Strange Vin ?

[Vikingvette]

Hi !

I´m a very confused Swedish Corvette owner! (pardon my bad English)

A year ago i imported a 1968 convertible to Sweden from a yunkyard in Nevada, and i have two questions that you maybe can help me with.

1. What should i do if i want to find out the history of the car, i think it could be interesting, You get the feeling "weird and cool" when you look at the vette, the vette is very low, wide and turbocharged.

2. Could someone please help me with the strange vin code, i can´t get it right.
I found the number at the left side of the front window. I have also looked at the frame but i cant find any number. However, the number is: 124378L304291.


Please help me:confused

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

I believe that your VIN tag is from an 8 cylinder 1968 Camaro coupe built in Van Nuys California..

 

[Billybeau1]

That aint good. Do you have a title and what is the vin reported on that?

 

[jdp6000]

Definitely from a 68 Camaro

Jim

 

[Space Cowboy]

What about the number on the block itself. Doesn't that basically define its own history as well?

 

[Billybeau1]

What about the number on the block itself. Doesn't that basically define its own history as well?

If its the original engine? Who knows, 68 was a long time ago. Sound to me like either it's a vette that was stolen or damaged at some point and had the vin changed or its really a 68 camero :confused

 

[Vikingvette]

Gulp !!! Sh..t.... i have bought a camaro, it sure looks like a Corvette.
5 minutes later-
Yes, i have a title on the car from the Swedish goverment wich says: Chevrolet Corvette Convertible 1968 vin code: 124378L304291. The car is inported and registered with this information in Sweden.
The Vette was found in Nevada at a Cadillac yunkyard and was unregistered at the time and to be able to get the car out of The USA they had to get the car a title.
Could someone mixed with the numbers if the origin title was missing?
In Sweden the car is allready "pre registered" and have a title so it´s cool for me. But it makes one wonder??

Now i´m going down to the garage looking for an origin vin number on the frame, i´ve allready read in another post were it could be stamped.
I´ll be back / Worried viking

 

[Billybeau1]

Gulp !!! Sh..t.... i have bought a camaro, it sure looks like a Corvette.
5 minutes later-

I'm glad you have a sense of humor. My intent was not to insult your intelligence. I just find this very interesting. I too was wondering if the number is stamped somewhere else on the car.

 

[Vikingvette]

No No... i was writing my message when your reply came in, my english is pretty slow in writing, i was joking but not on your expence. I think the whole situation with the vett is worth a joke. A missunderstanding caused by my bad English, sorry.

 

[craig32]

Viking,
Do you have a photo of the car you could post here? We'll tell you what it is
Craig

 

[Jack]

Gulp !!! Sh..t.... i have bought a camaro, it sure looks like a Corvette.
5 minutes later-
Yes, i have a title on the car from the Swedish goverment wich says: Chevrolet Corvette Convertible 1968 vin code: 124378L304291. The car is inported and registered with this information in Sweden.
The Vette was found in Nevada at a Cadillac yunkyard and was unregistered at the time and to be able to get the car out of The USA they had to get the car a title.
Could someone mixed with the numbers if the origin title was missing?
In Sweden the car is allready "pre registered" and have a title so it´s cool for me. But it makes one wonder??

Now i´m going down to the garage looking for an origin vin number on the frame, i´ve allready read in another post were it could be stamped.
I´ll be back / Worried viking

Swapping VIN plates is an old (and illegal) trick here in USA ... and thankfully, one that has nearly disappeared intra-USA. I smell a rat, and would not be surprised if the seller AND their confederate at their local (NV?) DMV knew to sweep it under Sweden's rug. I don't suggest ever attempting to title/register this car in USA ... it MIGHT pass through initial phase ... but all USA DMV's have an audit process that have real potential to catch it. I'm not saying the vette or the camaro were stolen ... although it's certainly possible ... but the paperwork IS "dirty" and likely invalid by USA standards. I hope that NV yard doesn't know of an offshore buyer who wants a car like mine ... and glad my car ain't anywhere near that yard in NV.
JACK:gap

 

[red70vette]

Unlike to previous poster I would bet that the vette is either stolen or built with parts from several cars. The only reason to put a Camaro vin tag on a Corvette is to create an identity for a car whose original identity is compromised. In either case selling that car to an overseas buyer is a great solution to what could be a problem here in the States.

As stated US DMV's know what those VIN#'s mean so if that car was titled here it would have a registration that read Camaro and the first cop that stopped you would suspect foul play.

Chop shops here in the States will take a vin tag from a wrecked car at a junk yard and put it on a stolen car or build a car from many cars and use a wrecked vin tag. Usually they take the tag from a similar car otherwise they won't fool anybody and end up in jail.

I would advise this junkyard of your suspisions and demand your money back or threaten to go to the Police and US Customs. With that vin tag the car is not worth anything to anyone who knows these cars and will only come back to haunt you in the end.

 

[Vikingvette]

Sounds quite likely that any of your guesses could be true, when i am working on the car i get a feeling that every bolt on the car has been fixed with, like it has been thrue an major repair or something like that.
I also think i could have found the origin number on the frame, but the first part "19467" is not stamped in?

 

[Vikingvette]

Pictures

Don´t know if this will work but i´ll try anyway, the pictures were taken last year at the Cadillacyard i Nevada where the Vette were parked sometime in 1984-85 i guess. I also found a sticker in the dooropening that tells about a big service of the car in 1984, all tires, oils were changed and its only a couple of miles ago , and all the instruments seems to work pretty well.

 

[Billybeau1]

I would advise this junkyard of your suspisions and demand your money back or threaten to go to the Police and US Customs. With that vin tag the car is not worth anything to anyone who knows these cars and will only come back to haunt you in the end.

I respectfully disagree. You probably got it at a great price and you sound excited about restoring and driving it. As long as its staying in Sweden, no worries. Fix her up and enjoy the heck out of it. You just saved another one of our corvettes from extinction. Cheers to you

 

[Christer]

Viking, congratz for bringing one moore C3 to Sweden.

But one of your questions were newer answered. Is there a way to trace a cars history in US (date of first regstration and previous owners).
Reason for asking is that i imported mine as a project car from Germany.
Germans are notourious with paperwork, so from the first day it appeared in Germany it is easy to trace. I think is was brougt over to Europe by some NATO-guy while he was serving there in the early 80:s. Same goes for Sweden, it´s easy to get hold of all previous owners by the authorities in charge of car registration. Yes, i know US is a bit bigger and contains of >50 different states. But my basic question is: is there a way to trace the car back to its beginning? It has a correct VIN, and i have its German registration.
By the way, it´s a -72 BB Coupe, and it is still in the project state!

 

[stearnman]

Judging from your pictures, you have a 2 generation corvette???? :confused

The front-end appears to be a C4 and the back-end looks to be the '68 C3??? ;squint:

There definitely seems to be "tons" of questionable history on this car.