I’ve checked XEData.com for car 878079 but no joy. I know there’s a UK register somewhere but no idea how current it is. If anyone knows the whereabouts of the car I have the engine. Cloners need not apply!
Pete
That car isn’t in the last JDC register I have, 15 years old. I’ve heard nothing about a newer version if there is one. I hope the engine finds its home.
pauls
Thanks Paul. It’s two feet away from your old car!
Is there any legit way of finding it on general motor vehicle databases, or do you have to know a cop? Is there even a national database or is it 50 state-wide databases?
Peter,
There is a national database. The NMVTIS. In the U.S., don’t know about elsewhere, but I can give you a reference in the UK I used this past year that may help…I’ll have to look it up again.
The U.S. national database is voluntary unfortunately. Still, there are ways to interrogate it. Any of the various state DMVs can access it. You can simply call and see if they’re friendly to you. Every state has an “error resolution” department in their part of the DMV that issues titles. They are hard to get to but you now know what to ask for. There is also in most states a part of the DMV that inspects vehicles and these generally are officers. If you can find one in your area of Maryland, and he is friendly he can find out is a few minutes.
Perhaps the easiest way for you to find if a car exists with that VIN, is to go to a Title business that helps you apply for titles. These people are very well versed and the last one we used was to get the title for a '63 MKII that was titled in TN and yet we had it in FL. Simply called Title Agency of Florida. Search for such a one on duckduckgo.com (better than google).
The easiest state to find such titles may be Alabama and Arkansas. But these are generally if you have the vehicle in hand…they are non-title states for these older cars and their private business Title Agencies are where the hot rodders go to get titles.
All of these suggestions depend on the vehicle being registered into the NMVTIS, so it is a crap shoot.
Do not be surprised if you find multiple cars with the same VIN as the 878079. This is much more common than one might think as lots of early cars like Chevys before 1950 something did not issue VINS so people used motor numbers or something made up at a DMV office. There are several for my car for instance.
I upload a document you may find interesting in pdf About VINs.pdf (77.5 KB)
Jaguar Heritage in the UK may be able to help. They issue originality confirmation for matching number cars so must have comprehensive engine information
Fantastic reply Scott, thanks. I’m guessing this will turn out to be one of the 2/3 of all Es that aren’t on XKE Data because they long since rotted away, but it should be fun.
They should bit tell me the VIN based on me giving then an engine no. and it’s the VIN I’d need to find the car.
I actually found I have another E engine today. I knew the engine in my FHC was non original but thought it was an XJ. Scraping the paint off I see it’s 7E53988-9 a late S1 or S1.5.
Well that’s a good find to validate you have an E engine instead of a sedan.
The XKE engine no. is different than the VIN of course and you need that VIN to find a car. The VIN you can get from Jaguar Heritage as !Alan Roberts says (hmmm, how do you reference a member on here?) as you well know I’m sure.
When I moved moved to North Carolina from Florida Ididn’t register my vehicle here as they charge tax each year for a non running car as “personal property”. When I decided to finish this car last year, I went to finally title it in NC and the MVD here discovered another car with my VIN in the NMVTIS. I thought someone had possible cloned my VIN and shipped the car to Europe. I got ahold of the Jaguar Drivers Club in the UK and two very nice people helped me out expeditiously. Their president and their secretary (I’ll leave their names out of this public forum). I expect you know of them, but they had some database they could query. Maybe they can help you too.
The JDHT has the Jaguar factory records, and they can identify the VIN based on the Engine no…that is what they did for me 17 years ago. They showed me those record books and the entry for my car when I went to their office in Coventry. It takes less than a minute to get what you want, but I understand they are more restrictive with the information these days.
All dismantlers and junkyards in the US are required to register a vehicle they dismantle into the NMVTIS but many do not and many states don’t care. Good luck with your search. Scot
Agree with all points Scott.
Thanks.
Pete
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