfect one. I was told by the seller that this was an all original 1969 with a 327 and a powerglide...he said the only thing that wasn't original was the red paint and that it was originally white. I still have the ad from the Auto Trader magazine that I've kept for 30 years. Back then I had no knowledge of cowl tags, what the VIN numbers decoded to, etc... this was just a cool car and I bought it. It came with what I assumed was a genuine California pink slip and we drove it back to IL and registered it using the VIN that is in the dash. I still have the original bank papers showing the VIN on the loan documents.

So, after learning about this discrepancy, I located one of the "hidden" VINs up by the passenger side under the upper cowl. The partial VIN located there is 9L509293. Clearly, the two don't match, but the one under the upper cowl would be appropriate for the LOS body tag. I understand there is another VIN behind the A/C blower motor opening, but I'm hesitant to tear that apart to see what it is because it hasn't been apart since I've owned it and I don't want to cause any damage to it.

Afraid that one, or both, of the VINs were from a stolen vehicle, I ran both of them through the NICB stolen car database and came up with nothing. I also checked at the CheckThatVin.com site for a history and nothing. Carfax was also useless because they only go back to 1981. I've even contacted a friend of mine who is an Illinois State Trooper and he's running both VINs through their Motor Theft Task Force to see if they can find out anything about them.

If anybody here has any suggestions on how I can get definitive information on the origins of both VINs, I'd love to hear them. I've owned this car since 1986 and the whole time had absolutely no idea there was a discrepancy between the VIN # and the Cowl tag...never had a reason to care.

All that being said, it's still a very cool car with a rare set of options, and I totally agree...it would look pretty awesome restored back to the original Dover White.

My 12 year old told me he'd be just fine if I end up keeping it. Let him worry about the mismatched VIN numbers after I'm dead!

[427TJ]

Originally Posted by JohnTheobald

My 12 year old told me he'd be just fine if I end up keeping it. Let him worry about the mismatched VIN numbers after I'm dead!

Since you've had the car that long without any VIN issues why not keep it and restore it with your son? He'd remember that for the rest of his life. They're only kids once and you could teach him some valuable skills.

[JohnTheobald]

Well, that's the problem. We just moved from IL to AZ 3 months ago and our new home doesn't have the garage space to keep it. Our daily drivers are sitting in the driveway (against the stupid commie HOA rules) because the Camaro is in the garage. However, that may be what I end up doing...going to look for a place where I can store it and work on it.

[Lynn]

Sorry about your troubles. Guessing you ran the vin as 124379L509293? Just to be safe, might have your buddy also run 123379L509293. It isn't LIKELY, but is POSSIBLE it started life as a six banger, and was converted when the previous owner swapped the vin. He may have used the drivetrain from the donor, and used the VIN to cover up that it started life as a six.

Might check the rivets on the VIN to see if they are rosette rivets. PO may have used the entire dash panel from the "donor" car.

Once both possible VIN's are checked out, and you know for certain the car is not a stolen car, it should be possible to get a State assigned VIN. Either way, you should probably pull the ebay ad for now. If you decide to sell after correcting the VIN issue, you can re-list.

Personally, if you still have the auto trader ad, that means you can most likely find the PO, if he is still alive. Most fraud transaction statutes of limitations don't begin to run until the fraud is discovered. Whoever swapped the VIN tag committed a crime, as well as perpetrating a fraud upon you.

Good luck.

[Billohio]

I notice in Ohio that it is unusual to see an LA car. How unusual would it be to come up with a Norwood VIN out there?

[PeteLeathersac]

'

Sorry to read of your troubles too but welcome here John!
Do you have or know what CA plate was registered to the car also the Prev' Owner's phone # from the old ad?
Best of luck sorting things out!
[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]
~ Pete