This time around, it's Oklahoma's Classic Recreations, makers of the Shelby GT500CR and other so called "continuation series" Mustangs. On Thursday, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation served a warrant and removed multiple cars, with OSBI spokesman Gary Perkinson saying, "They were basically removing VIN plates and putting them on these manufactured cars and then marketing them as classic, original Mustangs." He added that Mustang "donor" cars were found with VIN plates removed, and that some of those missing plates were found on new Dynacorn bodies.
No arrests have been made, and according to
local news reports, Jason Engel, the owner of
Classic Recreations, was aware of the swapping but claimed not to know it was illegal. Ironically, less than a month ago the company's Shelby recreation was the focus of a
Jalopnik feature in which Engel claimed, "I'm building a muscle car, not a new car," in reference to the GT500CR, which starts at $119,000.
Per the
company's brochure, "We start with an original 1967 or 1968 Mustang Fastback and perform a complete restoration including media blasting, sheet metal replacement and show winning paint and body." Although technically you might argue that swapping out everything but the VIN plate falls under "sheet metal replacement," it's likely that the OSBI will be pursuing fraud charges as the investigation comes to a close.
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More VIN-Swapping Shennanegans
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