Please offer opinions on this VIN

[tomanybikes]

Looks a little fishy to me. Sorry I can't figure out how to make the attachment orient in the right direction.


s-l160072F4ZB95.jpg

[ryan]

The 5's sure aren't the same. That would make me wonder.

[tomanybikes]

The 5 and 8 seem to be much lighter than the rest of the number, like the were stamped at a different time or by a different person. It does have matching belly numbers that are correct for the year and less than 150 off the serial # pictured.

[Rubone]

They are fine. Year number and sequence numbers were stamped at different times during the production process. Here are some more '58s for comparison. Seems to have been common.

http://www.hydra-glide.com/phpBB3/vi...hp?f=5&t=18274

[Speeding Big Twin]

tomanybikes, I agree with Robbie. I think the SN is fine. All characters appear normal factory types for a 58 Pan.

It doesn’t always happen but it’s not uncommon for the first two characters to be done with a tandem stamp and I think it may have occurred on this occasion. Notice the 5 and 8 line up neatly with each other. Notice there is a certain amount of space between them. I have 104 other examples of these things happening with 1958 Pans. Also the first two characters in my 104 examples look the same as the 58 in the photo you posted.

Re the sequence 5, it's the type I'd expect for 1958. Out of my 104 examples there’s a 5 in the sequence portion of 38. They all look the same and they are all different to the decade 5.

You’ll find a similar thing happening with 8s. Out of my 104 examples there’s an 8 in the sequence portion of 33. They all look the same and they are all different to the 8 in the year portion.

SNs for 1958 Panheads began at 1001 and went higher than 7000. But did they reach 7100? I do not know yet.
Eric