Best Muscle Cars
How To Buy A Fake Muscle Car
By Dave Ashton
Buying a fake muscle car is actually pretty easy. Check nothing, ask no questions and ideally buy unseen. However, the reality is that even the experts can be caught out once in awhile as the scammers can go to great lengths to cover all bases. Not exactly great news for a prospective muscle car owner. But, at the very latest, knowing this is a thing, should mean more vigilance on the buyers part.
This article was triggered when I came across this listing on Craigslist. The listing is basically about the guy who initially bought the car, found it to be re-bodied and luckily for him, eventually got his money back.
It seems that after the guy(or girl) purchased the 1970 Cuda in good faith, not only did he find that the car had been re-bodied, but the VIN number on the cowl, radiator and dash had been re-stamped, along with a fake fender tag. The car was also claimed to have done just 10,000 miles and was purchased off the original owner back in the 70’s as a dealer demo vehicle.
There were plenty of other things not exactly correct with the car, which the guy would not have known about until he found a picture of the VIN re-stamping in the center console and a duplicate title (apparently, the seller had simply forgot to remove them from the centre console!)
Long story short, the guy asked for a refund and luckily got his money back. But the plot thickens as the car was spotted by the guy on a Mecum Auction. After contacting Mecum, the sale was cancelled and the highest bidder was refunded.
If you come across a bright yellow 1970 Plymouth Cuda with VIN number BS23V0B159582, walkaway, than let everybody know on this website and forums, where it was for sale and any details.
How to spot a fake muscle
Classic muscle cars have a bunch of identifiers to prove they are authentic. VIN tags on the cowl, dash and radiator. Code stamps on the engine and transmission which should match, along with documentation such as the build sheet and title. But as above, these can be copied to an extent.
Which leaves us with having to perform potentially a lot of homework and checking. Time-consuming, yes, but not as bad as parting with lots of hard earned cash for something that isn’t what it says it is.
If you don’t know the P’s and Q’s cues about a particular car you are interested in, you will have to use an expert to give the car a thorough examination. Again, costs are involved here, but far cheaper than buying a fake car. There are muscle and pony car authentication services for different types of muscle car, such as a Marti Report for Fords, but these can take some time to turn around. There are experts out there who will charge for inspection service, like here if you cannot contact someone in your local area. In other words, a reputable expert will be needed to check out the potential vehicle in advance.
Great articles for authenticating a muscle car
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/authenticating-your-muscle-car/
https://www.ebay.com/motors/blog/certify-your-car-authentic/
Conclusion
It’s a sad state of affairs, but there are fake cars out there. This means that for even a modestly priced muscle car, authentication needs to be done, ideally prior to purchase. This may seem a costly affair, especially if you’re checking out a bunch of vehicles, but it’s best to set in motion the authentication process on your number one pick, rather than the whole range. A few hundred dollars spent at this stage could save you thousands in the future.
When your spider senses go off when checking out a car and something doesn’t feel right, simply walk away. This can feel at times like you’re walking away from a golden opportunity, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. The other point to note is that if you do buy a fake car, you simply can’t sell it on, unless you want to class it as a loose restomod, which then means adding lots of new bits. Try and sell it on and if your found out, no one will touch you with a barge pole for anything car related in the future.
Don’t let these words potentially put you off buying a muscle. Instead, they should be motivation to thoroughly check out a vehicle before purchase. If you can’t do this yourself, there are services out there.
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