body and interior Cancelled Vin??

[bnam]

I've never seen this before?  Surely not factory?

 

 

Byas

[roadhog0]

That almost looks factory, but why would the crossed out vin be higher than the other... Best thing I can think of is it was in a wreck and got a fender from another car and they had BMW restamp it.

[02Les]

Interesting.

Both VINs relate to cars manufactured in Nov '74. One manual and one Auto trans.

Maybe even on the assy line at the same time and "stamping error"?

[coupeking]

That is very weird. I would run both of those VIN's at the BMW historical archive to see what those VIN's relate to. They can tell you when a car was made and delivered, and if this was a factory glitch, they could explain it.

Peter

[rover1]

im reporting you to epa, the cia, the fbi, the dmv, carb etc.etc. just joking that is a trip id be curious to know what you come up with iv seen vin swaps but usually the person doing the swapping wants the old vin dead and barried. not fully visible when you pop the hood. 

[Emyers]

Maybe a different front end, but not a fender as the vin is on the main structure not the fender.  Good point though.

Earl

[bnam]

I wanted to talk to the owner, but he was not around at the time.  Wonder if he is on this FAQ?

B

[Conserv]

On 5/19/2013 at 1:09 PM, coupeking said:

That is very weird. I would run both of those VIN's at the BMW historical archive to see what those VIN's relate to. They can tell you when a car was made and delivered, and if this was a factory glitch, they could explain it.

Peter

 

That's an excellent plan! It's hard to imagine the factory would release a car with this pair of VINs visible; yet it's equally hard to imagine someone, post-factory, stamping a new VIN in such a "factory" style and manner, including the rectangle of exposed primer!

 

Bnam, did you see if the car was automatic or manual today?

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Who doesn't love a VIN mystery?

 

Steve

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Conserv

[jgerock]

I wonder what the engine block stamp reveals....

[bnam]

I wonder what the engine block stamp reveals....

Vin plate And engine number match the active body vin.

[Mike Self]

What does the aluminum VIN plate say (the one that's pop riveted to the inner fender arch)?

 

Interesting mystery.  Send that picture to BMW Mobile Tradition and see what they have to say...

 

mike

[bnam]

As I mentioned above - vin plate matches.  I had already sent a note to Andreas.  Will see if can shed any light.

Byas

[repoman]

sorry to bring up an old thread, however, my car has this as well....did Andreas shed any light?

 

My car is missing the steering wheel pad with the VIN, and the door sticker is not legible....

 

My stamp appears that maybe the factory worker suffered from dyslexia....or just misplaced the last two digits...

[Conserv]

These must both be assembly line corrections. Rather than try to bury the incorrect VIN with bondo and paint, or a welded-in patch — which would look pretty nefarious, if discovered afterward — the factory chose to expose the entire “sausage-making” process. Very cool.

 

And, yes, I agree, whereas the first example was a manual transmission car that erroneously received an automatic transmission VIN, repoman’s example was a simple transposition of the two final digits. The solution was the same. Both VIN corrections appear to have been made pre-paint, but, of course, post-primer.

 

Seeing two examples of such VIN corrections, done in precisely the same manner, turns this from “Helmut’s very bad day” to a standardized procedure. This is great to capture both in this single thread. OK. Who’s got another example, but was afraid to reveal it for fear of being jailed for “grand theft auto”? ???

 

And if someone selling you an ‘02 with a welded-in patch for the chassis VIN tries to tell you it was just a “factory correction of the VIN”, think twice... ?

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Conserv

[Hans]

There was a great kerfuffle on BaT over a Ferrari Dino with an oddly welded VIN plate so good to record the provenance of this vehicle.

 I recall seeing Alpinas with the factory VIN struck out in a similar manner.