I have a 66 Valiant that has its certicard and fender tag BUT the VIN plate in the door jam fell off sometime in the past. What are my options? Can someone repop these?

You may be in trouble if you are stopped and they check the VIN #.
Most states will issue a substitute VIN tag and # for special cases. You may want to check into one.
It's illegal to duplicate the original tag.

Cecil

Yes, the original tag can be reproduced -- and no, you won't get into trouble for it (it's illegal to attempt to conceal the identity of a car with a false or other-car VIN tag). There are strict regulations on proof of car identity before a replacement VIN tag can be made. There are companies that specialize in it, but I've never patronized them because I've never needed a replacement VIN tag. Oddly enough, I am told that Trim Tag http://www.trimtag.com/ does the job. You'd never know it from their website, but the word is "E-mail them".


Alternatively, yes, you could go to your state's motor vehicle registrar and have the state issue the car a new VIN.

No, you can NOT have an reproduction of the original made legally. It is the only item on your car that can not be legally reproduced.
You can get in trouble if you can't prove it's your car. You may get in trouble just for not having a legal VIN tag. Most states will require one. A car without a VIN tag is like a gun with the serial #s ground off. It may be your gun, but the #s a required to be there.
You can only get a new tag with a new state issued VIN #. This is the VIN tag, not the fender tag which IS reproduced. The VIN # was included on the '69 and later fender tags but it is not the legal VIN tag.

Cecil

I know that in Illinois the SoS office will retag your car IF you have all the proper documentation. The tag will also be stamped SoS after the VIN.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

I do not think you are correct with respect to the car being discussed here, which was made prior to the National Highway Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1968. This act, among other things, established standards and regulations on vehicle VINs. The provisions are not retroactive. So, please show us the Federal law you believe prohibits the reproduction of a VIN tag for a 1966 vehicle.

I appreciate all the debate about this. The truth of the matter comes down to this. The 66 Wagon I have is not rusty, is relatively straight, and is "time capsule" complete. However, without some kind of VIN tag, the car is only a parts car, which is a crying shame.

I have never had anyone look at my VIN tag...for any reason...if the car is registered in your name , what is the problem?

On a similar note , my Suburban is on its 3rd body...the chassis is an 84 but was reregistered as an 89 when i changed bods...the current body is a 73 from out of province, but it is still registered as an 89 cuz i didnt want to have it inspected. Body shops do this stuff all the time. I just swap VIN tags and Emmisions tags. Reregister under the new colour. My current registration says 89 4wd,,,the 89 body originally was 2wd. Costs $30 here to change the registration (colour , 4wd etc)

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Sandy has an excellent real-world point. The only time the VIN plate gets scrutinized and compared to the other VIN stampings on the vehicle (which exist uniformly only on '81-up vehicles) is in a situation where the vehicle has been stolen or used in certain kinds of crimes and there is evidence that the true identity of the vehicle has been concealed, or if all of the registration paperwork has been lost *and* the registrant has died or is otherwise unreachable and a vehicle VIN inspection is required.

In any of these cases, if the replacement VIN plate matches the original VIN plate in size, shape, placement and (obviously) actual VIN stamped into it, and this VIN matches every other VIN on the vehicle and its paperwork, there is no reason to believe anyone would get into any trouble. Assume the situation did arise that the vehicle's VIN needed to be checked thoroughly. A law enforcement officer doing a VIN verification would inspect the VIN tag, the fender tag, perhaps the certicard, the partial VIN stampings on various parts of the car, and the vehicle's paperwork. If all the VINs match, and the VIN is appropriate to the vehicle being inspected, then the vehicle passes the VIN inspection.

I found the company I was certain existed to serve exactly this market: http://www.datatags.com/

When I have gotten stopped by police for whatever in the past, they look at the vehicle's vin tag as well as the license plate. I guess they are looking for stolen vehicles. Yes, I could move a VIN tag from another car, but personally I don't think it's worth the raised eyebrows when it would come time to sell it. My own experience from my state's DOT is this "if the title matches the vin and if the body style matches what's coming down the road, it doesn't matter". The states do realize that 40 year old cars may be somewhat of a mix and match parts bag. However, I know I wouldn't want to buy a restored car missing it's proper VIN tag, would you? The state issued vin would be ok, but not desireable in my opinion. My car is complete, but ratty, so it's a question of putting money into it or not.

If your car is complete but ratty then the VIN plate is unecessary . Your car fits into the "pro-beater " category like my Valiant. All thats necessary when pulled over is too shrug your shoulders and say "Idunno" The cops never no where to look anyway,,,,just show them the fender tag.
The cops are always mystified by my car,,,,,looks good at 130km/hr but a little tattered at stop. I just explain it is an "unrestored rally car from the 65 Shell 4000 Rally....worth more in original condition,,,,a piece of automotive history,,,,you dont know much about vintage performance cars do you officer?" They usually say "well slow down,,,,we dont want anyone hurt" "yessir!....just got a lil carried away yer officer"

ahhhhhhhhh Pro-beater! Cost me $158cdn for plates and insurance for 3 months including comprehensive, fire,theft and animal collision.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

WHAAT?!

I have an '89 D100 and a spotless, perfect driving record. Atto Insurance and their underwriter York Fire and Health are robbing me blind. WHat company are you with?

Insurance Corporation of British Columbia....public insurance. I asked....they said 1965 vehicles have a low rate of accidents and are cheap to repair. Plus I am a "Roadstar" .....means I only get 1 speeding ticket a year and qualify for 40% discount.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Of course 65' vehickles have a low rate of accidents... not a whole lot of people still drive them . My insurance is about $100, though it's basic.

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My car may be slow to sixty, but at least it's been reliably slow to sixty for more than thirty years.

Ah yes, public insurance. The kind virtually all the Ontario Premier candidates swore they would introduce if elected...and then, predictably, the winner immediately bent over for the insurance companies and essentially said "Ha ha, just kidding". My rates *doubled* this year, despite zero accidents/tickets. When I asked how come, the agent said "The insurance companies made bad investments during the dot.com boom, and now they're having to recover that money, so rates are going up." Grrr.