87 GN with 307 VIN code

[Dennis F]

Hopefully someone here knows about this.

I have owned my 87 GN for the better part of 10 years. Up until a couple years ago it was stock and I never had any reason to wonder about it. It had all the badges, inside and outside, GN rims, power master and none of it shows any indication it wasn't built this was from the beginning.

My father was looking through stuff and did the VIN decode and found that it has the "Y" instead of the "7" in the VIN. Even the emissions label under the hood is for a 3.8 turbo.

I don't have a build sheet and I know that both doors are not original. I do believe that the trunk sticker is correct, but it has been a long time since I looked through it.

Is there any identifying marks or something else I can look for?

 

[pacecarta]

8th digit of vin on an 87 Gn should be '7' for the turbo engine
sticker on ac was easy to replace and theres plenty of cars out there that aren't what they appear to be
look at the trunk sticker
verify if the vin on the trunk sticker matches the dash

if it does see if the trunk sticker has the WE2 code and should also show Lc2 for turbo engine
, if no we2 code its not a GN it may have been an 87 Ttype which was available with the 307olds V8 in 1987

what is your full vin ?

 

[kh440]

My knee-jerk reaction is somebody rebodied the car, or did one heck of a clone job. If the trunk RPO label is there #1: do the VIN numbers match? Failing that, look on the cowl under the drivers side windshield wiper arm for the body plate. The engine code should be "LC2" Also if you can get a good look at it the last 8(?) digits of the VIN should be stamped on the engine block as well. Good luck!

 

[getchasum]

Stamped on the driver's side frame rails as well. I'm betting the truck RPO sticker does not match the VIN Plate....


Best way to tell if the VIN Plate has been changed is to pull the dash/speaker cover and look at the rivets used.

 

[Dennis F]

Stamped on the driver's side frame rails as well. I'm betting the truck RPO sticker does not match the VIN Plate....

I can't tell, it is faded pretty bad. Is this something that is common that people have done?

Here is my VIN - 1G4GM11Y9HP416723

I would find it crazy if someone went through and converted this car, as much as I have taken this car apart, there are no squeaks, rattles or missing screws/bolts anywhere. Even places where zipties or those plastic clips are in place are all perfect

 

[salvageV6]

Post a clear picture of the RPO code trunk tag and also the cowl tag under the drivers side wiper.

That will tell the story.

 

[pacecarta]

it is an 87 but sorry to say youve been taken
vin says its not a gn or even a turbo car
it is (was) a 87 307(5.0 olds v8) limited regal or atleast thats what the vin is to

wont go into all the legal or illegal ways this could have happened
if it was presented as a gn it may be just be a rebody that they did the right thing and kept the title with the body which had the vin , or a clone onto a limited regal using lots of gn parts from a wrecked gn
or it could be a stolen gn with a regal vin swapped on so it could be tagged and driven
either way when you bought if the vin issue wasnt explained or it was presented as a gn there was some fraud on the sellers part especially if you payed anywhere near full market value of a GN
nif they wouldnt disclose the vin then being a stolen retagged car isnt far fetched ,

1G4GM11Y9HP416723

heres the vin decoder
Turbo Regal Vehicle Identification Numbers

 

[pontiac69fb]

it is an 87 but sorry to say youve been taken
vin says its not a gn or even a turbo car
it is (was) a 87 307(5.0 olds v8) limited regal

1G4GM11Y9HP416723

heres the vin decoder
Turbo Regal Vehicle Identification Numbers

Sorry to hear this I would be so disappointed if I was the OP. Guess ignorance is bliss sometimes

 

[G NASTY]

Damn sorry to hear that man. Sure sounds like a "tag" job. Grab the vin off the motor and carfax it. Pretty sure it will come back stolen since you said the car doesn't look like it was put together

 

["Turbo-T"]

Can you see what the rivets for the vin tag look like? Do they look like Home Depot pop rivets?

 

[2QUICK2B6]

With all this barett Jackson hype someone has started making the gm vin rivets I call them flower rivets not sure what the tech name is.

 

[TurboMonte 2]

With all this barett Jackson hype someone has started making the gm vin rivets I call them flower rivets not sure what the tech name is.

Not likely available 10 yrs ago though--when this car purchased...