Cheapsnake

New guy here. I just put a deposit on a 65 coupe, 289, 4-speed. Almost as an afterthought, I checked the VIN on the car with the VIN on the title. It all checked out, except for an extra digit on the title VIN (5F07C356751) versus the VIN on the car (5F07C35651). Note the missing "7".

The seller is a decent guy and I have no question that the car is legit, no evidence of tampering. Besides, why would anyone attempt to alter a VIN by leaving a digit out? The title VIN appears to comply with the 11 digit format typically associated with early Mustangs so we suspect that the error is in the stamping on the car. Our best guess is that the VIN's were hand stamped and this was a Monday morning car hand-stamped by a worker with a bad hang-over. It's actually more a matter of curiosity than substance since the car has passed through several owners over 50 years with no titling issues.

Anybody got any insight on this? Thanks.

Tom

drewsky

Hmmm? Could be a dmv mistake.. Don't see any problem with it as long as you can register it. Get a Marty report !

rmodel65

i had a 1987 mustang gt ttop car that had a title with too few numbers..took me forever to get it straight thru the Georgia DMV

Cheapsnake

Thanks guys. I had a body guy look at it and he thinks the inner fender/shock tower where the VIN is stamped was probably replaced. As is the practice with pre-dash VIN's, the body shop simply hand stamped the number into the new sheetmetal. Unfortunately, the stamper missed a digit and it resulted in a typo.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Now I just have to convince the DMV. Wish me luck.

musnicki

Is there a warranty tag on the drivers door? That one "should" match the title. Also... I've been a driver for over 20 years and have had to register "a car" in six different states and three different countries...I've never had any of them go out to the parking lot to look at a vin. We'll one did leave the desk to go check out the fastback.

James

Cheapsnake

Same here and the only reason we checked the VIN on this one was because the seller suggested it. Now I wonder how many other cars we didn't check had mismatched VIN's. The tag on the door is missing, but apparently those are available aftermarket with any info you want on them.