Russell P

All of my Triumph experience to date is on the TR4s (and the TR3s, TR4As, etc) which I know well now.. I am very much still learning the GT6 ins and outs.

That is exactly what happens. People make the fraudulent car with fake credentials then sell it to unsuspecting people who later get the car impounded during registration in another state or during the resell process as a fraud with fake credentials and it can't be put on the road or worse it is impounded by the state as the product of a crime. The unsuspecting buyer of the fraud is left having paid for a car they can't use or sell and the state auctions it or just destroys it. Maybe in some cases they would allow the buyer if they were innocent victims to part out the car to recoup some of their investment, but no way can you put one of those on the road. As I say NC really are tough on these. They are the hardest to deal with in the southeast US general area.

In my state, North Carolina, they heavily scrutinize and research classic cars being registered in the state coming from outside the state. There have been serious issues with people faking high value classic cars where there were plentiful models with regular options but few or special order only models for racing and such that now are very rare. People build and fake the plain ones to appear as the rare ones and the crime in that is not the modification as you can modify the cars but the crime is that they change and fake the VIN or Commission tags or buy just the title and tags off wrecked or beyond repair cars. The misrepresentation is the fraud. They make very hard to catch clones…you pay $100K for a 70 Challenger with a factory shaker hood and hemi with a four speed and all the numbers match but actually when it started life it was and automatic six cyl family model that would go for $20K now. Other states have easy registration processes that almost facilitate the misrepresentation and the bad guys use those states to launder the cars. Anyway our highway patrol (State Police) are strict in reviewing older classic type cars for hints of misrepresentation malfeasance. It took 4 months to get my TR4 ok’d and it was a clean commission tag and had a solid title from neighbor state, Virginia, where they are not pushovers. I want to be sure there is no chance I have pieces of someone’s stolen car or vice versa before I put money into a restoration and have the State Police tell me it can’t be put on the road.

It matters if I want to register my car somewhere that the other car is already registered. It is not the end of the world but it is a puzzle that has a logical answer and I wanted to find out so I asked. I’m not making a major issue of it. But I will say here in the US duplicate VIN numbers are a big problem as generally that means fraud (someone has masked a stolen car). That this other car is in the UK means that is not the issue at all, never thought it was. And, as I hoped, this evening I have received a private communication indicating it was just a typographical error. So mystery solved. I can tell the FBI and MI5 to relax. 😉

This is my first post in this forum. I am deep into a TR4 restoration right now but am considering taking on restoration of a GT6 that came to me. I have not decided if I can restore this one yet. That GT6 is a Mk I with Commission Number KC8113 L and the car is for sure LHD. But I see looking in another US based forum site there is someone in the UK who has registered a GT6 with the exact same number as mine except for the "L". That member did not answer the email given on the site but I will try again. My question: Did Triumph make identical Commission Numbers with only the "L" or lack of the "L" being the difference ? My car has without doubt the original and correct commission tag, so I am hoping Triumph did this vs me maybe having a duplication issue with someone. Perhaps he just mistyped his number on the site but he's not answering his email. Your help appreciated. Russell