VIN Photos

[lazabby]

On www.txdmc.org we have posted over 1,000 VIN photos. If you don't see yours there, send it to me.

[ccurzio]

Why?

I'm genuinely curious. What's the point of collecting VIN pics?

[DMCMW Dave]

Easier fake eBay ads??

[ccurzio]

Please remove the pic for VIN 5311. I wouldn't normally care, but it's a pic of my car that your organization did not photograph with your site's watermark on it. That's not cool for a few different reasons.

Easier fake eBay ads??

Wow. You know, that hadn't even occurred to me. Yikes.

[Dangermouse]

My understanding is that it is a definite proof that a particular VIN actually exists/existed.

I think that it is a great idea.

They add the watermark precisely to try and prevent its use in eBay scam ads.

[ccurzio]

My understanding is that it is a definite proof that a particular VIN actually exists/existed.

Seems like that can be easily done with a "Confirmed" column on the registry, once someone on the maintenance team has seen a pic of the VIN. That I can see.

Saving the pics though and making them a public gallery? I still don't see the point in that.

[justlooking]

Saving the pics though and making them a public gallery? I still don't see the point in that.

No, and I don't understand the habitual "post your VIN"/"tell us your VIN!" query that is endemic to the DeLorean community. I have never experienced such a fascination with any other car group I've belonged to. Neither have I ever been part of a car group that routinely publishes an "Owner's directory" document. It really needs to cease immediately.

Why, you ask?

Let me propose a hypothetical scenario: I want to steal your DeLorean.

1. You post your 5-digit "vin number" online.
2. I use it, in combination with the pictures you've posted, remarks on the forum, and http://www.dmcnews.com/Techsection/vindecoder.html to determine your full VIN #.
3. I then use any of several websites to find out your name (http://www.ehow.com/how_5670113_car_...n-number.html; for example).
4. I search your name (Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, etc) and determine what state your live in.
5. I search your name with your state. Hopefully you haven't purchased a home, because if you have, I'll find it in any one of a number of public record databases. In most states (especially Florida), real estate sales are public record, and can be searched electronically by owner name. This will give me your home address. Now I just sit and wait for you to leave.

Scary enough? Ignorance is bliss, indeed.

[Dangermouse]

There are plenty of ways to steal a car if you want to.

Surely you can do that with just the items 4 & 5? many people post their real names and FB accounts right here

Or go to a car show and follow someone home?

Or go to a dealership and take one from there?

But in reality, how many cars have been stolen in the past 10 years. Perhaps None. Because, as much as we like them, they are just not valuable enough, and the market for parts is just not there.

People ask for the VIN for a couple of reasons:
1 - to assist in trouble shooting, early cars may not have had certain upgrades, but you know that, don't you
2- to add to the VIN registry (not the owners directory which is voluntary). Many people are interested in finding so called "missing" cars, ones that were assumed to have been made but have been stored since 198x. If that's not your thing, OK. Many other marques, of low volume cars, track their whereabouts, so I don't see this community as being out of the ordinary.

[justlooking]

Hold up, you think there haven't been any DeLoreans stolen in the last 10 years?
Secondly, are you implying the only way that knowing where a car is located would help a thief is if they're planning to steal the whole car? What about parts? I'll make this educational for you, my naive little friend:

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/.../message/83271
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/.../message/50557
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/.../message/47332

I'm not disputing the number of possible ways to steal a car. I'm offering that there is at least one way to steal one that is made easier by the unnecessary and habitual behavior of this car community.

I don't see how knowing a VIN reveals anything about troubleshooting. There are early cars with later parts, and later cars with early parts. Knowing the VIN alone adds little, especially after 30 years.

[ccurzio]

As much as I don't see the point of this endeavor, I've gotta agree with Dermot on this one. I'd read your post and the first thing that came to mind was "well that's one hell of a stretch."

Seriously, there are easier ways to steal a DeLorean. That's a whole hell of a lot of effort for a car that has such (relatively) low ROI.

Discussing VINs is one thing (and something with which I have no issue as I've made mine public), but assembling a gallery of VIN plates still seems utterly pointless to me.