Buying/Selling Firewall Tags......

[Jonesy]

If a 6 cylinder ended up as an SS396, then the VIN must have been swapped out and that's why that may have ended up in court. The VIN shows 6 or 8 cyl.

[kenham]

Jonesy, I imagine you're right about the vin being changed also, either that or the buyer was not Knowledgeable. Ken

[njsteve]

KENHAM, You're quite right. It also qualifies for Federal Criminal prosecution if it involves VIN fraud. Especially if it is a high dollar car and would make for a good example to show the public. The seller can also be sued in Federal Civil court for money damages if the buyer is in one state and the seller is in another.

[kenham]

Steve, wouldn't GM have some responsibility if it was brought to their attention that the trim tags were being used to defraud buyers and they didn't take action to stop their production, or license their procuction?

[Verne_Frantz]

hep,
I also must reply to this, as the subject is very close to me through my endeavors to help people prove their car is legit.

It is NOT a stretch. I agree with nj steve. The trim tag was never meant to be a "replacable part" on the car. It is the car's birth certificate. Darren also had another good analogy.

Let's say you were born with a short embarrsssing name, so you legally changed your name to Richard Wadsworth. Unfortunately, you can not change your original birth certificate, so you're still Dick Wad.
(no personal offense meant)

The trim tag is not the last "part" to go on the car, to match the rest of the restoration. The restoration should match the trim tag. The reason why some tags are selling for lots of money is because if they are on the car, it "indicates" the car is legit as it appears, and therefore has a much higher value. That increased value is false, therefore fraud has been committed.
Sorry for sounding like a laywer, Steve.

Verne

[Stuart Adams]

Not that my opinion matters much, but here goes - I don't like the idea, something inside me sais it's wrong and not cool. The person must need money real bad to be selling these things.

[hep1966]

[ QUOTE ]
so you're still Dick Wad
(no personal offense meant)


[/ QUOTE ]

Lets say you had the name Dick Wad (no personal offense meant) and could not change it.

[Verne_Frantz]

As I said, there was no personal offense meant. The "you're" was meant "collectively" as anyone trying to change his birth certificate. (or his car's)

But I will also stand by my firm conviction that "in general", anyone who sells, buys or installs a trim tag on a car it's wasn't born with it is a low-life unethical participant in this hobby.

I don't believe you're in that category, since you asked the question whether it would be ok or not. Someone in that category would not ask that question - he'd just do it and keep it to himself.

Verne

[kenham]

Verne, I couldn't have said it better.

[Charley Lillard]

If I was a guy that scrapped a bunch of cars over the years and kept the trim tags as a collection then needed money and decided to sell them, hopefully to someone else that collects them. Any harm in that ?