VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Title and I.d. number. "vin".

I just bought an antique that is fully restored. The prrvious owner and restorer titled it with an id that matches the engine number. When I took possession of the car, he handed me the original body id plate that is 95 years old.

I took the car in to get it titled and registered in my home state of Arizona & now the DMV wants to destroy the old original ID plate. Does anyone know how to go about getting the title back to reflecting the original id and putting the original one back on (legally)?

Sound like somebody at MVD didn't know the procedures. This sometimes happens. The car I have came from Washington state & they use the engine number, Az wants to use the actual serial number as it had never been removed. I was fine with that. What I did was make a copy of the original title & kept it at home.
Question. Was the body tag on the car when you took it to MVD or was it in your hand? In their world that tag is never to be removed. It sounds as though you've already went through the process & doubtful it can ever be undone.
I've been using second party services for my cars just to avoid these problems...Joe

Hopefully you didn't give up the original ID plate since that is part of the history of the car.

That was the kicker.

I had the original plate in my hand (as proof of what I was claiming - at least in my eyes), and the officer asked to see it. So I showed it to him mad let him look at it. He then asked me to drive the car to the inspection lane and I asked for the plate back. He said he would hang on to it for now. Once I got to the inspection lane, he told me that he could not let me have it back. Once it is removed from the car - he said it must be destroyed. We did manage to get him convinced to hold onto it until we contacted an attorney, and he said he would let me have it back if I got a letter from an attorney with a notoriety statement that the id plate would never be attached to the car, but would be locked up in my home.

Now I have to pay an attorney. It is ransom money to get my property back.

Like I have suggested before, never tip your hand. Play dumb, tell them you will come back later, and when you do, go to another window and again, play dumb, and don't show them anything until requested.

A reproduction plate was stamped with the engine number and attached to the body in 2007 during restoration. The original one was removed and I was told that in MA they use the engine number for title and he said he made them the same "cuz it is easier that way".


I'm not sure why it couldn't be undone - because there was obviously a process by which it was changed in the first place. So I am puzzled as to why it couldn't be changed again through the same process.

Then maybe I just answered my own question. The process the first time was to have it registered in a state where they did not care about the body number nor look at, but titled the engine number. After that point I put the old one back on and it would not be a felony in that state. Then I register it here at home again. (Joke).

As mentioned above, it was a mistake to hand over the original ID plate. Always play dumb and don't give out irreplaceable historical items like a 95 year old ID plate. Hopefully you will get the plate back without spending a ton of bucks to do so.

Looks like you got the wrong dude at the DMV.

That's for sure. If it had been nailed to floor there probably would never had been an issue...Joe