OriginalityFor cars older than the last ten model years and newer than 1960 contact Pontiac Historical Services, P.O. Box 884, Sterling Heights, MI, 48311-0884. Send $35 for a copy of the factory invoice and other information. You may also visit their website: http://www.phs-online.com If you own a Canadian Pontiac contact GM Canada for verification. From Jim Mattison of PHS: First, maybe you already know that if you "really" study some of the buff books and enthusiast magazines, there are vendor ads (not necessarilly in the Pontiac section) which can provide trim tags for a car. These ads elude to the fact that the vendor is working with the local police departments. Even the most un-informed can easily recognize that is not the case, at all!!! Most of these tags are NOT used to replace lost or otherwise mutilated tags, but rather to add a Fisher Body code to the tag, making it into a GTO, or to change the color or trim on a car. So far, I'm sure this information comes as no surprise to you! Recently we discovered that there is even a vendor, who for the right amount of money, will provide a: "Build Sheet" and Protect-O-Plate of your choice, also! These items first started to show-up with the Corvette folks, but are now beginning to pop-up for ALL of the GM models, including Pontiac. It doesn't take a "rocket scientist" to realize what these items are being used for! Our most recent discovery is that it now appears that "Vin Tags" are being made! It started out with a request to PHS, from a prospective buyer of a car, who was wanting to verify a 1972 GTO Convertible (one of none built), prior to buying it. We informed him that Pontiac never built a '72 GTO Convertible and told him to save his money. He wanted the paperwork anyhow, as the vin showed that the car came with the 455 HO engine, a rare and increasingly desirable combination for a non-GTO, especially on a convertible. When we retrived the vin information on this vehicle, the Pontiac information showed that this car was produced with a 350 2bbl engine, not the 455 HO. Numerous cross-checks and double-checks verified that we had NOT made a mistake! Yesterday, we recieved a photo of the vin plate, as well as a xerox copy of the title for this car. Both the vin plate and title clearly show that this car is a 455 HO Convertible! We have represented Pontiac-GMC Division as an "expert witness" in any legal dispute on an older vehicle, for almost ten years. Every month we are involved in numerous aspects of vehicle tampering, from emissions tampering, to the faking of a GTO's, or other Pontiacs. I am 100% sure that vehicle fraud has just been elevated to a new level!!! I have known for years that there are ways of generating a vehicle title from nothing (that shocked you, I am sure!), but to this point in time, I've never seen one. Trust me, if I've discovered one..................there ARE more out there!!! There are those who cannot understand why I'm so protective of the Pontiac Division records. Some even think that we only do what we do for personal gain and recognition. I assure you that is NOT the case at all! We spend a tremendous amount of our time, behind the scenes, trying to keep the hobby clean and to make sure that decent and honest folks don't get "ripped-off"!!! |
