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Hi everyone, my name is Dale and I live in Parksville on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. I just picked up my winter project a few weeks ago, a 1965 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible. I picked this car because I borrowed (on a daily basis) my grandmothers 64 F85 and drove it for 2 years in high school in 1974. When this car came up for sale it seemed appropriate. The car needs lots of work and has a few quirks from previous owners. It has a 350 in it instead of the 330 it was born with but still has the st300 jetaway 2 speed transmission in it (no transmission dust cover either). The interior is a disaster, the Cadillac buckets are a little out of place, the rear bench seat has almost disintegrated and the rag top is exactly that, a rag. On the good side, the 350 ran reasonably well considering the gas had to be 2 years old. There is minimal rust, some rust through in the drivers foot well and some in the rear inner fender/trunk area but considering it is 53 years old it is all fixable. The odometer says just over 18K miles, I originally thought it must be 118K but after pulling it apart it could actually be 18K. I'm sure that I will have lots of questions for the forum and looking forward to my winter project. First problem, get the car in my name since some PO removed the VIN tag and lost any associated paperwork. I looked all over for the partial VIN but no luck. It's so much fun dealing with government officials
I looked all over for the partial VIN but no luck. It's so much fun dealing with government officials.,
I don't think you'll find one. Olds didn't starting stamping a VIN derivative on the engine and transmission until the 1968 model year. I don't know that they stamped a VIN, partial or total, on the frame that year, either (or any year until considerably later).
The only partial VIN on this car would be a frame stamp. Typically this is on top of the driver side frame rail, usually in front of the kick-up for the rear axle, however it may be elsewhere. It is nearly impossible to find or read with the body on the frame, especially if there is surface rust on the frame. Note that the nine character frame stamp will not have the second through fifth characters of the car's VIN.
Sorry, but a car without a factory VIN tag is going to be nearly impossible to register legally, at least in the US.
Welcome to C.O., no vin stamp on a '65 except for the vin plate that is missing. Now you have to prove ownership, paperwork is key. In the states you can get a new vin number thru secretary of state, but you need paperwork, old registration, bill of sale, old copy of title. Need to go back to seller and have him/her straighten this out. First thing to do when looking at a car is is make sure title matches vin on car.
Welcome to the site! Cool car, but I agree with the others. Resolve the paperwork before spending time or money working on the car. Once that's done, I've got some parts down in Oregon but first you should check with a link to a member in B.C. who has 1965 parts. John
First problem, get the car in my name since some PO removed the VIN tag and lost any associated paperwork. I looked all over for the partial VIN but no luck.
Have you given the seller money? If the car has no VIN, how do you know the seller was the legal owner and had the right to sell it? I don't know how the laws on this sort of thing work in Canada, but as has been noted by others above, in the U.S., you would probably run into some difficulty getting it titled in your name (depending on the state) without considerable cooperation from the seller to verify that it was his car to sell.
I've got a 1964 2 door hardtop that I've been dismantling for parts... for a couple years now! I recently pulled the floorboard off the frame and thought I'd show you pictures of what it looks like and where its located. As Joe said, its on the drivers side top of the frame and under the drivers door. I have seen some variability with this location, but most I've seen were here.
On a different note though, this frame has the entire vin stamped in it. Joe, could the 1964 and maybe 65 be different from other years? I'm having trouble posting pictures and text in the same message, I'll add photos including the vin tag in the next one.
SUCCESS! It took 2 months of jumping through hurdles but I finally have it registered in my name with a new VIN supplied by BC. I'm not sure how they were able to trace the car through their records but it doesn't matter now. From some of the previous comments I guess I should be grateful that I got it registered at all. I continued to work on the mechanical systems during this time so the engine, transmission and brakes are done. It survived a quick road trip so now it's on to the body work. I do have a wiring issue that will need to get resolved some time. The wiring from the gas pedal linkage to the transmission is completely gone and the wiring diagram does not show which connector goes to which connector on the transmission. I will ask this question in another forum for wiring problems.
Thanks for the great pictures of the VIN 2blu442. I will try to get a look at it soon but it would be just for my curiosity as the province of BC assigned me a new VIN and registered it. I will not muddy the waters if I do find the original VIN. Thanks again.
