After about 3 months Colorado State Patrol came over for a VIN inspection of my '60 Sedan that I purchased out of Nevada.

They saw right off that the leading "0" in the VIN number on the title is missing...

Now I have to take it over to the next town and have a state inspector look the car over and do what they call a "Certified VIN Inspection" and they have to find the Hidden VIN and compare it to the actual VIN. This is easy enough, I scraped the undercoating off and got down to the Hidden VIN. Now the door VIN is 00769K101886 and the hidden VIN is 60K101886. I know it is not the full VIN and the K101886 matches but is the 60 on the hidden the year and not supposed to be the 69 for body style?

In what Corvair documentation does it state how the hidden VIN is decoded? I am expecting that they will ask this question?

Also the stamping is poor and the top half of the K and the 88 is almost all missing. I hope they do not get crazy about this.

Have any of you ran into this problem?

Richard Cutter
Present Caretaker of:
1960 700 Sedan, 1964 Spyder Convertible, 1964 Monza Sedan, 1966 Piper Cherokee, 1987 Fiero GT
- Monte Vista, Colorado
Started driving Corvairs in 1962

- Lazy Daze with Pup's

“Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies.” -George Orwell

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But
the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem."..... Ronald Reagan

In my state, Idaho, there's provision for slight VIN errors like yours. My Corvette didn't quite have enough zeros (four instead of five) and the clerk just added it along with a "Statement of Fact".

The front part of the VIN is determined by year and bodystyle so that's easy to confirm. The latter part, a partial VIN "derivative" (factory and serial number) is what's on the hidden VIN.

Look in the front pages of the service manual for a decode of the first digits.

Craig N. Coeur d'Alene ID.
66 Black Monza 4-dr, 4.2L V8 49k
66 Monza 140/4 EFI 60k
65 4-dr 110/AC/PG (project)
61 Rampside
62 Rampside (almost done!)
64 GB -CrUnChEd (donor)

20 Tons of parts in boxes

The hopefully slight problem is that the hidden VIN number starts with 60 then the K101886

They may question why the hidden VIN starts with "60" instead of matching the "69" in the door post VIN. It is probably the YEAR for the body style is obvious.

But with our State Patrol nothing like this is obvious, they desire documentation.

The 1960 Service Manual does not have information on the hidden VIN number that I could find.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2012 01:25AM by Mountain Pilot.

Richard,
Are you saying that the Title paperwork has the V.I.N. starting with 000769K ?
If so that is an obvious typographical error.
As seen on the stamped steel plate there are only two 0 positions on the V.I.N. and these indicate the model year (0 for 1960) and the body style 0769 (Chevrolet code for a Corvair 700 series 4 door sedan)
The hidden V.I.N. is of NO help since it verifies the unit serial number, which is the important part of the Code, providing the prefix info is correct on the V.I.N. which it is.
Do you have a 1960 Shop Manual? If not, I can scan the necessary page for you to show them that the V.I.N. should only have two "0"s in the prefix.

You are correct, the Shop Manual says nothing about the hidden V.I.N.

---

~ Dan - Seattle/Tacoma ~~ "Have Canon - Will Travel"
Phone (412)CORSA65 ~ CORSA Western Director + Corvairs NW + North Cascades Corvairs + Corvanatics, the FC group
1966 Corsa Turbo coupe ~ ~ 1966 140 Corsa ~ 65 Monza 140/4 'Vert Sierra Tan/Fawn (my current driver!!) ~ 1964 Monza 'Vert ~ 65 Monza 140/4 Evening Orchid w/ ivory/black int.(future project)~ 1962 Monza Wagon 102/4 ~ 63 Rampside/Scamper ~ 1963 Greenbrier ~ 1969 Ultra Van #468



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2012 01:42AM by 1966-Corsa-GT-180.

At my state inspection office, I saw a big colorful book that explained the locations and decoding of hidden VIN numbers as well as attachment methods for the regular VIN plates. This was not an Idaho book but rather a book evidently sold to motor vehicle departments nationwide. For obvious reasons, it's not available to the general public. It's pretty likely that the Colorado DMV has access to a similar book.

I was surprised that the Idaho DMV lady let me see it. The Washington DMV, which I also deal with frequently, won't let the public within the windowless inspection room, let alone let the public see the book.

Craig N. Coeur d'Alene ID.
66 Black Monza 4-dr, 4.2L V8 49k
66 Monza 140/4 EFI 60k
65 4-dr 110/AC/PG (project)
61 Rampside
62 Rampside (almost done!)
64 GB -CrUnChEd (donor)

20 Tons of parts in boxes

Close ----

The title is missing the leading "0" it has 0769K101886

This state is super ridiculous on titles. If it is not 100% accurate and even when it is obvious like this is then they demand additional documentation.

I am also going back to the person I purchased it from and get a corrected title.

What a pain but not what Richard1 went through!

Too complicated, move to New York or Vermont or New Hampshire... UNHEARD of here!

Well I left New York when I was 7 years old and have not looked back...

Lived many places since then and just stopped moving once I got to Colorado.

Just warn out from moving so much...

Sounds pretty ridiculous Rich. Maybe it's time to move BACK to Durango where you only have to deal with Steve (unless of course if he went fishing). Rest assured you will conquer this.

Minnesotans dont give a shit. I told the DMV that i payed $300 for a shiny 50' Buick with half the VIN plate missing. They just looked at the old title, made sure the signature matched the name and said whoopty @#$%& on the rest.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2012 06:13AM by john ackley.

Virginia is a mixed bag. At my local office, the staff is great. Some things take a little while to figure out, but they always get it done. Anytime it's above them, I have to send stuff to HQ in Richmond and my apps get routed to a beaurocrat with a rubber "no" stamp. Very frustrating.

Mike
YS-117

My friend's 63 Falcon only has the last digits on the title. He has to get the Police Theft division to verify the VIN and correct it. After weeks and hours of arguing about there was nothing he could do, the cop said for $1000 he could fix it. My friend had his cel phone recording the conversation. I listened and it is funnier than the old Abbott and Costello "who's on first". Except for the $1000.

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