Problem with my VIN
 

I just realized that the VIN on my '50 beetle does not match the VIN on the California registration paperwork. The VIN on the car matches cars built in July of 1950, as does the engine number. The VIN on the registration card is for a beetle built in December of 1950. My father had the car for 30 years before handing it over to me. He never realized either.

I need to straighten this out with the DMV. How should I proceed? They might get suspicious.

Well, since it has not been a problem for all those years I would NOT SAY A WORD! Leave the car title as is unless your dad dies, which is not a good thing to have to think about and then take care of it.

But I can never sell it as is.

I was just thinking. Maybe my car was stolen, and then registered as a car that had been totaled. The PO to my father had it since the 60's. If it is found to have been stolen way back in the 60's, does it go back the heirs of the original owner?

Check out fastfred's post about the barn find. There are two links to look up a vin and see if it is stolen. Run the vin and find out.

This happens a lot with VW's. I'd follow Glen's suggestion and run a VIN check as a first step. Just how different are the numbers? Is it just a single digit or are the paperwork numbers completely unrelated to the VIN on the car? If completely different, theft is a possibility.

I ran both VINs and they came up empty for either stolen or totalled. The car has been either owned by my father, or the friend he bought from since the 1960s. So it probably would have been stolen in the 50s, if it was stolen. Maybe that's just too long ago to have any documentation.

To clarify: the VIN on the pink slip is 1234 but the VIN on the car is 5678? Do the VINs on the tunnel and in the trunk match? (I don't think a 1950 would have the VIN by the ebrake handle)

I'm glad I bought and registered my old Aston Martin DB4 before computers. The "VIN" was 438L "L" for left hand drive.

Is thwr a second vin somewhere? My mustang had one of the fender aprons replaced which is where the primary and viable vin is located. The donor fender apron has the cin from a different car. On the opposite fender apron, the one that is original to the car, the correct vin exists however its normally covered by the passenger side fender. Check for more vins....

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