Hi All,

I've been noticing sooooo many fakes around. Everytime someone puts a fake out there it makes the originals less rare and less valuable. And worse still, it makes potential buyers/collectors less likely to invest the sort of money genuine cars command.

Is something being done about this? Is there a body that is keeping track of the fakes and reporting them the the authorities? I assume there are alot of guys out there with the genuine article that are getting P'd off seeing these fakes out there.

Mark J

I think it's really unfortunate, I think if someone put together a comprehensive article on determining vehicle authennticity, there would be more than a couple of lawsuits going on at least for those who read it. Secondly, are there any other places where the vin is located? I am curious myself.

Actually, I believe the opposite is true. Knowing that there are so many fakes out there makes the real thing worth that much more. Many times when an obvious fake is put up for sale (ebay), members from this site and maybe some others can contact potential owners and inform them of the fraud. I've done it and many others have posted that they also have tried to warn buyers of (obvious) fakes. The problem is that the people producing the "fakes" are getting much better at hiding what the Camaro was originally from the factory.
Your local car show is a good place to see much of what is attempted to be shown as the real thing. I've ran out of fingers counting how many 69 Z28's I've seen with A/C or an automatic. As long as it's not for sale I usually just shake my head and walk away. :clonk: (after getting the VIN!) :)

Also, one of the main reasons I started my Z10 site was to compile as much information, car history, VINS, etc., to weed out some fakes. If someone trys to provide a VIN that doesn't jive with the time frame the cars were produced, it won't be documented in our registry. Something in a close time frame might need a little more investigation. It's done in many other registries on down the line. This helps compile the real thing from the fakes. Many members here collect cowl tags all the time to help document what the car is today vs 10 years ago. This is a good way to help prevent future fraud.

"The problem is that the people producing the "fakes" are getting much better at hiding what the Camaro was originally from the factory."

My point exactly. They will make it an art and then even the pro's won't be able to tell. The only way to guarantee originality will be to have an accurate database containing as many cars as possible. Ironically, what might end up happening is the original "plain jane" cars may become rarer than the knock offs due to every second car on the road becoming a 396 or Z28.

How many original numbers matching six's are there around now??

a good point. touche. :)

I have watched this trend since about 1979 or 1980 when I first started to see it going on , and as I and several other's have mentioned we don't have enough finger's toe's hand's feet or teeth to count the 69 Z/28's !!!
and what has it done to the price of 69 Z/28's ?
they went thru the roof out the door and down the street !!!!!!!!
in the late sevetie's if a camaro or chevelle was not Z or big block you could not give it away ,