Re: vin locations

Hi

I am looking at a nova that was started as a project car. The owner stripped the car quite far, including the vin tag. The problem is they have lost it. Is there anywhere else on the car I can find the vin?

Thanks

On my 70 there is one on the right side of the firewall behind the heater box.

Steve

You have to remove the heater box to see them, there are two.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g231/dans71/Novaheaterboxvin2.jpg

thanks for your quick replies

The number on your cowl looked short, is it the full vin, or just the sequential number?

The number on the cowl in the engine bay is NOT the vin. On my 70 it was located on the driver side dash stamped in.

The numbers under the heater box matched the vin on my car, but it was not the complete vin. I don't think the complete vin is stamped on the car. In any case you will not be able to put the car on the road or insure it unless you have the vin. You may be able to request a replacement Vin through your DMV if you have the title and can prove the number sequence match with the firewall numbers, but I've never heard of anyone doing it this way. What you will probably have to do if you do it completely legal is re vin the car as reconstructed. The other options would be using a Vin from a parts car, or finding someone who happens to still have the vin from a car they cut apart. Technically it is a little shady to just sell a vin tag by itself or even do a vin tag swap from a parts car, but the paperwork, fees, and wait time to get a new reconstructed vin from the DMV can be daunting to the guy trying to build on a budget or wants to get the car on the road in a short amount of time.

There is a legal way to rebody the car you'll have to ask your local DMV what all is involved.It is a little different here.It might not be worth buying.I would do research at DMV to see how easy or difficult it is to do.

hmm... I hope this guy can come up with a vin... otherwise it may be too much of a hassle to even bother with

Call your State Highway Department, they usually take care of these issues.
Normally, if you can prove the car is what it is by the hidden VIN numbers, they should give you a new VIN tag. It does not look like the original though.
Anyway, call first before you buy unless it's an excellent parts car.

Even if it is a good parts car you may have trouble getting rid of whats left to a junk yard if you can't match a title to a vin. I would ask some of the salvage yards about it as well as dmv. Some states won't let the salvage yards take junk cars without the proper paperwork.