I found a 1972 GS 455 convertible that purportedly had the vin tag changed to something else. Obviously my biggest concern would be buying a stolen car - the guy got it from a salvage yard and has been trying to figure out the car for a while. He can't find any build sheets but believes the car to be numbers matching. How can we figure out what the true VIN number is for the car and then if its not stolen, bring it back to the original VIN. The body and floor pans are shot, but I have a good donor car to contribute all of the bad parts and bring this 1 of 114 (TH400) classic back to life. I'll also contact Sloan to see how many were turquoise (guessing Cascade or Stratomist Blue) with a black interior. Thanks for any and all help. Greg ________ Ranchero
Hot GS? There are several "hidden VIN's" on A body cars. One is behind the heater/blower motor. You must remove the Heater box or A/C box from the firewall. The second is on the frame. Typically on top of the frame under the drivers door area or on the top of the left frame rail at the rear of the car over the left rear wheel or just behind the reard wheel between the left rear wheel and the end of the frame. Your could also make a good guess if you believe the motor to be correct. The Vin stamp on the block will give a partial VIN including the year, plant of manufacture and 6 digit sequential VIN number. You know its a convertible so you could get "close" on the first part of the VIN with the series number. You would still have to guess if it was a GS or a Skylark IF they had different prefix series numbers in 72. What I have discussed works for "most" GM A body cars. There MAY some unique specifics such as the "hidden VIN" locations as it relates specifically to Buicks. Buick always seems to be different that the other GM divisions.
I would also try to do a title search in the state where the car resides as it is likely that someone might have made up a GS 455 convertible out of the tags/title or used them to title a GS convertible with no title. One of the parts cars I have is a 70 gs convertible with the VIN of a different GS convertible stamped in the frame and a poorly attached VIN plate in the dash that obviously has been transplanted there.(made a bad one out of 2 terrible ones?) good luck!
vin help? Another place to look is the transmission,if you believe the motor and trans is correct. I have a 71 #s matching car. The trans has a small lip area on the (driver side?) that also has the last digits of the vin on it.:TU: PAT:TU:
Greg, If you can find the partial VIN on the firewall, post it or send it to me by PM , I might be able to help you figure it out.
