Subie IM In Connecticut $50K

I looked and it looks like it is a conversion and may not have been done by IM. Just saying. 

Naw, the floor is definitely IM.  Actually looks kinda nice.

And that's why I said "say what?"  It doesn't look like a pan based car, so how could it be registered as a VW? 

Definitely looks like non IM conversion.  Agree with Ray.

Oooh...  You mean the Suby conversion wasn't done by IM.  Um... Never mind.

How can one tell WHO/HOW the SUBY conversion done? I assume mboth IM and BECK have their STYLE and OBVIOUS TECH in their builds.....

Not an IM radiator install.  AC and heating switches are not IM.  Looks to have original heater box lever for previous air cooled set up next to shifter.  Its just sloppy.  IM does nothing sloppy.  Hope I don't regret selling mine.  

Its definitely an IM just not an original suby car.

I'm questioning how it could be registered as a VW?  That does not look like a VW pan to me.  Location of the gear shift, ebrake and heater lever is not normal VW configuration.  Tunnel is not typical VW shape.  Did IM ever use the back half of a VW (with the VIN) mated to something else in front or did someone just weld a VW VIN to an IM frame?  Just trying to understand how it could be registered as a VW???

Some states...for whatever reason, and sometimes by ERROR, mis-label vehicles during registration. Had a friend with 2002 IM that was registered in Hawaii as a 1959 Porsche because the CALIFORNIA TITLE had it as a 1959 Porsche. States conveniently follow the paper trail....unless they don't. 

I'm still going thru the process with the newly purchased IM6 and the Washington TITLE says 1959R Porsche which uses the "R" as REPLICA indication. I've gotten some indication from DMV/Hawaii that it maybe the same OR may be 1959 Intermeccanica or(?).

Anybody else have an explanation besides DMV error?  If it was an error, how does it end up with a VW VIN? 

My experience with the Georgia DMV was grim.
5 months of -  2 police inspections, 1 salvage car inspection (?), a mountain of forms, 3 trips to the bank to get paper's notarized, 2 packages of forms returned - having to be re submitted,... really getting run around. Finally I found the name of a human being (thanks to our buddy Meade) who helped me.  
So ... the thought they got it wrong is not too amazing to me. Mine was finally titled a Porsche 356 Intermeccancia "prestige car". But they Spelled Intermeccanica wrong, so I had to send it in and do more of a dance... But I must say finding a good guy at the DMV was huge in making it happen. 

So ... the VW title might be an advantage. The lower AC dash makes you think it was a more recent IM. Only can tell via a simple under carriage photo to show the ladder bracing.

$50k seems a bit optimistic. 

Banzai Pipeline posted:

I've gotten some indication from DMV/Hawaii that it maybe the same OR may be 1959 Intermeccanica or(?).

If you can get your car titled as a 1959 Intermeccanica, that would be the absolute best of all possible worlds. 

As to Troy's question regarding how this could have been titled as a VW,  I would imagine that an owner somewhere along the way probably had some difficulty getting a tube-framed car titled. Perhaps he convinced someone at his state's DMV to push it through as a VW, since that's what engine it came with originally, or perhaps some clueless clerk decided that's how they would handle it.

Carlos is right, most state DMV workers have no idea what to do with something outside the lines. Georgia should have been a slamdunk for him, since it's a "no title" state for older vehicles (which really only requires a bill of sale), but instead he quite nearly couldn't get the vehicle on the road.

My guess is that someone in some state office was just not feeling it that day, and decided to just call this thing VW to get to the next person in line. 

I agre - DMV probably looked at engine and saw a VW engine with a 1974 serial number on the engine block.  It does not have a VW center tunnel so must be a tube frame.  Probably a $40-44k vehicle.

Stan Galat, '05 IM, 2276, Nowhere, USA posted:

Banzai Pipeline posted:

I've gotten some indication from DMV/Hawaii that it maybe the same OR may be 1959 Intermeccanica or(?).

If you can get your car titled as a 1959 Intermeccanica, that would be the absolute best of all possible worlds. 

As to Troy's question regarding how this could have been titled as a VW,  I would imagine that an owner somewhere along the way probably had some difficulty getting a tube-framed car titled. Perhaps he convinced someone at his state's DMV to push it through as a VW, since that's what engine it came with originally, or perhaps some clueless clerk decided that's how they would handle it.

Carlos is right, most state DMV workers have no idea what to do with something outside the lines. Georgia should have been a slamdunk for him, since it's a "no title" state for older vehicles (which really only requires a bill of sale), but instead he quite nearly couldn't get the vehicle on the road.

My guess is that someone in some state office was just not feeling it that day, and decided to just call this thing VW to get to the next person in line. 

The hard working AND sometimes disinterested employees down at DMV do move things through the line. I had one ask me the WEIGHT of a motorcycle as it was a special construction chopper that REQUIRED a formal WEIGH/SCALE slip and I gave him a ballpark figure....he said "that's close enough".

"$50k seems a bit optimistic. "   ummm   I like that

Titling seems to be by hook or by crook

WOLFGANG posted:

I agre - DMV probably looked at engine and saw a VW engine with a 1974 serial number on the engine block.  It does not have a VW center tunnel so must be a tube frame.  Probably a $40-44k vehicle.

I'd be very surprised if even one out of ten DMV employees could recognize a VW engine, let alone reference a serial number on an engine block.

My guess, if it really does have a VW VIN, is that someone has cut the VIN plate from a VW and creatively welded it to the frame of an IM.