1993 Cobra Help

[saleen09]

UPDATE : Just got off the phone with Washington State DOL in Olympia. The VIN on the dash shows clean. VIN# for the Cobra has no records, meaning that there has been NO activity for 7 years. IF the VIN# had ever been reported stolen, it would had been exempt from the above rule and would still show as flagged and active.

Little light at the end of the tunnel......

 

[cobra186]

Another possiblity that I ran into once before on a car.... The vin tag was switched when the car was fairly new. The owner had financed the car and did not make any payments on the car so instead of the car getting repoed, he swapped the vin #s with another mustang he had. So when the repo man came looking for the car at his address the vin# did not match the car he was looking for... little did he know that was the car that was to be repoed.

A few years went by and the guy decided to sell the car. He was trying to sell this original 5.0 Coupe on a 4cyl coupe vin # that he had swapped over. He was selling the car dirt cheap too just to get rid of it. Once I put 2 & 2 together I figured out what he had done and turned him into the theft task force.

One other thing.... look on the bottom side of each door for the vin tag sticker. All of the theft recovery cobra/mustangs that I have dealt with over the years, the thieves always miss scraping off those two stickers since they can not been seen unless you bend way over or lay on the ground.

 

[saleen09]

cobra186, no tags on bottom of doors.

WSP inspection is closed Friday, will be there bright and early Monday morning and see when they can fit me in.....

Also, I ordered both build sheets from Ford. The 1993 should be here in 7-10 days, the 90 can take 4-6 weeks....

 

[big frank]

interesting. Im gonna watch this to see what happens

 

[got hp]

I agree with everyone else. It is a 93 Cobra but with a VIN tag from a 90. Only one logical reason to do that and scrape off the VIN sticker on the door, it's stolen. If the buck tag has a different VIN than the dash VIN, I would return it immediately before it gets confiscated and you loose your money.

 

[MyFordsFly]

Interesting situation you got there Will. If indeed its all good and was actually sold out of Skagit Ford there is a good chance me and that car have spent a little time together.

 

[saleen09]

Was fortunate enough to find some paperwork in the car with the previous owner's contact info. He called me back earlier today and I got some good info.

He bought the car 4-5 years ago and was told it was a Cobra clone. He bought it from a younger guy in Kent who's father was making him get rid of it (speeding tickets). He never had an issue registering it or otherwise. Guy was quite cool......

 

[cobr96]

Yes , if you take it in to the state DOL , I'd have another ride waiting to take me home, Because if the vin has been changed they will most likely keep it. If the vin were just missing (no vin) you could just get new reassigned vin.

 

[saleen09]

Well, just got back from WSP and the car checked out fine. As far as they're concerned, the car is a GT that has 93 Cobra parts on it.

Turns out that both the 90 GT VIN and the 93 Cobra VIN were listed as Stolen/recovered at one time. Not quite sure how things ended up as they did, and WSP doesn't care. She had more information to reinforce their stance that the car is 100% in their eyes, but couldn't disclose as it was Law Enforcement purposed only.

Looks like I get to keep my early Christmas present!

Thanks again to all for contributing the information in this thread.

Now to compile a parts list to order on Wednesday......

 

[big frank]

Well, just got back from WSP and the car checked out fine. As far as they're concerned, the car is a GT that has 93 Cobra parts on it.

Turns out that both the 90 GT VIN and the 93 Cobra VIN were listed as Stolen/recovered at one time. Not quite sure how things ended up as they did, and WSP doesn't care. She had more information to reinforce their stance that the car is 100% in their eyes, but couldn't disclose as it was Law Enforcement purposed only.

Looks like I get to keep my early Christmas present!

Thanks again to all for contributing the information in this thread.

Now to compile a parts list to order on Wednesday......

Excellent news, Congratulations!

 

[cobr96]

you need to run the vin and see who is the registered owner of the cobra or at least who has the cobra title. and try to get a reassigned vin to match the cobra.

 

[93Cobra#2771]

And that might even help you out to document the unusual history of the car. Won't make it more valuable, but will certainly make for an interesting read.

On the positive side, it will make your insurance less expensive. On the negative side, if it ever gets stolen, you get compensation for a 90 model. :lol: