What's wrong here?

That car is the very reason why we don't have age related registration charges in Australia. Actually, there is talk that anything over 10 years old will be taxed MORE come renewal time! Not a pleasant thought when both my wagon and minivan are '03 models, and already cost me nearly AUD$800 each.

 

thats an 87 isnt it?..but with Olds hood ornament

 

How many U.S.-built older vehicles are there in the Netherlands? There's plenty of VIN decoding information available, people would start to ask questions once the VIN doesn't match up to what the car is. Something like that would be highly illegal here - tantamount to fraud.
Registrations are also followed by the VIN. A thorough check of the vehicle would show the Chevy's VIN on the frame, and a veteran vehicle fraud investigator would also be able to tell the dash vin was changed.

 

In fact it is simple. Try to get your hands on a title from a car older than 25 years (hardest part; it should more or less "fit" the new car) buy a legal car in the US ship it to here. Import the car through customs, pay import taxes, re-badge the car to the one you have on the title. After that an inspection by DMV to get license plates.
In fact it doesn"t hurt anybody except for not paying taxes for a few years (which still is a crime I have to admit )

The VIN is not an issue for DMV here... all imported cars are getting their own registration number "printed"in the chassis.... all you have to do, besides re-badging, is print the number from the title into the new car.

 

I owned a '67 Belvedere I wagon that was shipped new to a funeral car company in Brussels, BE to be converted into a hearse. The VIN was stamped into the front framerails, visible looking down from the pass side front fender.

The very first thing I noticed in the lead picture was the BLUE NL plates, which when I was stationed near you in 1989-1992, were only on older cars. It really should have the yellow/black NL plates, correct? That car is an '87 - '89 Caprice, as has been noted by others. If I were a knowlegeable NL police patrol officer, I would see instantly that the car was too new to have the old blue NL plates and stop the driver!

At least he is not having to run the ridiculous NL-EU plates!

 

You"re absolutely right about the complete VIN to be stamped somewhere on the chassis, but that was not the case prior to mid 8-ties. Back than they only used the jast 7 or 8 digits of the VIN.

Those blue license plates are indeed only for older cars. But when importing an older car you get a license plate number which allows you to have the blue ones.

Than we have two sizes for license plates: the large EU standards and the more or less US standard size: if your vehicle is not suited to have those large EU plates you can have (through DMV inspection) the small ones. So older US cars can have small and blue plates.

To be honest: for my 73 Riviera I do not have permission to have the small plates (failed the inspection for it). Still the Riv has them... Getting caught will cost me a fine of $130. I will take that risk, for I really do not like those traffic signes on my car.

 

I can't agree more, those big plates are really a no-go! But on the chassis and VIN number, Let's say that a car would be properly registered on it's chassis number. What would would happen if you would have a 76 Caprice and just swap the whole body, including everything, with a 88 Caprice. There is nothing illigal in this and you would end up with a properly registered 76 Caprice.
I have seen the same principle with Range Rovers. The take an old frame and put a fairly new body on it, so you drive it as an oldtimer with all the advantages. Principly, this can be done with any car that has a more or less seperate frame and has not evolved so much over longer time; like US cars!!!

 

The brushed chrome panels on the exterior C-panels were only used on the 1988+ wagons. Although I suppose you could have ordered them later and slapped them on an older wagon. Front nose panels can be swapped after a collision, so that still could be an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser that took a hit and the Chevy nose was all that was available at the salvage yard. That would explain why the owner might put Olds emblems on it. But Olds used different tailights. The real deciding clue would be a photo of the dashboard.

 

Good catch on the C-pillar trim. I didn't even think of that one...

I have seen numerous B-body wagons with taillights from one of it's other variations (Pontiac w/ Olds taillights, Buick with Pontiac taillights, etc). Even the Olds 77-79 taillights on a 1980+ Olds. They will fit each other. I've even seen some mix/match on some cars (not very attractive, I might add).

As far as the front end. It is possible that a Custom Cruiser took a hit and they replaced the entire front clip (fenders/hood/header panel). It all would have to be changed or some things won't line up. Each make had their own design and a header panel from one will not line up with the (body creases, angles, etc) fenders or hood from another. I believe that the doors and rearward was the same, however, except for the trim around the woodpaneling. Each model had their own design there, too.

I agree...the real deal can be figured out from the dash.

 

If that is still original....

 

I found a picture of the interior of the "oldsmolet" :
Notice the Chevy emblem on the dash.....




I think the indentity swap also was the reason for chancing the steeringwheel! Very strange....

Donny