Trim Tag: none at all or repro?

[Lynn]

Original quote said "It was lost somehow in an engine fire many years ago before those kinds of things were important." Obviously you are just repeating what you have been told, so no one is trying to hold your feet to the fire (no pun intended) on the previous statement, but Verne is on the money. I remember a very small carb fire on my 57 Chevy that ruined the paint on the hood, but caused no other damage (air cleaner was not installed as I was test driving it). Now, the hood could have been off the car, but still, heat serious enough to damage a trim tag would have caused some other serious damage. Perhaps the paint is just very old, but not original.

Back to the original question: I would still leave it off if it were my car.

Lynn

[chavist93]

The paint is original. I chemically stripped every panel myself by hand. I dont really care how the trim tag got missing, that is not the issue. I bought the car about 6 years ago knowing it didnt have it. This car is for personal enjoyment only as I had one for my first car in 1970. Times would have to get really rough for me to sell this one. I was told the fire story last year during the proces of finding the origial owner. The second owner from 20+ years ago told me this and he had no reason to lie. That aside, looks like most would just leave it off. Although i'm sure 99.9% of the people around here at local show wouldnt know the diff. between a real one and a fake one. Is there any way to estimate the body sequence # for the trim tag by the vin#?

[njsteve]

It's not as crazy as it sounds: if, after the fire, the previous owner pulled the tag off the firewall to get someone to decypher the paint code, it's a plausible possibility. I bring this up because years ago I checked out a 426 Hemi Charger Daytona that had its VIN plate peeled off of its dash with a screw driver. It ripped about 1/4 of the tag off. Why did someone do this you ask???? In early 1969 there was a paperwork discrepency with the Charger 500s and Daytonas. The VINs start with XX29 on a 500 and Daytona versus XS29 on a Charger R/T. After the cars left the factory, local motor vehicle offices started noticing the discrepency with cars showing the actual XX29 VIN plates but the manufacturer's paperwork showing XS29. On the Daytona I looked at, an owner somewhere along the line ran into this DMV problem and instead of trailering the car to the DMV inspector to show them and explain it was just a typographical error on the title, he used a screw driver and pried off the entire VIN plate. You can imagine the response he got at the DMV. He was lucky to leave the DMV with his original VIN in hand, normally they would have confiscated it. But now, 20 or 30 years later, the car has a torn up VIN plate and a bizarre, though true explanation. Maybe something ridiculously similar happened here?

[Verne_Frantz]

Yes, Steve, there might be a number of "crazy" reasons why someone would remove a trim tag. But if we stick to the evidence, it's been stated that it was removed due to an engine fire.

Now, as to providing advice to an estimated body number based on the VIN to make a recreated cowl tag look more authentic, I would hope that would bother every true hobbyiest's conscience.

The cowl tag is NOT a restoration part. Some cars have good luck and they retain their original features - some have bad luck and they don't. That's just the way it is. None of us are entitled to recreate history.

Sorry, nothing personal intended. I just have very strong feelings that so-called "reproduction" cowl tags have an an extremely negative effect in this hobby I love.

[hep1966]

How about using a factory original cowl tag from the same assembly plant. It would have to be correctly date coded of course. It's done all the time with engines, transmissions, rears, alternators, distributors, wheels, glass, etc. If the car were to be sold as having date correct components, then a replaced trim tag or alternator would be OK. Reproduction door tags with VINs seem to be OK with many people. Why is the trim tag so evil?

[Lynn]

Verne, you want this one?

Lynn

[hep1966]

Is Verne the master of trim tags?

[Belair62]

No he's just honest...

[RamAirDave]

The tag may have been lost due to the engine fire incident, but maybe not by the fire itself. Maybe during the repairs under the hood, the cowl tag was removed by the body shop when repairing/repainting the firewall. Ive seen it happen.

Of course, this is just a suggestion of a possibility, nothing more. Regardless the reason, the tag is gone, so maybe it doesnt matter.

As far as the trim/VIN tag swap question asked earlier in this thread, someone else can take care of that one.

dave

[chavist93]

I definately dont want to use a cowl tag from another car as someone suggested. Like I said the car was absolutely all original and if I were to get a new tag it would reflect EXACTLY how the car came from the factory. I have documtational photos of the whole restoration process so this is not about trying to hide or make up something. The chassis and engine/trand/rear are all done and back together and the car body is in the paint shop right now being done back to nantucket blue.