Whom makes reproduction firewall cowl tags for a 48-49 Cadillac ?

[Jeff Maltby 4194]

Friend needs one for his 48 convertible.

Thanks in advance.

Jeffo 49er chapter :<)

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Get in touch with a company called AG Back East -- they make reproduction tags for
many cars that look so good you can't tell them from the originals.

Their website is:  http://www.datatags.com/

Mike

[veesixteen]

These were available for a time form CLC Member (or former member?) Carl Stoutenberg. Sorry, I don't seem to have a contact address for Carl at this time.

[jaxops]

Not to alarm anyone but I was watching "Chasing Classic Cars" when they had an auction in Connecticut, and the State Police were all over the cars that had been restored with replaced or re-installed original VIN tags.  I don't know what their issue about it was but it was a headliner on that show.  I would guess that if you have matching numbers elsewhere on the car, even those folks wouldn't have a problem with it. 

[Otto Skorzeny]

Laws vary from state to state. Enforcement also varies. Generally it's a crime to remove those tags or change them. That's why you'll often see 100pt restored classics with a pretty crummy vin tag. Obviously if it's ever removed for any reason and re-installed, the car will always be suspect in the eyes of collectors and law enforcement investigators.

If you do put a new tag on the car, it would be wise to put that fact in writing on the bill of sale should you ever sell it. Keep a copy for yourself. As long as you're open and above board about it, you'll probably not get in any troubleeven if it's not legal in your state.

I am aware of instances where restorers have purchased "used" parts which later turned out to be stolen. With the original, unmolested VIN tag, they were able to prove the entire vehicle was not the stolen car in question. The stolen hemi engine had to be yanked and returned to it's rightful owner but there wasn't any question about the identity of the vehicle itself.

I guess I'm just saying beware of what you do with or to a VIN tag. You wouldn't want to have to try and prove that the car you have is actually the car you say it is simply because someone notices that the VIN tag is not the one that came from the factory or is not installed exactly as it was from the factory .

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Just to be clear.  When I saw the question about a "firewall tag"  for a '48
I knew that would not be a VIN tag -- I assumed the original poster just
confused the nomenclature.

The "cowl tags" that were referenced and are reproduced by AG Back East
for cars of this vintage do not contain the VIN number.  These are the tags
that have the series number, codes for exterior and interior color, body,
accessories.  They are on the cowl in the engine compartment.

On these cars, what we call the VIN number today was the "engine number"
back then and was stamped on the block and the frame.

As pointed out in earlier posts, reproducing an actual VIN tag for a later car
without legal documentation in most states in a "no-no".  How you get that
documented and approved is different in every state

Mike

[Jeff Maltby 4194]

My mistake :<(

Thanks