New Owner VIN Decoding Issues

[Stanglover]

I bet the vin under the fenders matches door tag.  Someone swapped dash pad vins with one from a vert.  

That'd be my guess too Kevin.

 

[mjlan]

You don't have to pull the fenders off.

Its tricky with two hands and easier with a helper- a mirror, flashlight and a cellphone after some cleaning will tell you the partial on the shock tower drop off. Remove one or both front wheels and you can get in there...

 

[giantpune]

I would look inside the trunk.  Should be pretty easy to tell if your rear quarter panels are original to the car or somebody welded on a fastback onto a convertible.

I'd look for other "mach 1" features like the honeycomb grille/rear panel, color matched bumper, color matched racing mirrors, gas cap, variable ratio steering box, staggered rear shocks.

You could also look for "convertible" features.  I never had one myself.  But I believe the part is called the support plate.  On convertible cars, its at the very bottom of the car under the rear tail of the transmission.  If a car has this, or you can tell one was installed for a few decades, it may be a clue for you.