Topic: Mis-stamped VIN

[ctann]

I have owned my 1968 Shelby GT500KR for 23 years. Original CA car. After purchase, I noticed a glitch in the windshield VIN stamping. Everything else on the car matches the VIN on the title, which starts with 8T02R..., but the windshield VIN starts with 8T01R. The Shelby tag, the VIN under the tag, and the partial VIN on the head, all match, as does the Marti report and original build sheet, and the windshield VIN matches except for that one number, so it is just that "2" transposed to a "1" on the windshield VIN that is at issue.

A bit of research at the time seemed to indicate that "such things happened", and so I didn't worry about it too much - everything else I checked seemed fine, there was no sign of any ?funny business?, and so I didn?t worry further, and just put it down to a factory error.

Fast forward to today, and I am about to embark on exporting the car back to my home country (Australia). It seems to me that they are likely going to inspect the car in detail, and call into question that mismatch. So, I am looking for advice. I certainly don?t want to mess with what I am 99.9% sure is the original VIN tag. What I am thinking is that a known ?Shelby Expert? could do some verification and write me up a statement of fact, that should hopefully get me through any customs inquisitiveness?

Any other ideas or comments? Happy to share all the pics of the various VINs on the car...

[CharlesTurner]

Unfortunately, any amount of letters or information from judges or those of authority in '68 Shelby's will likely not help in this case.  It's a simple yes or no answer and the windshield tag is almost always looked at as the legal VIN of the car.  There is really only one solution to get the car into Australia and I think we all know what that is without saying it.

[K-HESS]

I sent a 1969 Mach1 Q-code to Australia several decades ago but don?t know much about the current procedures.  For those that do exporting would pushing the tag under the dash pad send up an instant red flag or would they move on to the next available number. I think I know the answer to this question but it was a thought. Unfortunately I have seen this anomaly several times and they were all from Metuchen.

[J_Speegle]

I think that you would need to have someone like the 68 Registrar to craft up such a document if they even would but the chances of it being ignored is very IMHO high once the car reaches your country and is sitting on the dock. Too often when you start pushing or trying to work a work around the local authorities flex and like to demonstrate their powers and by that point your going to loose. Have you tried to contact  those officials and pose the hypothetical situation to them, before this car gets put on a boat and fees are paid?


Have exported a number of cars over the decades but left all of the paperwork to the shipping agent and some of the requirements have been very difficult to obtain on this end of the boat trip.  Latest thing for a number of Pacific Rim countries has been the factory sound deadener issues and requirements. Before that for you country it was the certificate of steam cleaning that was a pain

[Aussiemach]

Having had various vehicles through the inspection process here in SA in the last few years my comment is the numbers must match. Ask someone here and in your state that has current knowledge on the process. Charles makes valid comment.