Shasta Vin# and Model Database (Please include Model)

Just realized this is a better place to post my VIN for the Database. (I posted in the other VIN section accidentally).

According to our title, we've got a '65 Shasta Compact VIN# V18152

I haven't confirmed the number on the tongue. Any info would be great. We're new to all this, but really excited to fix 'er up and get 'er on the road.

Not to try to scare anyone unnecessarily (probably unnecessarily), but I feel very strongly about internet security. 

It's probably not that dangerous to just reveal your VIN from an old camper, if that's all you've ever revealed about yourself here. Though I suppose it's conceivable that someone could learn not only your VIN, but that you also have not gotten a title yet (very common with these old beasts). They could make a bill of sale (easy), and apply for a title themselves before you do, or even register the thing in a state that doesn't require a title, wait a few months, put up a craigslist ad using YOUR pictures, then make up a story of how "someone" responded to their Craigslist ad, interested in buying "their" camper, so they gave you their address so you could come see it. The next day "their" camper had vanished, and they found pics of "their" camper posted on a Shasta board! Now you have to prove that you didn't steal "their" camper, for which they have a title and registration. Very unlikely I know, probably almost impossible (I know I left a dozen holes in that plot), and you'd probably win eventually, but why risk it? Anyway, it's not so much about the VIN itself, or the members' trustworthiness here or any of that, as it is about teaching yourself not to reveal ANYTHING online that you can avoid revealing. Sad, but true. It's much safer to send Ross your VINs via PM.

This is kinda off-topic (and long) from here on out, but serves to illustrate the principle. When I posted a Google Earth pic of where my camper was parked, I blurred out the lat. and long and turned off the place names. Not because I think Vikx is really lusting after a vintage '76 2250 (nyuk nyuk nyuk), but because I know that Vikx, and all the other people I enjoy interacting with, aren't the only people reading my posts. When I showed my new truck, I blurred out the plate. Not because of you guys that I joke around and share trailer info with, but because of all the OTHER people out there. Rhetorical question: what percentage of members here actually post anything (so that you get to "know" them), compared to the "lurkers"? Can you say for sure that all the lurkers are simply trailer enthusiasts like us? I can't. As we already know, some people join just to do hit-and-run hat sales, who's to say what other purposes people may join for? We get comfortable here, if none of the posting members get in fights we think it's one big happy family, but we forget how many other people can be watching.

I'm not paranoid. I don't think there are hordes of thieves just waiting for me to slip up and reveal something so that they can pounce. I'm not particularly worried about my odds of dying in a terrorist attack, either. But just as there are people who actually do die in terrorist attacks, there are people online who end up victims because of revealing too much, and it only makes sense to protect yourself as much as is possible. The same way that if I see someone set down a backpack in a crowd and run away, even if I'm reasonably confident that it's just a kid leaving it next to Mom because he's tired of lugging it, I'm not going to stand there next to it. It's a unnecessary risk that is easy to avoid.

For example, just in this forum alone, let's say in the "introductions" thread, that you put your specific home town of Klamath Falls out there, instead of obscuring it by saying "near the Oregon/Cali border". You also used your first name in a post or signature, or someone here who's met you at a rally innocently used your name, or it's part of your username. In another post about how tent camping sucks at 52, you gave them your age. If the forum has a "Cowcharge's birthday is today" notification function like some do, they learned your birthdate. Now they have your first name, gender, home town, age and birthdate, along with possibly your license plate number if you don't blur it out of your tow vehicle pics. It is not hard to do a white pages search using that data to narrow down who you really are, especially if you don't live in a huge city. How many 52-year old Gladyses born on March 1st can there be living in Klamath Falls? Then they read your thread about how you're leaving to drive to Colorado for two weeks to pick up another trailer, updated daily with your current location, and all of a sudden they know exactly where an empty home is, ripe for the picking, and they know exactly how much time they have before you get back. Or you posted a pic of the campground you're staying at, and they now know where an older, well-off woman travelling alone can be found, and what vehicle she has. I know, it sounds farfetched. But it happens. And this forum, like virtually every forum out there, can be read by anyone on Earth, without being a member. I haven't tested it, but I suspect you don't even have to be a signed-in member to view pics any more, now that they are not stored here. 

People are way too casual about internet security, IMO. Public Facebook profiles that ANYONE ON EARTH can read, listing your hometown and where you work or go to school, with pictures of your house, your kids wearing school-identifying hoodies or holding up their diplomas, pics of car and camper license plates, and you just posted a bunch of pics that show you're all in Mexico on vacation (and your house is unguarded). It's just too damned easy these days to take bits of seemingly-insignificant-or-unrelated information posted online and combine them to discover your name, address, phone number, workplace etc.

After that newspaper in NY published the list of concealed-permit-holders, they caught a guy roaming around with the list in hand, looking for homes to burgle guns from. The NSA doesn't NEED phone or library records to find out whatever they want about you, most people post the information for anyone who's looking. For that matter, how many of your Facebook friends have you even seen in the last twenty or thirty years? That weird-but-funny, quiet kid you remember from high school whose friend request you just accepted without even a "hello, how ya doin' after all these years" could be anything, thirty years later.

Again, it's not about the VIN itself, it's about having a security mindset. They may idealistically call these forums "communities", but in reality they are groups of anonymous people, whose desires and motives there is no way to know, surrounded by a planet full of more anonymous people who aren't members, but who can see almost everything that a member can. How many members actively post, so that you can become somewhat comfortable with them, compared to how many never post anything? I'm not trying to dash cold water on this place, where we all come to talk about old campers and joke and share expertise, but one must be realistic, and remain aware that one is not at home in front of the fire sharing yarns with Grandpa.

Also, people are becoming more cautious not only because of identity theft or burglary, but because of people like Anonymous "doxing" people online. Anonymous is NOT some cohesive group of people all aligned to fight injustice, regardless of whether they all wear the same mask or not. They are a huge, diverse group of people. Some of them are indeed about whistleblowing and righting wrongs. But others are all about causing chaos and mayhem, "just for the lulz", and they all share the same information, without discrimination between groups. Doxing is publishing people's names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, workplaces etc. online, for anyone to see, with the clear, spoken intent of getting the most people possible to cause them trouble. People who are doxed as a result of internet disputes can have many, many people ordering pizza deliveries to their homes, having hookers sent there, harassing phone calls at home and at work, etc. Sounds silly, but it happens.

This forum does not get particularly contentious because there's not much to argue about among people who all love the same thing, so the likelihood of a dispute here turning ugly is very low. But let's say you're also involved in the Tea Party or 2nd amendment rights, just to use a couple of favorite targets for harassment, and that you always use the same email address for every forum or website you belong to. You can search for people using email addresses and find practically every place they've ever been online. Has anyone seen the stories about Jessie Slaughter? Or Chris Chandler? Google them sometime, and see how many people jumped on those people like sharks in a feeding frenzy. Those are two extreme cases, and to a large extent they made themselves targets, but it can happen to anyone.

Again, your VIN by itself is most likely harmless. But if you see no harm in that, chances are you've posted other things online that are seemingly harmless by themselves as well. I'd suggest going to your Facebook page without signing in, as if you were someone else searching for you, and see just how much you can learn about yourself from the point of view of a stranger. Sorry for the long scary wide-ranging post, but this is a subject I think everyone needs to pay more attention to, and I'd hate to see anything like my examples to happen here. Besides, you guys know I can't write a short post.

Hi Guys! I've been trying to figure out the VIN number of my 16SC shasta and have a couple of faded numbers that I've taken pictures of and thought you might be able to help me determine which is my VIN. I have two different sets of numbers on the tongue of the Trailer. One is clearly stamped on the outside and it looks like the letters are PA and the numbers are 877X . But there is also a plate on the inside that only has 5 numbers and no determinable letter. There are also numbers to the left of the ones starting with PA that might start with an S but I'm not sure. The numbers on the inside part of the tongue look to me like 33629... Thoughts?

imgur.com/a/LmJYs

Hello! I am new to the Vintage Trailer scene and just purchased a Shasta. What I believe is an early 60's Airflyte 7' wide and 15' in length. She is all original with a furnace, fridge, brown appliances and a rock guard on the front window. She had wings but they have been removed . The cabinets are not rounded on the corners. I managed to reveal the vin on the toung. V16700 I'm super excited to begin renovations but would love to know her birth year. Can anyone offer insight as to what she might be and her year?

Ross does not seem to come here anymore to catalog this information. Vikx, you may want to delete this thread. People are putting their VIN numbers on here and not getting any information back unless he is doing it by PM. Just a thought.

Hey Ross. I have a Shasta Starflyte with a vin of 52869. I'm looking to see what year it is. Can you help?
                                                                               Pierce

I want to apologize for not staying in touch and dropping the ball on the Shasta Vin# and Model Database info.

We moved our household and business, in the spring of last year, to Charlotte, NC and it has taken a while to get settled in.

In the next week or so, I will get caught up with the past requests.

Thank you for your support and patience.