Had a few hour to kill today in Los Angeles so I toured three different yards. I am in commercial real estate and got a call from one of the major pick u parts on Monday looking for 3 to 10 acre vacant lots to temporary park the cash for clunker cars they are receiving from dealers. This operator told me at minimum he is going to need 25-30 acres to park the cars that are on there way. I was blown away today how many virgin Montero's, Jeeps, Blazers, Toyota 4-runners I looked at today and to think this the tip of the iceberg. I have a 87 and a 88 Gen1 SWB and I looked at every flavor of Monty today from 86 to 2002. I was amazed. Been thinking of changing out my rear end in the 88 to the 98 to 99 sport leaf set up. Found two of those today. What am I looking for and what do I need to pull to swap into a 88 1st GEN SWB? I even found a 1989 1st Gen V6 with a manual trans that I was told is almost impossible to find. Very fun day spent a lot on $$$ today will be back soon. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/drunk.gif" alt="" />

Anyone have any updates on saleability of them? IOW, can one be bought with a salvage title and a new motor swapped in?

no that cant be done

That's a question that every yard operator may have to answer for himself. My answer is "No".

The title cannot pass - salvage or otherwise - on the C4C vehicles. The titles must be marked as clunkers and turned in to the states. If I don't do that, I can go to a federal prison for a long time. Financial fines are in addition.

It is legal for parts to be sold with the exception of engine blocks. If you take that literally, it means that a person could dismantle the doors, fenders, hood, remove the body tub from the frame and consider the tub as 1 part - sell that and then sell the individual parts for the customer to reassemble as a complete body. You can continue that rationale until the entire vehicle minus the engine was available for sale.

The problem with that is that it violates the intent of the C4C idea and what will happen is that someone/somewhere will try to use the VIN from the recreated vehicle to register it as a used vehicle. When that happens, even though it is the responsibility of the person attempting to register the vehicle, suspicion will likely be cast on the parts seller and the question asked if he sold a vehicle minus the engine. Even though the yard operator would likely be found innocent in a courtroom, the cost of defending that could be large because the stakes would be so high.

So - even though it seems wasteful to destroy the hull of a perfectly nice vehicle, it is what I will do. Others can decide for themselves what risk they want to accept.

Frank

I would pull the VIN tags, hold the title, and make the junk truck buyer sign a waiver about non street use, and such.

Pull the dash plate and firewall plates, peel the sticker from the door jam, and sell the rest. (Not saying you should do so, Frank. Just wishing it was that easy.) <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/baby.gif" alt="" />

Removing a VIN from any part is illegal.

Frank

Which brings up an interesting question: My driver's door was smashed, and I replaced it with a scrapper door that a guy was selling before having his rig hauled off. I guess that technically I now have 2 VINs that don't match each other, but one matches the title..

Suggestions?

If you want to be within the law, go to your local state highway department and ask them. A few months ago, I would have removed the VIN from a used replacement dash and riveted my old VIN to the replacement and thought I was doing the right thing. That was before an attorney told me it was illegal. Undoubtedly, that sort of thing is done and seems to be the easiest solution to replacing parts, but it opens up another issue altogether.

Some states allow replacement parts with a different VIN, so long as you have receipts to show where the parts were purchased (to slow down chop-shop activity). Whether they mark the title or not, I don't know.

There are other areas than the door, dash and A-pillar where VINs are hidden - some are under a section of carpet held down by velcro, some are on the frame, some on the inner fender, the firewall and in the trunk. Each manufacturer has a different "hidey-hole" - often more than one, so I would guess that you shouldn't have to worry about a VIN from a removable part casting suspicion on you - as long as you are prepared to explain it to anyone who looks at the door plate and asks questions. The problem sometimes is that the explanation can take a lot of time and maybe even money.

So, I guess I can't really give anyone advice on what to do about that situation...... it is very prevalent and I've never heard of anyone getting into trouble for that - but I would want to ask someone at my local motor vehicle department before (or after) I did it.

Frank

I am assuming with all the 1st Gen Montero's possibly showing up in the yards over the next 6 months what does that do to the supply of affordable or available parts in the future for 1st Gen's? I was back to one of the yards today and the 89 1st Gen V6 SWB was gone to the crusher and the car the day before was 95% intact. Does anyone know what the junk yards are paying for these cash for clunker cars from the dealers/ US government? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />