Holy Shit. Another reason I will never leave my State. Everywhere else be whack!
That is messed up!
He’s been caught driving a car where the vehicle VIN is not the original attachment, and doesn’t match the engine VIN either.
In my state, cars which don’t meet current safety regulations are only permitted if they meet regulations at time of manufacture, as shown by original VIN,
And in my state, you are not permitted to re-birth stolen cars by taking the VIN from a wrecked car and gluing it onto a stolen car.
For both reasons, evidence that the VIN plate has been removed (from somewhere) and stuck onto the car would make the car unregisterable and unroadworthy.
It sounds like they would have given him some slack if the engine had been evidence that the chassis VIN matched any part of the car on the road.
That’s why he started crying.
Interesting that the AG, Derek Schmidt, is not going to intervene. If this story gets legs, that move could backfire on Schmidt. He’s the presumptive GOP nominee for the governor’s race in 2022, when he will run against incumbent Democrat Laura Kelly. Perfect time for Kelly to say something in defense of the car owner, methinks.
Maybe I missed it, but how did the police find out about the incorrect rivets on the VIN plate, or that the VIN numbers on the body and engine didn’t match? Does Kansas run spot checks on vehicles for this sort of thing?
I would guess, as does the guy in the link provided by @kanicbird, that the title that he received was not a clear title. Then when he went to license the car in Kansas, that triggered an inspection of the vehicle.
Again, a guess on my part. But Kansas certainly doesn’t run spot checks on vehicles for non-matching VINs.
Mod note: It is poor form to post a link without any summary or discussion. This is not a formal warning, just a note.
Engine VIN not matching the chassis VIN is hardly unusual in cars of that age. In fact, “numbers matching” cars of that age are worth considerably more just because of their relative rarity.
This sounds like a case of a law, that at one time was created because it made sense, now has the unintended consequence of shafting this poor guy.
IANAL. Can someone explain what scenario(s) does this law make sense? I can’t think of any. Is it simply that in Kansas your car has to have matching numbers (engine and tranny)? If so then I’d think there’d be an exception for classic cars. Numbers often don’t match.
Also, what happened that led to the car being impounded? The OP video didn’t explain that. Was it that the incorrect rivets were a flag for the state inspector to delve deeper, and then s/he found that the numbers don’t match? I find it hard to believe, unless that Kansas inspector was a classic Vette specialist, that they would recognize the improper rivets.
Ridiculous situation! I feel for the owner.
My assumption is that the intent is to prevent someone from taking a stolen car, swapping the VIN plate with one from a junkyard, and selling it.
Makes sense. If that is the intent then the AG really should intervene here.
I assume he shared pics of his new baby on social media or on lookatmyvintagecorvette dot com, as most people would, including the VIN plate of course, and Somebody decided to denounce the offending rivets to the authorities.
It’s particularly poor form when the link is to a video. At least if it’s to text, it generally takes just a few seconds to figure out whether it’s worth continuing to read.
Likely.
Maybe the VIN was even wrong, like for a 1959 Chevy Impala and that would be easy to spot (on social media) for the classic Chevy people. VINs are formatted where the first characters denote make and model.
And as always there is more to the story than what’s in the news reports. The guy could have bought a bad car that someone was selling off. If that is the case then, alas, it’s buyer beware. The giy should have done his homework.
The thing that blows me away is the impounding and destruction. Sure, Kansas can tell the guy, “Sorry. No title or registration for you. You better tow it back home or get a hefty ticket”.
But impounding the vehicle seems like State-sanctioned theft.
OK, someone please explain to me why a vehicle would ever have a changed VIN, and why that would ever be legitimate?
Maybe not Corvettes. but…
You’ve got a classic real muscle car - lots of options, good package. but over the years it’s totally rusted, has had several accidents and is in general a complete pile of junk.
But it is something rare, like an AAR cuda. So what you do is buy a nice condition 70 Barracuda for a lot less money than an AAR goes for, and (in a sense) unbolt the VIN plate and lift it up, slide out the old car, slide in the good car, and lower the old VIN plate on the new car.
I mean, it’s George Washington’s axe. How many parts from the car can you replace before it’s a different car? You can get almost all new metal for classic cars. You can practically build one from a catalog. If you can replace an engine, or a fender, or a roof, or a frame rail, why not the dash piece that the VIN attaches to? As long as you don’t try to sell the twisted pile of metal as an original AAR Cuda, is it really a “crime”?
I’d read once, unverified, that, if you count all still flying Bell 47s, and add the number of wrecked aircraft, the total is more than were ever made. “The aircraft was a complete loss, but the data plate continued to fly.”