# Hidden vin, hmmm...



## 70Judge (Dec 11, 2009)

My 1970 gto does *not* have the hidden vin on the firewall near the a/c or heater blower holes. Does anyone know where else (besides the frame) that I might find the hidden vin??????????????? :confused


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

VIN stamping on the firewall seems to have been hit and miss at best. Some plants seemed to do it consistently and others not at all. Neither my 70 Chevelle SS (built in Oshawa) or 67 GTO (built in MI) have any stamps while my 67 Camaro (built in CA) has 2....:confused I'm not concerned about mine, as the sheet metal is obviously all original, as are the VIN rivets. There are date codes on all the panels from the day there were produced. They all line up closely and slightly before the build dates of the cars.


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## 70Judge (Dec 11, 2009)

Hi, 
Your Chevelle and GTO don't have *ANY* partial vin stamped on them anywhere?? I've heard that they may be stamped on the firewall, on the interior side of the firewall, inside the heater blower hole, under the windshield wiper lip, under the rear package tray, on the windshield pillar, in the trunk. I've ripped this car apart and can't find *anything* 

My gto also has date codes on most of the panels, but I can't find anything on the internet to decipher those codes either. 

What happened is: I bought my gto body shell without a vin or data plate, so I'm trying to piece together a vin so I can get a phs. I have all but the last 6 digits. I spoke to Jim at PHS and he said that even though the first 7 digits are necessary to get a correct phs, it's the last 6 digits that are the most important. 
So now I'm at a dead end until I rip the shell apart more in the hopes of stumbling upon 6 digits stamped somewhere


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

I've never heard of some of those areas for a partial. I've had both my cars down to the bare firewall and found nothing.
Does your car have the original frame ? There's a good chance the partial is stamped on top of the left rail behind the rear tire. My cars do have the partial there. It's almost impossible to see with the body on. I was able to remove the 2 rear mounts on the Chevelle and raise the body enough to see it and the GTO doesn't have a trunk floor, so that was easy....

Be aware that there is a reasonable chance the missing tags are on a clone and may have a current title. You could be opening a huge can of worms...


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## 70Judge (Dec 11, 2009)

Well the 1970 body shell is on a 1972 frame (I've already gotten a phs for the frame yesterday), so I'm trying to get the body shell phs now. 

About the can of worms part, I'm not worried about that; little by little I'm finding that the previous owner took my Judge frame and vin/data tags and put them on his 1972 Luxury Lemans body, labeling the whole car as a Judge (which is super wrong as well as illegal in my state). 

So until then, I'm still digging in the body shell for a partial vin, it's got to be in there somewhere... :willy:


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

I'd be willing to bet that IF there ever was a partial on that body that it has been removed/destroyed so it can never come back to haunt him. If your plan is to expose his fraud and get the tags/frame back to resurrect the original car, I doubt it will happen.


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## 70Judge (Dec 11, 2009)

I'm not looking to bust anybody, I just want to get the facts about the history of my car. The switch was done about 26 years ago (before numbers or judges were even worth anything, when you could buy a running judge for $1500), so there's a pretty good chance that the other car's not around anymore anyway.


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

Is there any way to backtrack to the previous owner thru the frame VIN ?


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## 70Judge (Dec 11, 2009)

That's a great idea, because the last owner on the frame VIN title may have owned both of them at the same time so he could make two into one; or may at least be able to give me some info on tracking down the correct VIN for the GTO. It's worth a try...:cheers


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## 66tempestGT (Nov 28, 2009)

little by little I'm finding that the previous owner took my Judge frame and vin/data tags and put them on his 1972 Luxury Lemans body, labeling the whole car as a Judge (which is super wrong as well as illegal in my state). 

what is the difference in this and keeping the old cowl but replacing the quarters, trunk, doors, fenders, hood, floor pans, trunk pans etc.....:confused


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