Posted by Eric B. [99.100.188.129] on Monday, May 12, 2014 at 17:21:38 :
In Reply to: My Thoughts posted by gmharris [71.105.36.254] on Monday, May 12, 2014 at 13:43:52 :
You are correct that the PW tags and really any civilian tag was machine stamped (I've seen exceptions, but they're oddballs) and it'd be hard to fake. But you didn't know about the military tags being hand stamped and there is no reason to treat that as unimportant just because it is not something important for your trucks.
The original question was about a WC-26 and there are several plates on those trucks. At least one of them is hand stamped. If the guy is doing a really nice restoration he might want better looking plates. Your post about the legality in CA might be valid, but the stuff I've heard people get away with would have made that CHP officers hair stand on end. There is no hidden VIN on these old trucks. There is just a frame number and a tag. Many of the tags are held on by screws and I've heard of inspectors rejecting that even though it was original. So sometimes it's a matter if finding a sympathetic inspector who understands that the last number on the frame rusted away due to a leaky battery or something. There is a lot of grey area with these old rigs.
I don't know why more people lurk than post, but I think discussions of the various differences between these trucks and how they were made is the whole point of this forum and I for one enjoy the minutiae. I think one of the reasons there are so many lurkers is because they enjoy reading our discussions of detail. If the discussions were a turn off there would be no lurkers.
Eric
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