JDM vehicles do not have traditional VIN's.

I honestly feel that the collector car auctions are hurting the world of vintage cars. They drive up prices, disperse junk, and saturate niche vehicles that were only popular with the respective enthusiasts.

This bike raced the Black Ghost on the streets of Tokyo in the 70’s.

I work at a shop a few miles from the Kissimmee Mecum auction and every year within a month or two we see dozens of junk vehicles from there. If you're spending anything over a thousand dollars make sure to bring someone knowledgeable with you who doesn't have starry eyes. We have literally had people teary eyed who though they had bought their dream car.

Sometimes I'm glad that I don't have fancy auction money, I only have somewhat crappy swap meet money.

At a recent Mecum auction the main high bidder was surprised that when he was going to win the item at 2/3 of the expected listed price someone started bidding against him. After the price had risen to just above the expected sale price the main guy decided that he was done and let it go to the other bidder. Two days later someone from Mecum contacted this guy and told him the high bidder had financial issues and would he be willing to honour his last bid. During the conversation the Mecum person admitted he did not want to buy the item. So that admission over the phone was these sleaze balls working for Mecum were bidding up the item’s themselves and when they were “Stuck” with it they were going to the auction losers to bail them out. I was looking at some of their auctions at this time and there is no way I would waste may money on a scam like this.

$10 says the owner knew exactly what he was doing and hope a out of state owner would have bought it...

I'm in British Columbia Canada. The entity that controls the registration of vehicles has always been incredibly paranoid about stolen vehicles. They made a recent change. When a vehicle is consigned to an auction house, the owner of a vehicle no longer owns the vehicle. The auction house becomes the owner via a "Contract to Auction". Now the auction house becomes liable for stolen goods.

My question is how did it even make it to the auction block with out VIN inspection

I've been involved in these auctions as a bidder and a seller and All these cars are available on premises to be inspected. WHY someone would sit in the audience and bid money especially that kind of money unless they had already scrutinized the vehicle before they placed the first bid 🤦

Just sold a car through Barrett-Jackson. Before accepting the listing, they required a clear photo of the VIN tag. Then they do an in-person VIN inspection once the car is on site. Not necessarily foolproof, but more than enough to catch something like this.

It's everywhere. The fancy car auctions are filled with Frankencars. Mismatched numbers. Parts from many different years. Wrong paint and interior colors. Stay far away.

I watched a KZfaqr buy 5 cars that were junk a few days before Mecums last auction and run them thru with zero inspection and knowing there were issues. Really changed my mind on ever going to a collector auction. Thanks for the info I’m looking for a car now and my eyes are wide open. Between this and the KZfaqr certain changed my thoughts on buying thru an auction

I sold a classic car to a guy and forgot to take my Classic plate off before selling the car. He drove it for a few months and took it to Mecum and they sold the sold. The new buyer somehow ended up getting my classic plate on the car and ran tolls for a year. I tried to find the guy and Mecum would not help me out. I told them they illegally gave someone my plates and they basically said oh well, sorry. I had to contact the police department and report my plate stolen. Expensive lesson learned.

Those auctions are noting more than a way to scam idiots with more money than they ought to have.

You should see the guy that restores Mopar's up in the Pacific North West found on a customers car, I think it's called Graveyard Cars. Imagine thinking you have a rare 440ci Six-Pak Cuda, only to be told it's a Barracuda that might have started out as a 318. Someone took the front clip and VIN numbers off a Cuda and attached it to a Barracuda from the firewall back. Then covered it up by welding up the holes for the vinyl roof and the Barracuda badges attachment holes on the rear panel. Funny thing happened when they acid dipped the body, all the flaws and evidence popped up.

I think the auction house should vet titles and VINs before they are allowed to auction them off. Otherwise I would render THEM accomplices to fraud.

I have zero trust in Mecum. One of my customers has a car he bought from them. Mecum listed it as a 69 Chevelle SS 454 (my service writer found the old listing). On top the car looks great, other than some gaudy aftermarket wheels. Pop the hood and it was obviously a factory AC car but the AC was ripped out, and it has a Holley intake and carb and chrome aftermarket valve covers. Ok, someone ripped out the AC and put some performance parts on it, right? Well go up in the air with it and it all becomes clear. The car has a TH350 trans and a 10-bolt rear. That’s not right for a big block car! There’s an electric fuel pump poorly wired in. Go up front and we find out the reason for the electric fuel pump is because the 454 is out of a 90s truck, and doesn’t have the provision for the mechanical pump. They didn’t even bother to get the right oil pan, they just bashed in the truck pan so it would clear the crossmember, leaving the sump of the pan as the lowest point on the car. Look in behind the fender well, and the car was green, and you can see the bondo coming through where they filled in the holes for the “Malibu” badge before taping on the “SS454” badge. So basically this guy paid $50k for what he thought was a nice factory big block Chevelle, and what he got was a clapped out small block Malibu with a tired old junkyard truck motor swapped in.

I gave up on Meccum after the ghost charger story

My brother has been to both. Barrett & Macum. Said at least 80% of the cars are junk. Bodies are horrendous, paint jobs are sub par. Bondo buckets is what he called them. If you pay attention when watching on tv. You can see how bad some of these cars are. It’s become a game when we watch the auctions on tv. It’s very entertaining.

As a Jersey guy I know about buying used motorcycle parts at swap meets from Englishtown to Atco and everywhere in between. If you're paying $100 for a used frame don't ask no questions you know what's up. Paying $1000 for the same frame you want legit documents and paperwork.

Last year Goodwood auctioned what they claimed was the second ever Land Rover. The only parts that were car 2 were the id plate and the engine. Different chassis (with different number), body, axles. Many people told them it wasn't car 2 during the auction, and they played dumb and continued with the auction.

I have had a couple vintage bikes I have restored. One I brought from California to Washington and another that hadn’t been licensed since 1980, so it wasn’t in the state computer system. Both had to go to the State Patrol inspection station to verify the VINs. Even though I knew they were good, I still sweated through the inspection because if they found anything they didn’t like I could have lost them.

I attended a very well known auction once. Just walking around looking at what was heading to the block was enough for me to never trust an auction. They helped the hobby but hurt the hobby as well.

if i buy a classic i'm getting it from someone's backyard off of facebook or craigslist. these restored ones are scary

I bought a 77 F150 at a farm auction that had the jamb sticker and door tag with non matching vin's. The title didn't match either one. I refused the truck when I squared up with the clerk. I was polite and explained the title wasn't legit, etc. The auctioneer called me the next day, screamed at me and barred me from his sales. Bottom line, no matter where, when, how always check your numbers. Even when your new car title arrives in the mail.

Supposedly it was judged by experts and was an award winning bike. Last auto auction I went to a nissan truck that sold for $21,000 plus premium couldn't leave the parking lot because of a bad transmission. makes zero sense to buy at a collector car auction.

Nice new pad, UT ...congrats!

I would like to see the outcome of these high dollar auctions if they stopped serving alcohol….

Anybody that spends 85K on that bike ......more money than brains comes to mind.

The number being ground down like that is a good one that the bike was stolen.

Just watched that myself a few days back. I have no idea how close you're allowed to get to those bikes before the auction, but I'm amazed that no-one noticed. On a bike like that, that's the first thing I'd look at if I was thinking of buying it.

Dana Mecum’s lead headed son is overdue for an awakening in dealing some of the counterfeit vehicles they ramrod through their auctions!

I've heard of cars being sold with as many as four different VINs on various parts of the frame/body. None of this sort of thing seems to have been an issue prior to the explosion in demand for 60's and 70's muscle cars and the entry of countless shoddy restoration shops that just sprang up out of the ether.

I remember on of your vids where you were looking at a red 73 duster that turned out to parts from 3 different dusters. I would never buy a vehicle without someone knowledgeable to look at it. The emotions and excitement run high and you need a unbiased person with no cognitive bias in it to give you a clear answer.

friend of mine bought a black Trans Am from a car show in Pittsburgh civic arena about 20 years ago. It had a very special roofline change, it had webbing and a rear window like a Corvette… it had lots of chrome under the hood, big tires, and fancy wheels, Recaro seats,.. it was pretty and for sale.. $10,000. My buddy arranged financing, and when the show was over days later, I transferred the title, and he gave them the cash. when you pick the car up, it kept stalling at every stop sign in red light.. it was burning, very rich, black fuel just pouring out practically of the exhaust pipes he tried to move the seat back. Those Recaro seats were held down to the rails by zip ties.. None of the Soundsystem was connected to anything.. The antenna was not plugged in, it did have power, because it lit up, but the power didn’t go out to any speakers. We need to turn the steering wheel. The tires rubbed and actually damaged the body in the front when he went over bumps… he took the car to a shop where they had to work on the car for almost a week to make everything work.. I had to buy new tires and wheels, because the ones that were on the car were way way too big.. thousands of dollars later, he got the car back. They had just bolted any carburetor to the manifold without ever setting it up. because the car was on display at a custom car show inside the stadium, he could not even test, drive it before he bought it..

When you watch the original Gone in 60 Seconds you begin to doubt any 60s or 70s collector vehicle is what it claims to be . Ford never stamped engines or transmissions , door tags were easily swapped but at least they stamped the unit bodies on the right and left aprons. GM anyone can machine the engine and trans pads and stamp their own numbers . Mopars just watch the movie .

Thank God I purchased my Firebird from a friend of my dad. I am the second owner, and it may never be "perfect" but it is not a collection of rust held together with BONDO!

In Kansas if you purchase a vehicle out of state you have to got to highway patrol for a VIN check to get it registered so the buy would have had it impounded on the spot.

I never trusted those auctions.

As a motorcycle guy, Mecum does have a process for a titled vehicle to be entered in their sale. You have to send a photo of the frame with number and the matching clear title. Title has to be delivered to them when the vehicle goes into their possession. This is a seller trying some shenanigan's to get the maximum return on their sale. Criminal, yes. Someone at Mecum will be fired is my guess. As you see a lot of off road bikes, no title, no proof. Bill of sale only. Buyer beware. There were more issues with other sales as well. You have to be alert out there. As the magazine article said once "of the original 300 made, there are over 500 racing today" !

Yakuza was doing a big business shipping bikes out of Japan. Maybe owning a Mob Bike increases it's value?

New shop's looking good man!

Mecum is only in it for money. They gave a car of mine 38 seconds on the block for $1000. They didn't like my reserve and wanted me to sell it at a massive loss. I wouldn't drop the reserve, so, NEXT. There were bids, but they didn't record them on the wall and they told me Sorry, no bids. They screw anyone who walks in the door for the hype.

"They" didn't notice this because "they" are only focused on the GREEN! Why would a person spend that kind of money on something and THEN look it over good? I always do that before I buy something.

Caveat emptor! The buyer was lucky to bail out of the scam.

It's even worse for older Harleys, as no VINs were frame stamped for the older ones. If I remember correctly, up until the early 70's, the VIN was only stamped on the motor case and NOT the frame. Way back when I bought an old 1942 "45" that had no papers and only a hand written bill of sale, I "registered" the motor case in my name.

About 20 years ago I pieced together a completely stock 1957 Harley Davidson “HydraGlide” panhead. Not ONE SINGLE PART came from the same place. I ended up selling it and this person did an absolutely gorgeous, factory correct restoration. By the time that bike made it to Necum it was described as “restored from a completely original, found in a barn” motorcycle. Whoever bought it did not get what they thought it was.

Yeah you would think the auction would at least check the vin for legal reasons, hopefully this will get them to doing that we'll see

TONY! Your shop is looking good. Congrats Brother Man. 🎉

You are absolutely correct ref the obliterated VIN info, we would love to get our hands on that bike so we could determine the true identity of it. Very surprised MECUM did not catch this prior to the auction.

My neighbor put together a halfass '70 Nova. From watching Barrett Jackson Auctions, he was convinced the car was worth $25K. He declined many IMO reasonable offers ($10-15K) and waited 2 years. Damned if some Japanese guy didn't eventually pay him $25K and ship it to Japan, where it sold for even more.

When I had my smog inspection, brake & lamp licences, I ran into many miss matched vin numbers.

Excellent advice, as always

I've never heard Mecum (Mee-cum) pronounced Meck-um before.....lol. Whatever right...? Yeah, that really sucks they don't check shit out before they go to sell it. Great vid!

My guess is MANY of the Crazy High Bids by the bidder to wash dirty cash - the auction has no vetting of the money origin. Jus Sayin

Tony! Great lighting in the new shop.

My old bosses dad bought a 70 hemi cuda from a mecum auction and the car looked decent but had shrunk paint showing bondo in the fender and it had zero clamps on the coolant hoses, it ran like complete garbage and was obviously not tuned in, and the steering gear box was so loose it would move a couple inches when you turned

great video 👍 thanks for the tips

Everything I look at today is some kind of scam pushing me towards living like Amish people. We are living in really sad times where everything is nothing more than a money grab.

The issue will likely be where do you draw the line. This one was obvious but how obvious does it have to be before people can come back at them? Maybe if you're well heeled, or stupid, enough to be spending this sort of money, or much more, you should be going to the auction and paying someone in the know to go over the vehicle that you're thinking of buying. The litany of rusted out crap boxes that look nice would indicate it's necessary.

Bidder beware! You're in for a scare! Cue the piano.

I have a 74 honda same deal, that was ground off like mine. I had to jump through burning hoops of fire with a corncob in my butt to fix it! Unfortunately many stories like this since the whole thing went nuts in the 90s. As a restorative metal guy i have refused to help build fake cars specific to the auction, bunch of crooks. $85000 is the tell here!😮

Good information one podcast pointed out the flaws on a 1968 charger a 150 thousand a 3 on scale to 10 pc of junk

Great video Uncle Tony 👍

I grew up around the car business; my dad was a car dealer, and I spent some time at the local dealer auctions and saw some pretty shoddy stuff. Later on in life I was my dad’s vehicle screener inspector and they put a lot of auction bought cars and trucks in front of me that were scary/shady to say the least. I got so good at catching stuff that some wholesalers wouldn’t shop us vehicles anymore. I’ve had a few friends get burned on collectors cars with some of the same issues I saw dealing with normal cars. The worst was a friend that bought 2nd gen fully restored SS396 Chevelle that was supposed to be all numbers matching. It spun a rod bearing right after he got it and he put it in the shop to get it repaired and when they tore in to it, it had a mid 70’s to early 80’s 454 in it, not the original 396/402 that should have been there. The collector car market definitely has the same risk as the regular car market.

Ive seen a lot if bad vehicles come from auctions and ive made a good amount of money fixing them for the the buyers. My personal opinion is that there are many unscrupulous sellers that specifically target auction houses because they provide a barrier between the buyer and seller.

The auction has to eat it, they are responsible for verification of anything they sell

Uncle Tony, i’ve been a long time subscriber from my personal channel, but I appreciate you covering this topic… I do listing reviews for Lincoln’s from all of the auction places, including bring a trailer and someone I know sold his convertible a couple years ago in South Florida… The guy who bought it realized the car was pretty much a basket case and the “builder” really put together a crappy car… Little did the guy realize when he took it to Barrett Jackson the van was not checking out correctly it was incorrect… It didn’t match a bill or something to that effect… Barrett Jackson agreed to take the car back to the facility and sort out the VIN issue, which I thought was commendable of them… I can’t believe the person didn’t catch it before he even sold it to the guy that then took it to Barrett Jackson… But bottom line like you have covered in the past. Some of these auctions are literally buyer beware because you just can’t trust people and there’s too many shady “builders” out there….

I like your warning tips but love your work and tutorials such as jacking a transmission into place or carb rebuilds better :)

Thank you for all that YOU do! ALL THE WAY SIR!!

What a crazy story really makes me wonder if an auction for old cars and motorcycles something I want to do ?

Damnit, Uncle Tony. You know we all watch Cycle Drag. O_o

As you know , I’m into vintage Mx bikes. The latest Mecum auction was a bloodbath for sellers . A friend of mine has done well the past 15 years, but lost his ass this year. Meanwhile, the Barrett Jackson car auction in Az set records.

Wondering if it was ground off in customs so it could not be registered? Once ground off it’s just becomes a flower pot ...

Wow, Scary stuff. I am happy you bring this to the fire, calling out the Auction house, if the have no legal procedures, & this Auction House is well known, WTH. Great video & topic, thanks for sharing, I will be so vigilant in the future at Auctions

had a family friend that had bought a Chevelle from Mecum, had it shipped to Wisconsin and upon getting it home they put it on a lift and went through everything on the Chevelle, the car was represented at the auction as a rust free-untouched car with a repaint a couple years prior, discovered it was far from rust free, they butchered the car with poorly replaced panels/patches and expanding foam in a couple places, he paid nearly 60,000 for this car and as it sits its been appraised at 17,500-20,000, i saw the car and i think the appraiser was being generous, The seller sure must have been laughing all the way to the bank that day

By buddy was sitting Ina Cafe eating a sandwich and there was a harley I believe a wide glide and four guys came up and with 2 hockey sticks they put the sticks through the wheels and picked the bike up and loaded into big van and drove off less than 5 min. Can happen to anyone.

Thanks, UT! Very helpful!

“When you do a job like that, I mean when they do a job like that!” 😂😅

It's possible to get a portable X-ray and scan the area where the VIN is to possibly see if anything is there. Also depending on if it supposed to be all original or a resto there should be case numbers stamped underneath and possibly a stamped number underneath the triple tree.

I was at BJ in AZ this year and a number of Mopars had the dash tag missing and AZ state issued VINs that had just been assigned the morning the car was going across the block. I also so dash tags that did not match partial VINs on the radiator support. One of the Cuda's that sold had a fender tag on it that was from a 4 door Dodge Coronet. Never, ever just bid online without putting your eyes on the car.

Great information

Great info.Thank you

Recently I bought an older shovelhead on eBay and it turned out to be stolen out of Michigan I live in Indiana... Now I'm fighting eBay to get my money back I hope I do get my money back cuz I certainly would like a project that started retirement and I wanted something to do this winter.. I was so hyped up about getting something to work on and then when the police check the bike out bam it's not legal it's stolen... I mean it's just like I always was pretty believing in people and so forth but I just don't know it just made made my heart sink when the police said hey it's stolen we're going to pick this up and take it away.. well I might be shot up but I'm not shut down I'm still looking for a project shovelhead hopefully there I can find something that is legal that is not stolen 👍👍👍👍🏍️

Mecum is claiming that this is a misrepresentation of the events. Allegedly the seller had the frame powder coated; the auctioneers requested that the frame be sanded or ground where the VIN is.

I saw that video too, it was insane that they thought they could sell that as original with a partial VIN!

I’ve bought things at auctions before, nothing like mecum, but unless you can look things over yourself before the auction I would be very leery of what you’re actually getting. Those auctioneers don’t know and they will tell you anything to get bids.

Auctions by nature are a risky business for all involved. There is all types of scams being run at auctions of all catagories of items. Having a reputable auction house is one of the ways the big auction house have grown like Barret Jackson, Hemmings, etc. Mecum has been caught with their guard and pants down on this one. I wonder who lost here, the seller or Mecum? P.S. Most Honda bikes built in Japan back in the 80s had vin tags riveted to the header tube. I remember a lot of bikes had them stamped too like HD, Suzuki, Kawasaki. I have a 85 Honda VT1100 Built in Japan here in the shop now with a vin tag. Cheers 🇨🇦

Outstanding Uncle T

Saw a similar situation on a video at Barrett Jackson in Scottsdale, AZ. A car showed up for auction. During the authentification of the vehicle, through Barrett Jackson, there were a couple of discrepancies. They also found that the VIN didn't match any of the "hidden" VIN stampings on the body. Obviously a "rebodied" vehicle. The Arizona State Police are always on site for the authentification of vehicles. They removed the VIN tag from the car, Assigned it a new VIN, and the owner had to sell it as either a "restomod" or a "tribute" car. Buyer be aware!!😎🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

I just sold a vehicle at Mecum Las Vegas a few months ago they have very high standards as far as vin inspections go. My vehicle had the vin checked at least twice before they accepted my vehicle and then a separate inspection by very qualified individuals upon check in. They had guides on all sorts of vehicles for identifying proper vin markings. As for the other guys video I watched his prior video on his way to Mecum and he was already talking down about his prior experience at Mecum. In my opinion I think other dude was trying to make Mecum look bad. Also the seller doe not get a check right away it takes 4-6 weeks for the seller to get paid.

I see motorcycles, especially dirt bikes, for sale without valid titles. Usually, they are way cheaper than what they should be. Seller claims to have "lost the title". I'm guessing they are likely stolen. I always check VINs when buying a vehicle.

Hi Tony. Love your channel. Aside from what you said the bike in the photo is a Z1 900 4cylinder 4 stroke. The H1 was a 500 3 cylinder 2 stroke and the H2 was a 750 3 cylinder 2 stroke. All 3 bikes were sold here in the USA. I had a 72 H2. Great bike.

Thanks !!! good info...

Good content as always 👌

I really do find it hard to believe that they don't check to see if the actual owner of the vehicle is selling the vehicle. If they were doing that that would have never been missed

Well that was weird. Hey, mister X, turn around. Eeee. Im in a hurry, my wife is delivering, my mother just past, my father is stuck in his burning EV. Nice content. Thanks for sharing this. Who's gonna get cought with this hot potato next?

I saw that video as well. My first thought was what goes on during Mecum’s check in process? Do they not match the vin to the seller’s consignment form?

I personally inspected a 40 Ford that had been bought at BJ, same deal, the VIN had been ground off and re stamped, the local VIN people happened to be good friends of the new owner and moved it right through the licensing process.