title legality questin.

[4bangen]

I see in the 70's muscle car world people refer to a rare car that has been "rebodied". I asume that means the car has the original frame, but another cars body. My question is is this posible to do with unibody cars? Say an 86 hatch is beyond repair, could one legaly swap everything over to a coupe shell and still use the hatch vin? I know I could do it and most likely "get away with it", but I'm not one to risk such things. I'd like to do it on the up and up.
Thanks,

[Pro88LX]

i dont think that is legal.

[War Machine]

its legal as long as you do not remove the vin from the body or frame

[Lason]

Im assuming your talking about switching VIN tags if you want to use the hatch title with the coupe body and that is a big "no no". The muscle car guys arent supposed to be doing it either but they do all the time.

The only people allowed to mess with the VIN tags is the DMV and they wont swap them either. At best they will issue a new VIN tag and matching title after you jump through alot of hoops. Even then you will have a re-vin'd vehicle which will look very fishy to future owners of the car.

[4bangen]

its legal as long as you do not remove the vin from the body or frame

How does that work? Even on the older cars if you put a new body on the vin would be off the new body.

[4bangen]

Im assuming your talking about switching VIN tags if you want to use the hatch title with the coupe body and that is a big "no no". The muscle car guys arent supposed to be doing it either but they do all the time.

The only people allowed to mess with the VIN tags is the DMV and they wont swap them either. At best they will issue a new VIN tag and matching title after you jump through alot of hoops. Even then you will have a re-vin'd vehicle which will look very fishy to future owners of the car.

That makes more sence. It sounds like the only way to do it is let the hatch die and get a title for the coupe. Thanks for the info.

[Lason]

How does that work? Even on the older cars if you put a new body on the vin would be off the new body.

are you talking about the new bodies being sold out of catalogs? People buy those things up and put VIN's on them from rusted heaps and that is a VERY illegal but proving it happened is the problem.

If your talking about people swapping the frames and bodies around of exisitng cars then that is legal. The title stays with the VIN tag though which is usually on the body but sometimes just the dash itself.

[Pro88LX]

its legal as long as you do not remove the vin from the body or frame

So then the answer to his question would be that it is illegal, correct?

[War Machine]

So then the answer to his question would be that it is illegal, correct?

indeed

[4bangen]

are you talking about the new bodies being sold out of catalogs? People buy those things up and put VIN's on them from rusted heaps and that is a VERY illegal but proving it happened is the problem.

If your talking about people swapping the frames and bodies around of exisitng cars then that is legal. The title stays with the VIN tag though which is usually on the body but sometimes just the dash itself.

My exact situation is as such, I have wrecked svo with a title, and a coupe that was traded out of a junkyard(bound for the crusher). The car didn't come with a title. I was wondering if there was a way to swap enough parts from the svo to the coupe to legaly make it "the svo". It was just a thought, don't intend on reselling the car, just racing it. But it would be nice to be able to drive it to the track.
And I like the idea of having an svo coupe.

[War Machine]

you can do a bonded title on the car without the title. Its easier than you think

[Pro88LX]

indeed

thats what i thought. I know on cars with frames the process is legal, or can be legal.

you can do a bonded title on the car without the title. Its easier than you think

As long as its not from out of state. (in reference to the ease part)

[4bangen]

Cool ill look in to that. Id heard its easy and I've heard its a pain.

[stevo]

I have heard of people cutting the section from the cowl surrounding the vin tag, and welding it to the other car's body, which is technically not removing the vin tag, but I am very sure this is just as illegal.

Stevo

[95DRGT]

I have a similar situation. Restoring a 83 silverado over the next few years for my step son. The cab is badly rusted and was thinking about getting another cab to replace it.