• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Is this possible?

69clone

69clone

Well-Known Member
Local time
6:17 PM
Joined
May 2, 2010
Messages
1,278
Reaction score
233
Location
Tennessee
So as usually i was searching craigslist and I found a guy parting out a 69' Roadrunner he claims it's gone and needs to get rid of it asap. I'm just wondering is there any "Legal way" to swapping the vins? I mean i've considered finding a cheap roadrunner and swapping everything off my Satellite and putting it on the real one, but whats the difference between putting everything from my car onto a real roadrunner (sheetmetal/interior) and putting whats savable off a roadrunner and putting it on my car?
In my head it only seems right to take everything from my car and putting it on one because in my eyes that would be using my car as a parts car to restore a roadrunner but just can't figure out why it couldn't be the other way around...

Anyways sorry i'm rammbling on...
Thanks,
~Nick
 
That would be a good question for your local state police. I'm pretty sure that it (VIN swapping) is illegal here in Washington though...
 
Thanks,
Thats how i felt, It wouldn't be right but what i figured but whats the difference if it ended up having all the same parts on it ether way? (Satellite as parts/vs Roadrunner as parts) I read something about people swapping vins on old fords, Which i didn't understand but figured i'd ask.
 
Your theory makes total sense to me...but I don't think the DMV would see it that way!
 
swapping vins is illegal no matter how you cut it. Could you get away with it..probably but for the record it is illegal. Why not just buy the roadrunner and register it under its own vin. If there are Fees against it then either pay the fees or hold on to it till it is out of DMV records...That takes about 7 years hear in California. Figured if it has fees then it is probably 3 or 4 years out already. buy it and hold on to it for 3 or 4 years then do the swap. or just pay the fees. That is a small amount compared the amount you will most likely sink into the car anyway. Plus if some day you sell the car and the buyer buys it thinking it is a legitiment Road Runner an later finds out it is not then you are going to piss someone else off in the hobby at best and at worst get sued.
 
I misread your original post a little ...You are saying the original VIN is missing. The VIN is usually stamped in several places on the car. Locate one of these to get the original VIN. DMV can issue a replacement VIN plate but it wont be correct for restoration. Or you can just Register it under the legitement stamped VIN and just live with out the VIN plate.
 
condor74 said:
I misread your original post a little ...You are saying the original VIN is missing. The VIN is usually stamped in several places on the car. Locate one of these to get the original VIN. DMV can issue a replacement VIN plate but it wont be correct for restoration. Or you can just Register it under the legitement stamped VIN and just live with out the VIN plate.
Click to expand...

Sorry i was actually asking what is different between swapping the vins off a completely rusted up roadrunner (along with anything else needed) and putting them on my complete Satellite vs taking apart my Satellite and using it as parts on the Roadrunner. Since when it's complete you end up with the same parts on the car...

btw Thanks, 69' Roadrunner i'll search the forum, I tried google but ended up with alot of useless crap.
 
Yea i just wouldn't feel comfortable about claiming it as a roadrunner. So given one day we have a useable garage and i find a cheap roadrunner, It would be a pretty cheap restoration? (using everything i need off my car)
 
I understand what you are saying. Sorry about the misunderstanding. Unfortunately the VIN basically follows the firewall. So if the Unibody firewall has the roadrunner VIN then it is a Roadrunner. If the original firewall is a satellite VIN then it is a satellite.

If you want to see a good VIN swap then watch the original gone in 60 seconds. They were buying wrecked cars and steeling good cars of the same make and model then swapping all the vin tags and liscence plate and reselling them.
 
So... say if the frame and firewall are ok then i could just take my Satellite apart to put on it?
 
Yes you could do that. usually the frame and firewall basically is the entire body less the doors, fenders, hood, deck lid, and all bolt on suspension and engine parts. I dont see how all that work would be worth it just to say you have a roadrunner over a satellite. You can clone a roadrunner with your satellite and only people who decode the vin will know. basically you would be using the unibody frame from the roadrunner then you would have the roadrunner with all your other parts from your satellite..nothing illegal with that. If you are actually removing the vin from one car and putting it on the other car then you are doing something illegal.
 
My .02 worth - putting the RR vin on your Satellite is illegal, unethical, and just plain dishonest. Stripping a RR down to the unibody and installing parts off another car (like a nice Satellite), AMD or other repop sheet metal, repop parts from Year one, etc. is legal for sure. Unethical or dishonest? Not when if shown or sold it is represented as a non numbers matching car that was rebuilt from a shell. If you found a rusted heap of a 69 Road Runner with a title and VIN in the right places, brought it back to life with repop floors, trunk, quarters, etc. from a donor car, plus an engine and transmission from somewhere else (correct date code would be nice), a complete Legendary repop interior, yada yada, it could be titled and sold as a real Road Runner...

I think!
 
Wow, that thread was like reading a whole set of encyclopedias at one setting. I've got a couple of things to add. Legally if you bring a car into the shop I work at I can replace everything on it but the vin and it would be legal by law. Down the road, the only number that has to be on it is the vin number. I can legally replace everypart that has a identifying number on it but that vin. This is assuming that the car has not been declared a salvage vehicle. If it has, it can be rebuilt ,removing any identifying numbers with parts that are bought new with a receipt or used parts that I can provide a copy of the title of the vehicle that they came from. Thats just food for thought. The second thing is that legally with a bill of sale and some other info Ala.(I think) will sell you a new title whether you live there or not. I know a guy who has done it regularly and who would not do it if it was not legal, because he has too much money and never does anything that would jeapordize it in any way. On the other hand, he has no problem lying to people that it is a southern car. That is true on paper but won't come back to cost him money. The ethics side is determined by the individual. I would get a legal title to the roadrunner. There is a finite number to these cars and it is clicking off at a rate that looks like the rainforest acre clock. Barrett Jackson has given the public eyes that only see dollar signs, but I see these cars like the first owner did when that Roadrunner was new and they drove it off the lot. They said "Damn, ain't nothing like this!!". I would save them all. The Satelllite too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Would a 5-speed swap increase the value of a 1972 SSP?
Replies
17
Views
2K
70bigblockdodge
70bigblockdodge
71RRHI
8 3/4 storage
Replies
9
Views
849
71RRHI
71RRHI
wedgee
crankshaft question....
Replies
16
Views
1K
wedgee
wedgee
R
Hello from Rosa Manitoba
2
Replies
20
Views
1K
Mopar Hunter
Mopar Hunter
Just Send It
Factory 383 - Is it worth keeping?
2
Replies
28
Views
3K
HawkRod
HawkRod
Auto Transport Service
Back
Top