Gathering vin plates to do a "rebadge" sounds dodgy, at best, and illegal at worst. There also seems to be a misunderstanding about the term model year. This term has been used since the 50s in the US to denote the introduction of new models in the fall of the year. Thus, people did get a new car and the bonus of being able to say that they had a 1957 car while it was still 1956. Pure marketing, at the time. Now, however, the term is a legal one. As has been mentioned her by others, it denotes that the car meets or exceeds the legal requirements for the "model year." The model year is especially important in states like California because it dictates the emissions level the car is supposed to meet. The illegal part ties to emissions and safety regulations. It sounds like you might be intending to apply earlier vin numbers to later model cars, thereby allowing the cars to be modified in different ways. Other than attempting to sell stolen cars with the "new" vin, there is no other reason to apply the vin from a junked car to a driving car.
Ciao, Ben -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stefano Iachella Sent: Monday, June 06, 2011 6:28 PM To: Alfa Digest; [email protected] Subject: [alfa] RE: VIN # VS Model Year >Are you wanting to see if the VIN # you have was in the range of >numbers that were listed as being manufactured for the model year that >matches the model year you have been told for the car? No car in question. Only VIN plates. I`m looking to collect some VIN plates for a 1975 to stash away to do a rebadge sometime later. I have a lead on a car being scrapped out and the build date is 10/75. I learned from Biba that it is a model year 1976, so it will not help me. I had realized that cars are being sold before the model year had arrived, so obviously they are manufactured before the model year, but was not sure how far back this practice went. Or if after so many years, and changing from one state to another, the DMV would just check the manufacture year and register it as such. Being that the paperwork is "lost", what would they actually go by? It turns out that there is a model year range for the numbers and the one I am looking at is definitely a 1976. Thanks, Stefano -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
