Title and VIN

[JayBob]

I'm not sure how it works in most states, but I just bought a 1948 Willys CJ2A project from Ohio, and in Indiana you have to have any out of state vehicle inspected for a VIN to get a new title. I have the OH title and it shows a six digit VIN number (weird?), but everywhere I look I can't find a number on this rig.

The tub has been partially restored and there's no stamp on the firewall that I've found. The frame has been repainted, but I don't see any evidence of where a tag would be.

Anyone familiar with Indiana titling, is this going to be a problem if there are no numbers to be inspected? I really want to put a '48 plate on it and be able to putz around on the back roads...legally. ;)

[LarrBeard]

Everything in Indiana is a PITA, believe me.

The six digit number could have been a motor number at some time or another

Take all of the paper you have and go to your local License Branch. If you don't get an answer you like, go to another branch and ask again. Just a few words of difference in how the clerk hears you can make a world of difference.

Indiana threw the title to the '48 out when they computerized records. They had no record of title when I went to re-register the vehicle. It then became my problem not theirs. It looked for a long time that I was going to have to complete about a half inch thick stack (no joke) of paper and appear before a judge to swear that I really owned my truck.

But, at the third branch, the clerk said "Oh, that only applies if the vehicle originally sold for more than $5,000." Believe it or not, she had a file showing that a 1948 2WD Willys-Overland pick-up truck originally sold for $1,876 or so. With that info, I grabbed the papers and re-titled it before someone changed their mind.

Since you have an Ohio title with a VIN, you may have to do what I did 'way back in 1969. The Tennessee title had the motor number on it - and that motor was long gone. I had to have a State Trooper inspect the vehicle and then I had to affix a permanent tag with an Indiana assigned VIN; MVIN238xxIND - a number by which it is still known.

Get a bill o sale, a notarized note from the seller saying that the VIN tag was lost in a renovation project and start going to license branches.

Good Luck.....

Then, since i had let the registration lapse in 1977, I had to pay three years registration as a penalty. Dern bureaucrats.

[JayBob]

Cool, thanks!