Re: Am I missing something?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ds1</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My understanding years ago that swapping bodies was not illegal as long as you disclose it. Additionally the Dynacorn bodies are considered and approved by GM as a restoration part. Dan </div></div>
As for the first sentence: Not to rehash, but you are quite incorrect from a criminal law standpoint.
As for the second sentence: just because GM declares it a replacement part, that doesn't over-rule 100 years of motor vehicle laws. Regardless of what side of the VIN swapping debate you are on, this is the problem with old laws not keeping up with the advance of technology. There needs to be an update of the federal and state laws concerning the issue of replacement bodies.
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Agreed. Disclosure is a good thing, but swapping the VIN tags from one body to another like what apparently happened to the car in question is simply illegal.
What you can do in some states - if the VIN needs to be removed from a vehicle to repair it, you can do so, but you need to have someone from the state police there to watch, verify, and fill out some sort of paperwork. I believe this is how one could try to legally take a VIN from an existing vehicle and attach it to a Dynacorn body -- you would have to say that it's necessary as a repair (i.e., the completely rusted 69 T/A in the other thread). With the police there to verify and document, this might work. A cleaner way to do this would be to use the firewall from the original car and graft it into the new body, without removing the VIN.
Bottom line - you have to concern yourself with the federal law and state law. And state laws differ from state to state.
My $.02.
Scott
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