Thanks to everyone on this site for all your messages and help!. I do appreciate all the replies and help in locating parts for my project. Unfortunately, i have decided to not restore the car...and here's why. As I have been disassembling the car, I have found some very weird things as well as some downright discouraging info. I have found out the car is NOT a 442 it is a standard Cutlass convertible....the guy I bought it from changed the vin plate and tried to pass it off as a 442...and unfortunately after calling the phone #'s I had for him, they have been disconnected, and no one knows to where he has moved. I bought the car about 18 months ago and its been sitting in the garage since. After being under the dash, I thought things looked wierd and found out he epoxied the vin plate to the underside of the dash and also epoxied the old rivets as well. He went through a lot of trouble to try to hide this. After looking at the vin stamp on the firewall after removing the heater box, it does not match the VIN. I am quite heartbroken, but at least I didnt have an absolute ton of money into the car. I had $4600 into it, so now I will be parting out the car to try to raise funds to purchase a TRUE 442. Again, thanks to all of you for the help and time you gave.

 

Well that sux.

 

Bummer, I wish you well in the sale of your parts and on purchasing a true 442.

 

Yeah it really does...and I would have thought I would have noticed this, but he really did a good job to make it look authentic...Ive been working on and restoring Cutlass and 442 for 20 years....this is the first time I have been screwed like this....a lot of thoughts went through my head...none of them good, but I can't track the guy down and I will try to raise enough money from parting it out to get a decent real 442 project....trying to remain positive and not let it get me down.....just kind of in the dumps today...

 

Very discouraging I'm sure. I was thinking why not just continue restoring it since you already have it, but no, the right thing to do is what you are planning to do. Cuz at this point it really can't even be a nice 68 Cutlass because the plate has been messed with... Bummer...

 

Greg- that was my thought for the first 5 minutes, then I said to myself wait....the VIN is wrong and you now dont have a title! So yeah, this is unfortunately my only option. So now I hope to part it out and get enough money from all the parts to purchase a 68-72 442 project.

 

so let me get this right,it has a title that matches the vin?

 

Yes the Illinois title matches the VIN but the Vin is not the one for the car. Someone along the line swapped the VIN tag on the car. So I cant sell the car obviously. The only thing i can do is part it out. The original VIN to the car is gone.

 

Curious, did you locate the vin derivative on the frame?

 

Have you contacted the police? The feds would not be too happy with this guy.

 

wow.some people have no scruples.good luck with the sale of the parts,i think you will do alright.

 

Where is the VIN stamp on the firewall? I have not installed my heater box yet, so is it on the inside or outside? What colour is the interior? I could use some willow gold stuff.

 

 

I did locate the VIN on the frame....It does not match the vin plate....and like i said, the guy is nowhere to be found...the phone # I have for him is disconnected and he lives 5 hours away from me in Illinois. The title I got with it that matches the VIN plate on the car has someone else's name on it...it probably changed hands at least twice before i got it.

 

would you be selling stolen parts?

 

??? Why would you say something like that??? The car is NOT stolen! Geez I can already see where this is going!

 

I agree that chances are it isn't stolen and someone was just trying to be fraudulent but the only way to know is to run the VIN on the cowl and frame.

I just bought a jet ski that hadn't been registered for years and had no paperwork. I went to DMV and had them run it. It came back clean initially but they have to do a detailed title search on it. They gave me a temporary registration while they do the search but there's a chance I might lose it....

 

I wonder... if you have the Cutlass vin on the frame and the cowl tag is original (not that it does anything for the vin), can you simply get a new correct vin tag for the Cutlass? I would think that can be done under law enforcement supervision. If the car is a really nice clean example it would be worth investigating the law for those rules and save a nice car from the fire wrench.
If you can read the frame vin chances are its a clean car?

 

Lets just keep it simple. This was probably just a rebody. Surely done poorly. Does it have the numbers matching 442 engine and trans that match that 442 VIN?

 

I did contact a buddy of mine at the local police dept. He ran the Vin on the title and the Vin on the car...Neither came back stolen, and had not been registered in almost 20 years. I cant get another VIN plate in WI, they will not make a new one. They would give me a new consecutive # state VIN...in essence WI 1234568....resembling nothing like an Original GM VIN. So really I have no option but to part it out...can't sell it with a false VIN. Could sell it whole as a parts car if someone wanted it without a title, but honestly, no one would give me much for that....better off parting it unfortunately

 

Can you register it with the current vin, now that you know that it wasn't stolen.

 

Problem is the VIN plate on the car is NOT the VIN for the car....so no I can't...I'm stuck- can't get a VIN plate with the right VIN for the car, and cant get a title for the one that is on the car, as its wrong for the car...a felony. Sucks...but I have already gotten over it and am selling the parts to try to fund the purchase of a different project.

 

You're overthinking this. The VIN on the car is the VIN on the car. How do you know the frame is original? Does the vin derivative on the firewall (if that is what it is) match the vin derivative on the frame? What's the vin on the engine? If you got into a complete 442 powertrain in a convertible body for 4600 you got a good deal, even if it's not a real 442. A numbers matching convertible 68 442 even in rough shape should go for 8.

I wouldn't part the thing out like it's a sin against humanity. Put the vin tag on with real rivets, title it, and make a resto-mod monster out of it. Or sell it as is. Not everyone is going to care that it isn't a numbers 442 body, 68s were slow 442s anyway, as everyone except Bernhard will say.

 

I see your thoughts, but the bottom line is its illegal and I dont want any part of it. swapping vins, or altering a cars vin or plate is a felony and I want nothing to do with that, whether its mine or someone else's. The VIN plate on this car is not the original, which makes this car nothing really, cant get a title for it legally, so Im parting it and searching for a real 442 project.