Fake/reproduced fender tags.... How many exist?

[1 Wild R/T]

I see so many anymore it's truly scary....  Anyone care to venture a guess how many are out there?   They were around 25 plus years ago but most were easy to spot, wrong codes, wrong sequencing... These days some are very good, clearly more knowledge has crossed over to the dark side...  Just got to wondering how many there are..... 5,000? 10,000? 15,000? More?

[anlauto]

With several companies making them, for at least 2-3 decades .... I would agree 10,000 doesn't seem out of line....I know I've probably had a dozen or so made over the years...

[superdave]

  I had no idea they've been around that long. But then we are two decades into the 21st century. Time is truly getting away from me.

[1 Wild R/T]

If AG Backeast alone produced an average of just one a day for the past thirty years that would be almost 11,000 tags..... I'm sure in the early years it likely wasn't anywhere near that but for the past fifteen I wouldn't be surprised if they've doubled or even tripled that.... Then add in all the other companies that create tags.... I don't think 15,000 is enough.....

@6bblgt care to comment?

[6bblgt]

 hard to put an answer to,  just some numbers to think about .....

1970 has the highest potential
~1,500,000 Chrysler Corp. (North American production/market) built cars
~10% ~150,000 "collectable muscle cars" built, how many are left?  30% (~45,000)
~10% ~4,500 wear reproduction/fake fender tags, 1/2 with no supporting documentation
so,
1/20 wear reproduction tags (~5%)
1/20 wear FAKE tags (~5%)

[anlauto]

If we're talking about just Chrysler automobiles, I don't think AGBackeast would crank out one a day....I would say closer to one a week....They likely make 10 times the amount of Ford and GM tags...

[Brads70]

   If ya'll find fake cars send them up to me I'll drive the wheels off them anyhow!
I can't even begin to imagine all the lawsuits over fake cars in the last 20-30 years....
Something I'll likely never have to worry about though! 

[71vert340]

Just out of curiosity, what are owners doing to prevent the theft of their fender tags on their original or restored cars? I have my fender tag, broadcast sheets and original window sticker but the thought has crossed my mind it would be easy for someone at a car show to steal the fender tag. I thought about having a reproduction tag made and have "REPRO" stamped on it. Has anyone ever had their fender tag stolen. I thought about putting screws with nuts on the wheel side to prevent theft. What are others doing or is it nothing to worry about?
Terry

[HP_Cuda]

Bunch of folks remove them for shows. I had a weird event happen at a show and I wouldn't put one on a car and leave it for any period of time at a show.

It seems folks are taking their broadcast sheet and datatag and putting it somewhere safe. If you try and sell the car w/o the broadcast sheet you won't get as much $$$ but there are also fake Broadcast sheets out there as well.

Sucks all around.

[71vert340]

Maybe I'm naïve but what could you do with a stolen fender tag when someone else has the original car with all the other documents? With the way to check out things now, people on sites like this would know right away if the car was fake and they'd let the world know. All a person could hope to do is stick it on a car and sell it to an unsuspecting buyer quickly for less money. Am I missing the point with a stolen tag?
Terry

[Rich G.]

What good is steeling a fender tag if it has a vin number on it? Someone would lose a hand if I caught them stealing something off my car!

[anlauto]

I never understood the stolen fender tag thing either

[71vert340]

 I guess the other thing with a fender tag, a dash VIN tag, or the door VIN label is many people blot the serial number out when posting a photo of the car on a website. What can a person do with the information? Make a duplicate car? That would require stamping the serial number on the radiator brace, cowling, etc. on an e-body. If I were going to drop over $30k on an old car, I would certainly be checking all the numbers and if I was not sure about it, I'd pay an expert to check it out. Maybe I don't understand what a thief could do with that information. I've blotted the number out a couple of times only because I've seen others do it.  Is it a requirement of some Mopar sites?
Terry

[captcolour]

I have a "fake" one on my 'cuda.  Car didn't have one or a build sheet, so had no idea exactly what should be on it.  Engine compartment looked naked without it.  Had AG Backeast make one with the correct VIN of course.  Car has a 440 in it, but 383 was original, so 383 went on the tag.  That way even a novice would know the car is not original as it sits today.  The rest of the codes I used describe how the car sits today.  For the date code, used my birthday (731) and the order number my birth year (001958).  731 build date doesn't make sense for the car so another indication that it is not real.  Engine bay looks a whole lot better with the tag, though.

[Morty426]

I would estimate about 5000 fake and repo tags out there