Good morning, My uncle was given a really great 69k original mile 1970 skylark coupe for Christmas by his daughter. This car has loads of documentation, service records from the late seventies, the protecto-plate, original window sticker, all that good stuff, even the original receipt from Vandergraff Buick in Texas where the car was purchased (still has the Vandergraff badge on the trunk). However, i have a HUGE concern about this car. I compared the VIN with the documentation (title, protectoplate, etc) and there is one number different on the VIN than on all of the other documentation. The Documentation has "43537....." on it, but the VIN has "43536....." the rest of the numbers are the same, but I understand the 6 stands for a wagon, and this car is not a wagon. I cant see any evidence that the vin was replaced, my only conclusion is this was an error by GM that was never addressed. How can all the other numbers be the exact same if it was removed from another vehicle? The body trim tag has "43537" on it. I am still trying to sort this all out. This isnt the first old car I have worked on, my uncle is the documented 3rd owner of the car, the original owner passed away around 2005 and the previous owner purchased the car with 57k miles on it, and has documented the car nearly as well as the original owner. My uncle just says "title it and don't worry about it" but I can't do that, I need to get to the bottom of this. I know there have been VIN errors before but they are super rare, just need to know where to start. Follow up question, should the body number on the trim tag be the same as the order number on the end of the vin? Thanks Any other info you need, just let me know and I will pass it along.
The body number will not match the last six digits of the VIN. For last two digits of the style number, 36 would be a wagon, but there was never a 43536. There should be a VIN tag on the drivers dash and a VIN sticker on the drivers door, post pictures of each and the PoP if you can.
Will do, the car was repainted once about 15 years ago, so there is no sticker on the door, but I will send pics of the VIN and POP and other info when I get home this evening. Thanks
Unfortunately its not a typo on the title, it appears to me to be a typo on the VIN tag. I don't know, here's some pics, I have the build sheet (I think, may be a duplicate window sticker), PoP, original sales receipt, all of the documentation has the 7 on it, but the darn VIN is the only place with a 6 on it...even the titles have a 7 on it. The rivets are upside down on the vin, so I can't tell if it has the rosette rivets or not, but im here to tell you this car is immaculate under the dash, it has never as far as I can tell ever been apart, it has 69k original miles on it and it is spotless, a dream of a find. IMAG1023 by robbz28 IMAG1025 by robbz28 IMAG1028 by robbz28 IMAG1030 by robbz28 IMAG1031 by robbz28 Hope that works, if not visit my flickr account: www.flickr.com/robbz28
Also just found this little gem tucked inside the rear seatback springs, like 10 minutes ago, more evidence that GM made a boo-boo IMAG1032 by robbz28
Heres a better copy of the build sheet, I scanned it instead of taking a pic, flattened it out a little. buildsheet70skylark by robbz28
Not the first time I've seen this. It was a typo, but on the part of the person typing out the VIN's in Kansas City, MO. You've got enough proof to show anyone that knows anything about this kind of stuff your car is legit. I would not let it concern me in the least. Keep this in mind, they weren't building show cars or perfect examples back then. Mistakes can and did happen.
When I found this build sheet, all concern went away, but I would like to get some kind of official statement from OMV or something like that. This is definitely the car on the build sheet, except for the respray to black (traces of the original gold are evident here and there). It's a really great, well maintained old car. I wonder if I should pursue a "fix" or just let it be (avoid the headache)
If it were me, I'd let it go. You can have Sloan Museum do research for you (see: http://www.sloanlongway.org/buick-gallery/research/automotive-research ). They may be able to help you with the VIN issue.
I would get the sloan info and not do anything else. If you pursue this through the state you will most likely end up with the state pulling the vin and giving you a state vin number.
You can order a complete title history search from TX DOT - they are pretty good about providing an extensive history of you car. You might be able to go all the way back to the original MSO and associated documents related to that original Tax Collector's receipt in one of your pictures. So, in addition to the complete chain of title (ownership) record (you're lucky if the car was always registered in one state), you would have a complete record of the original info from the Dealership (as provided from GM as given to Vandergriff Buick) and then passed on to TX DOT. This locks up where the error occurred - not TX DOT or any shenanigans by a prior Owner - in case you have to provide a high level of evidence to some state authority or Buyer later.
