does your title and vin match?

All of our Tigers have stories and histories. Back when a Tiger was originally sold the salesman would put down some or all of the VIN numbers and letters. In my case the car was sold in California and was continually registered and still has the original black plates. My title has 67 in front of the B nine numbers that match the title and no LRXFE. Another friend just has the 9 numbers on his title, no B or letters. My car is listed as a Rootes not a Sunbeam.

I went to the DMV to fix the problem and found they would not verify my car. They claimed because it was really a 1966 and not a 1967 the CHP would have to verify the car. My car was a late Mk1a and was sold in 1967. I took my TAC and other information but the DMV guy was god and when he decided he couldn't help me he did the bureaucratic thing and said sorry you have to go to the CHP.

I had registered my car at the Russo and Steele auction in Newport Beach on June 7th (the auction where I sold my Oldsmobile two years ago after 36 years of ownership) and they are the ones that are making me fix the problem. I don't know that it can be fixed in time for the auction since CHP has a long backlog for verifications. “The vin tag and title must be an exact match”. So the question is does you title and vin match. If not, you should try to fix it before you run into a problem. Lee

Roadster

My car has a title of a roadster no B or no LRXFE it is a original rivet car. Every other soft top car I had was and are listed CVN I think meaning convertible.

My INF 70 reply goes way back to the 70's but that's where the trail goes cold.

I hope you can get it resolved by finding a local peace officer to verify the car. I know you want a red Tiger but maybe you will be happy with the red 442 since she's out of mothballs.

So many cars so little time a terrible problem to have

My car was titled without the LRXFE. I got a peace officer friend to sign off on it and that was all that was needed to get the LRXFE added to the title. This was late 80's in Cali, don't know if it's still that easy...

My California titled car shows a MAKE of Sunbeam, and CV (convertible) with B and LRXFE it is a original rivet car. My car was built July 1964 and is registered as a year model 1964.

Finding a local peace officer to verify the car may not work as I understand it in California only the CHP can verify; and only "specially assigned CHP can verify".

Good luck.

When I bought my car on 01 the Vin was minus several of the 0's and the LRXFE.

I registered the car through AAA and had the clerks there do a verification and change the title.
Now everything matches. This was not something I wanted to trust a DMV drone to do.

Why here is the form

From CA DMV sure it may be similar in different states . AAA results may vary several times both the local offices said no way we do not do it anymore. Apparently too many Harley's and other things were slipping through the cracks as it was reported to me.

When I brought my car back from CA to AZ it was plated as a 67 not as a 66. I thought, well back in the day they would sometimes title the cars when they were sold not necessarily when they were manufactured. Went to the DMV here in AZ to get it changed and that's when I discovered that the CA title had the JAL number as the vin. When I explained the discrepancy they told me that I would have to have the car inspected by one their people. They had volumes of thick books that this guy used to determine if my car was legit. In the end I got the AZ title with the correct vin and year but I have to admit I was a little nervous. The guy was very professional and was well aware of some of the earlier practices when titling cars back in the day. Glad I don't have to do that again.

So good information so far. If you need to go to CHP you need to go to your office. Mine is Santa Ana. There is one officer assigned therefore you are at his mercy. Mine, officer White was on his day off today and I left a message. Two weeks means I miss the auction. Even though the form says auto club can do it I don't think they do it anymore as Warren said. I will check next but expect a change in the VIN will make them nervous. Lee

Score at AAA. I am not sure they were supposed to do it but he liked the car and believed me when I presented the information. Left with a new Vin matching my vin plate. Yeah!!! You should all do that with your cars too. Lee

Yea I'm afraid my title is all jacked up because it was registered by a jack ass in FL and when i got the title back I was the dumb ass for not taking care of it at the time.
Most likely be a hassle when I die

enTitled

Mine also says "Rootes" for the make and "SBTIG" for the model. I didn't object to that any as it's technically accurate, but the out of state title I got it with just had the 9471705 as the serial number. When I filled out the paperwork with the Calif DMV (which included having the mandatory inspection for an out of state vehicle) I made them put the complete VIN number on the title. The clerk said "B9471705LRXFE" sure is a long serial number for a 1965 car", and I said "well, that's what's on the VIN tag, here's the inspection form". So, I figured that was the most important part and didn't want to argue about (nor was certain even of what would be accurate to argue for) the make and model.
Bob K.
B9471705

Bob: You nailed my issue. I had a choice go to AAA and hopefully fix the important part of the title or go to CHP miss the auction and fight for removal of Rootes and change my car year back to 1966. This was going to be a big battle. The next owner can fix the rest. Getting the 67 off the front of my title and the letters back on was enough. Please note that this car was registered as new this way and has been continuously registered under the same title. No out of state or restart. It has the original license plates on the car. Lee

Insurance VIN

At least here in Arizona, they cross check between the DMV and insurance records and see if they match. So if you have the VIN number changed on your title, you may have to change it with your insurance company as well.

Vin

Leepear, thanks for posting this. I am in the process of registering my Tiger. On the pink it's listed as Rootes, Vin # starts with '66' then the numbers (no B), leaves out one '0' and no LRXFE. body type is RDSSBTIG.
Went to AAA. They said they couldn't do it and referred me to the CHP and gave me some forms to fill out. One being a CHP certification.
This week I'm going to go feel out the DMV. Not looking forward to that!
We'll see where this leads...

alphabet soup

"66" was added to my title as well. When the Fla DMV hot rod guru walked out to the car...he screamed "this is all wrong. there isn't a 66 anywhere! wi no alpha letters, this is all illegitimate"I was a nervous wreck! Once inside the older lady at the desk quietly said "we added the year (in Fla) as well when there were not enough digits back then" She kept the title identical. Sadly she retired and all we are left with are the young idiots. Heaven help us all

JB66CAT said:

Leepear, thanks for posting this. I am in the process of registering my Tiger. On the pink it's listed as Rootes, Vin # starts with '66' then the numbers (no B), leaves out one '0' and no LRXFE. body type is RDSSBTIG.
Went to AAA. They said they couldn't do it and referred me to the CHP and gave me some forms to fill out. One being a CHP certification.
This week I'm going to go feel out the DMV. Not looking forward to that!
We'll see where this leads...

Click to expand...

I've probably told this story in another thread but will repeat it here...

I bought my Tiger almost 10 years ago from a doctor in Texas... it was originally a California car but made it's way east in the early '90's .
After requesting pics of the VIN , generator dent and many other areas of the car, we cut a deal sight unseen and proceeded to arrange shipping to Canada. To bring a car across the border, the entry point of choice requires that the U.S. Customs office ( at the crossing ) needs to have a 'copy' of both bill of sale and title at least 3 working days ahead of the actual crossing. The seller faxed me up a copy of his title and it read...

663B2000446 1966 ROOT 2D

On a Texas title, you are only allowed year, 4 letters for make, NO model and 2 letters for body style !!

I saw the VIN ( on the title ) and said... " There ain't no way they'll let me bring it across with THAT title !!

So... seller begins to try and sort it out.... many days and offices later, he is told that he has to take the car to an office about 50 miles away to see a 'DPV stolen car specialist' !!

I'll quote his email verbatim after he got back from there...

"...got in touch with DPS stolen car guy - and up to Athens I go. nice guy, but no 'gimmees' here. not only scrutinized the VIN tag, but inspected the entire car - and I mean everywhere - WAY down in engine bay, as far back as he could on trans, engine block, door jams, trunk, etc - inspection probably took a full 20 minutes. he wasn't concerned at all about the 'rivets without a plate'. ( edit: NO spec plate on an early MK1A )

next TWO hours were in his office. he was on his computer, then hooked up with some lady somewhere. INTERNATIONAL database. lots of discussion, as neither DPS or this consulting lady knew anything about Sunbeam, Rootes, or Tigers - boy they did by the end. seems that 'bout half were registered/reported as Rootes, other as Sunbeams. didn't make much difference to him, but since the title's history is as a Rootes, he felt we were putting ourselves at risk of a 'variance' if we changed it now. I didn't even bring up the 2d vs CV.

but, on the VIN. they found that all tigers had the same five alpha suffix - and, as such, that the suffix was non-identifying and non- discriminating, so not part of a vehicle IDENTIFICATION number, hence, why it's not part of the title's record. I asked, since they did find that it was definitely part of the vehicles factory VIN designation, would he put in on the title to make our (your) task at the border easier. he responded that he 'verified VIN's', that he didn't 'fabricate' them. hmmm, little sensitive there. restated our concern that the border / customs inspectors might not know the tiger's history - that the alpha suffix was the same on all of them, and therefore not actually part of a VIN number. he assured me, that they knew what they were doing, and had the same access to the same database & records that he had just used. he pointed out that he worked customs at DFW for years and done tons of foreign cars - that they KNOW what they're doing. [/B]..."

So.. they ended up citing a 'clerical' error and re-issued a new title B382000446 and that's the way I intend to keep it !!

My B.C. reg. now says 'Sunbeam' but oddly enough the model is listed as TIGSP

That is why I started this thread. Get it fixed while there is no pressure. You don't want to miss an auction, sale or get your car questioned at the border. Many Tigers in California were originally registered as Rootes/ they were Rootes dealers. You can see that Russo Steele insisted on putting Rootes in the auction title even though I protested.

The year in front of the vin is common, no "B", no letters on the end. If the numbers are incorrect that is where you will have a problem. I could not have fixed my vin easily with the nine numbers on the title not matching my vin plate, that is what really counts. Lee

Note: When you go to the DMV or VIN person either print out this discussion or refer them to this discussion. When I was rejected at the DMV the dufas went to the internet to research. This is a good discussion to confirm some of the differences in the registration methods when new and over the years of transfer of our cars.