Hello all my first post and a I need some help deciding what to do. It is a 34 year old colorful story. Sorry if it a bore, just pass the story part if you like but I think it is an important part of its history..
In 1981 I got the 1979 10th Anniversary TA with my dad. We bought it from a "friend" of his at a good price (not a steal but a good number). Great car and at 23 years old I loved it. But I really did not know much about them nor did I even know to check that the Vin matched the 10th Anniversary sequence. In 1983 police department call us and wanted to "see" the car for what reason they would not say. I was in school in Washington DC and I had to bring the car back to NYC. Sure enough when the police arrived they explained to us the car had been "VINED". For those of you who may not know this is a scam where they buy a wrecked similar vehicle cheap and transfer its vin number to the stolen vehicle. They advised us that they would have to confiscate the car and that since it was stolen we could be prosecuted but knowing that we were victims as well they would not. Of course the "friend" knew nothing about it and we were simply out of the money we had paid for it.
Well the story continued. I had to go back to school and I thought that my beloved TA was gone. But my poor dad (who was basically a uneducated immigrant that worked extremely hard all his life) felt so bad about this that he basically haunted the police, insurance company and then ultimately the salvager by calling them every day to insist they sell the car back to him. It was no easy task. Well the car was now back in our possession but again the story could not end there and while in my procession the car was stolen twice from me. The last time in 1986 it was missing for 4 months. Gone again I was in the process of trying to settle with the insurance company when I got a call saying that the car was recovered. There it was cleaner then when it was taken and complete.
At that time it was put into my dad's house in the garage up on jacks to keep the wheels of the ground, covered it but being foolish I did nothing else to winterize it. 28 years later I need to decide what to do with it. My dad passed away 2 years ago and the house has been sold.
So that's it's history and here is the problem.
First how do I verify that this is a 1979 10th Anniversary TA besides the Vin number. If I am not mistaken there are other VIN numbers on the car be sides the dash's VIN. Where are they located? How do I determine that the engine tranny and rear or original and correct. I have little doubt that they are not original but I would assume that it is critical before I consider restoring the car.
Assuming that it is a correct 10th Anniversary TA the next issue is that when the police confiscated the car they did not return its original VIN number to it. In fact the VIN spot on the dash is blank. It has been given a NY State number like NYS12345 I have tried contacting the state and they told me I could not research and give it the original number no circumstances despite its historical significance.
So again assuming it is a true 10th TA, how much does the lack of the ability for it to have a correct VIN number effect is value? My assumption is that it is a lot, but enough to make it not worth restoring? I d not want to spend a bunch of $$$$ restoring a vehicle that at some point no one will want.
As for as restoring it, the car was running when it was put away. The body is solid original no real rust, the interior is all there but some of the plastic has become brittle and the leather seats were split back in the 80's so they need to be replaced. The paint is original but needs to be redone. As far as the engine goes unknown. So what do I need to do to get her back up and running? Drain out all the fluids and replace them? Clean out the fuel and brake lines? Or does she need to be completely rebuilt??
So what to do? The car and me have a lot of history together but money is always tight and with the whole VIN number issue I am not sure what that really comes down to. Is it worth putting all kinds of money into it?? What does everyone think? Sorry for the long story!!!
Thanks Ike
In 1981 I got the 1979 10th Anniversary TA with my dad. We bought it from a "friend" of his at a good price (not a steal but a good number). Great car and at 23 years old I loved it. But I really did not know much about them nor did I even know to check that the Vin matched the 10th Anniversary sequence. In 1983 police department call us and wanted to "see" the car for what reason they would not say. I was in school in Washington DC and I had to bring the car back to NYC. Sure enough when the police arrived they explained to us the car had been "VINED". For those of you who may not know this is a scam where they buy a wrecked similar vehicle cheap and transfer its vin number to the stolen vehicle. They advised us that they would have to confiscate the car and that since it was stolen we could be prosecuted but knowing that we were victims as well they would not. Of course the "friend" knew nothing about it and we were simply out of the money we had paid for it.
Well the story continued. I had to go back to school and I thought that my beloved TA was gone. But my poor dad (who was basically a uneducated immigrant that worked extremely hard all his life) felt so bad about this that he basically haunted the police, insurance company and then ultimately the salvager by calling them every day to insist they sell the car back to him. It was no easy task. Well the car was now back in our possession but again the story could not end there and while in my procession the car was stolen twice from me. The last time in 1986 it was missing for 4 months. Gone again I was in the process of trying to settle with the insurance company when I got a call saying that the car was recovered. There it was cleaner then when it was taken and complete.
At that time it was put into my dad's house in the garage up on jacks to keep the wheels of the ground, covered it but being foolish I did nothing else to winterize it. 28 years later I need to decide what to do with it. My dad passed away 2 years ago and the house has been sold.
So that's it's history and here is the problem.
First how do I verify that this is a 1979 10th Anniversary TA besides the Vin number. If I am not mistaken there are other VIN numbers on the car be sides the dash's VIN. Where are they located? How do I determine that the engine tranny and rear or original and correct. I have little doubt that they are not original but I would assume that it is critical before I consider restoring the car.
Assuming that it is a correct 10th Anniversary TA the next issue is that when the police confiscated the car they did not return its original VIN number to it. In fact the VIN spot on the dash is blank. It has been given a NY State number like NYS12345 I have tried contacting the state and they told me I could not research and give it the original number no circumstances despite its historical significance.
So again assuming it is a true 10th TA, how much does the lack of the ability for it to have a correct VIN number effect is value? My assumption is that it is a lot, but enough to make it not worth restoring? I d not want to spend a bunch of $$$$ restoring a vehicle that at some point no one will want.
As for as restoring it, the car was running when it was put away. The body is solid original no real rust, the interior is all there but some of the plastic has become brittle and the leather seats were split back in the 80's so they need to be replaced. The paint is original but needs to be redone. As far as the engine goes unknown. So what do I need to do to get her back up and running? Drain out all the fluids and replace them? Clean out the fuel and brake lines? Or does she need to be completely rebuilt??
So what to do? The car and me have a lot of history together but money is always tight and with the whole VIN number issue I am not sure what that really comes down to. Is it worth putting all kinds of money into it?? What does everyone think? Sorry for the long story!!!
Thanks Ike
