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Hi All, Where is the vin number located on the mg kit cars? The one I have I beleve was made by Fiber Fab.
Hello and welcome!
The VIN numbers can be a challenge. It can depend on the type of car your MG replica was built on. With Fords the VIN was on the dash or the door frame, so good luck with that since those are gone. With VWs the VINs were on the dash, under the hood, or on the tranny hump under the back seat. Again, good luck. With Chevettes they sometimes had the VIN on the dash, door frame, or if lucky, on the passenger side of the tranny. You don’t say what type running gear, so your best bet may be the previous owners registration. In my case the car was registered from the factory with a VIN from a ’84 Nissan. Go figure! Anyway, if you want to know about parts for the engine or drive train, then there are usually ID numbers on the engine block that you can use to determine year, options, etc.
Again, good luck with the original VIN of the donor car.
Ringo
Addendum
There is a vehicle number on my Duchess on the firewall under the hood. In some states this may be the VIN they want for registration, but here they had to use the ’84 Nissan VIN for licensure.
Ringo
Hi JFOX,
Ringo is right on target. The various manufacturers had their own ideas for the VIN plate. And regardless of their ideas, state motor vehicle agencies often had their own ideas.
In general, kit cars use the VIN from the donor vehicle. Although as Ringo pointed out, you will see exceptions. There’s no way I’ll speculate on how the ’84 Nissan VIN came to be used.
In my home state, NJ, if the kit used a complete chassis from a donor vehicle, the state DMV reused the donor car’s VIN. In these cases, there will be a VIN stamped into the chassis. On VW Type 1 (Beetle) the VIN is stamped in the chassis above the access plate to the gear shift rod/transmission connection. In an MG kit, this is right under the seat.
If the kit did not have a donor chassis, hence no VIN, the DMV assigned a VIN. I do not know if NJ DMV also provided a VIN plate. I think stamped the assigned VIN into the vehicle chassis. There might also be some requirement that the owner attach some sort of VIN plate to the vehicle.
Above is just NJ’s approach (or at least the approach in 1983 when I titled and registered my Duchess). Other states will probably vary.
Classic Roadsters provided a serial number plate. This was NOT in lieu of a VIN. I cannot find it mentioned in the assembly manual. But CR staff said it should go on the firewall, driver’s side, under the hood. Apparently Ringo’s is there too.
I drilled the rivets out of the VIN plate on my donor VW and attached it near the serial number plate. But that was my choice. There’s nothing in the assembly manual to provide any direction on this. And technically, this violates the requirement (I think federal, but may be state based) that a VIN plate be
visible from outside the vehicle, without opening any doors, hoods etc.
But I never had a problem, with DMV, inspection or police.Since all the above was up to the builder, it is likely many MG kits have no VIN plate at all.
At the end of the day…”your mileage may differ.” It’s impossible to tell from here if your Fiberfab has a VIN plate or not, nor where it might be.
Hopefully, a Fiberfab owner will respond with some additional FF specific info.
I’m curious, why are you asking? Do you have a clean title for your car? The VIN should be on the title.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
By entering a few details, you can quickly determine the make and model of your car. The information provided here should reduce your dealership’s paperwork significantly! The best way to read more about your Vehicle Identification Number is by using this free VIN Decoder.
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