Alpineracer8
Donation Time
Information on every state is here:
http://www.bipac.net/page.asp?content=tag_title_toolbox&g=SEMAGA
I looked at Ky. site and it appears under SOME circumstances it is legal to swap a VIN. I looked at Ohio also and it is def permissible, but possibly easier with body on frame vehicles. I guess in that case the frame is whats titled and not the body. A lot of older cars have the VIN attached to the drivers door. What happens when the door rusts, or is wrecked? Change the door or junk the car? I have a friend that owns a COPO 427 Camaro that he has totaled 2 times, the only original body part left on that car is the cowl, with VIN attached. The entire front end is replacement sheetmetal, the car was clipped to repair it, meaning it was cut in half and the rear half of a completly differnt car was used to weld it back together. Is IT the same valuable vehicle it was when new??
Certainly a COPO Camaro is one seriously valuable piece of machinery. It's too bad that your friend's car has had such a rough life. You mentioned that some cars have the VIN attached to the driver's door. While true, it is almost invariably stamped into some other part of the vehicle as well. I can speak for early Shelbys as I use to own a '65 G.T. 350. The Shelby serial number was on a plate that was riveted over the Ford-stamped Mustang serial number on the driver's inner fender panel. The Ford serial number was also stamped on the passenger side inner fender panel and covered by the passenger side outer fender itself. In order to see it, you had to unbolt the fender and pull it away from the car. I've also been told that they were stamped in other places on the chassis, but I never bothered to look any further on my car.
As far as the value of your friend's Camaro, if the history goes with the car as it should, no, it would generally be considered to be less valuable than a car that had sustained little or no damage in it's life. Is it still worth something because of what it is?...you betcha it is. It's a COPO Camaro and, as such, it'll always bring more than a regular Camaro. Here, though, is where you start splitting hairs. Depending upon the buyer, the car may be worth more to one guy than to the next for a myriad of reasons. Personally, given the history and the fact that I would be more inclined to be interested in it for it's collectibility, I would probably pass on it. However, if I were going to take it out and possibly vintage drag race it, then the damage history wouldn't mean nearly as much to me.