RRod

Would all cars sold by this dealer, other dealers, or the big name auctions that came with NCRS and/or Bloomington Gold credentials or certifications be worry-free purchases when it comes to ensuring the hidden frame S/N's matched the engine or VIN tab numbers?

Just curious.

62Jeff

No.

Any sort of NCRS/Bloomington award is an indicator of the opinions of the judges on a given day. It is not any sort of certification as to the future correctness of a car.

RRod

Very interesting .... then that provides even more amusing fun when occasionally watching some clueless buyer(s) bidding up supposed "real deal" cars (as described by the show announcers) during those televised classic car auctions on Speed Channel and Velocity TV.

63split63

Mershan is most probably innocent of fraud but guilty of greed, when you are a large dealer ( of anything high value ) there is always the risk that someone will commit fraud to make a quick big score .
They are a big time dealer and need to be held accountable for what they sell , sloppy isn't an excuse for a pro dealer when it come to doccumentation for a high dollar car. Buyer's pay a premium to buy from dealer's of this stature and these dealer's should do their homework on the car's they sell and not wait for the police to do it for them . They are not flipping car's for a few dollars profit . Sloppy dealer's have no excuse .
Kudo's to the police for watching out for the average Joe . It's their job , what the taxpayer's hire them to do .

JMO Bill

Mike Terry

I would bet with about 20 Ohio Highway Police Officers in your office, show room and out on your lot all day that he did not sell any cars that day.

wombvette

I would also bet you can take that same 20 OHP officers and show them 10 well faked cars and they couldn't identify any of them as fakes. From reading the article, and I know nothing but what I read, My guess is this will back fire on them, but at the same time it will damage the dealers reputation. From what the article said they seized cars that simply had an incorrect engine, sorry folks, but that covers about 75% of all our old Corvettes.

I have inspectors call me to ask about numbers on the old cars. I sure wouldn't trust them to make a determination of legitimacy on anything. We don't have the facts, so we will just have to wait to see how it pans out.

LSUvetteguy

It would seem that your car better be matching numbers if you plan on going to a show in Ohio. This should put a real damper on classic cars in that state. What will the police do with restomods or street rods or cars with an LS engine swap?

Hitch

It's amazing how quickly the pitch forks and torches come out here on the forum. I know all of you have numbers matching cars that would have no problem meeting the letter of the law and all. Why don't we wait for the facts to come out before we rush to judgment????

David

Mike Terry

I am sure Mershan did nothing wrong , like you said most (not all) the older cars out there have a different motor in them then what it was born with. Also I am sure without a dought that 95+% of the OHP would not know a 327 from a 350 or a 283. Mershan name and rep is hurt for a while but he will be OK when this all blows over. The only bad thing is when the OHP find out the messed up there will be nothing in the news or news paper about there mess up. As far as them having extra Trim Tage, that is no big deal. Trim tags have nothing to do with the cars title paper work.

Powershift

I wonder why the Ohio State Police selected Mershons and not the Corvette dealer a bit further up north??



Larry

Godholio

I swear officer, it's not mine! I don't know where it came from!

Evidence is seized. Not everything is as useful as hoped. Ever see cops that raid a house and just haul of boxes and bags of stuff? They take anything that MIGHT be useful.

jimgessner

HOPE THESE PHOTOS HELP EXPLAIN

Mike Ward

Just to add- the NCRS does not certify or authenticate anything- it clearly state this on the back of every judging award they issue, not that anybody reads or believes it.

To further make the point- the frame numbers being discussed here are not inspected during Flight Judging activities, nor are transmission numbers. Because engine pad numbers are easily visible these are given a good look, but even the pad is completely blank or is thought to be a horrible restamp, the deduction is pretty minor- the equivalent of a few burned out dash lamps and maybe a non-functioning cigar lighter. There is no attempt to authenticate the engine in the car as being the one that the car was 'born with'. The same can be said for the frame, suspension, interior, pretty much everything.

Anyone who purchases a car using the Flight Award certificate as the sole criteria for being 'original' and 'authenticate' is naive indeed.

kenba

Remember a lot of C-1's had VIN #'S that were held on by 2 screws. When they were repainted plates were taken off & sometime misplaced. Guys that did there own resto. would take a Corvette apart & leave it set for years. I looked at many Corvettes in the 70'S that had the VIN. in a coffee can or no VIN tag at all. I never bought a car with no tag but others did. It didn't seem to be that big of a deal in the day. After the Bloomington ordeal I made sure all cars had SN/titles & the parts had #'S where needed.
Somebody at Mershons screwed up by having loose VIN tags. I am not sure if loose trim tags are illegal to have. You can buy them on EBAY & else where. Also you can buy titles for almost any car which I don't think is right.
KEN

FASTZ

so I guess everyone without the original drivetrain and frame in their car,of which there are more than those who do,is either S.O.L. or has the perfect excuse to restamp their cars

markmywords

This does not bode well for restomods where not much matches and street rods where nothing matches,It looks as if the law wanted they could take all of these cars

wmf62

nothing matches in my car, but i have a ton of pictures for every change i've ever made. don't know if that would help, but it's the best i will ever be able to do...
Bill

John McGraw

Your understanding is incorrect. I can't speak to OH, as I do not live there, but most states have provisions that allow removal of the VIN tag for purposes of repair or restoration. My state is one of those, and it is not unusual for me to have at least one loose VIN tag in my shop at any given time. In many states, it is only a crime to remove the tag if it is done with the intent of masking the true identity of the car. Without intent, there is no crime in many states. In most of these states, a person can remove the tag if the car belongs to him. or he has the owner's permission to remove the tag.

There are federal laws about removing VIN tags, but they all require intent to mask the identity of stolen cars.


Regards, John McGraw

Nitrodamus

Not to suggest anything... , but I can imagine there was a cleaning and pick-up in the shop area.

Plus, it would take more than 20 police to search all the Corvettes there.

corvette67jim

I wonder if law enforcement knows that CE blocks(IE.warranty replacement blocks) do not have that car's serial number on it.There are so many of these cars with replacement motors and frames that if what they are enforcing is lawful then most better hide their cars or start restamping them now.I bet that the cars will be returned and there will not be a story in the paper reporting that.