Renumbered en Multiple Chassis Numbers.......

At AutoWiki we have defined that the chassis number is the unique identifier for a car registration. But we know of several cases of cars with the same chassis number, even one case of four cars with the same chassis number. How do we deal with this?

As said, if a car has a chassis number, it can be registered at our website, even if there is already a car with the same chassis number. We don't involve in cases like this, that is not our role. That is for our visitors to monitor. But of course we are very interested in the background of these cars. The history of each car can be added and edited in the 'Story' section of each car.

Another difficulty is when cars are renumbered. See for instance the case of the first three Ferraris of Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. All three cars carried the same chassis number. This is what happened.

In 1953 Prince Bernhard bought a used Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale Coupe in Belgium with chassis and engine number 0139/E.
Later that year he traded that car at the Ferrari factory for a new Ferrari 212 Inter Pinin Farina Coupe with chassis and engine number 0269/EU.
For some reason the factory switched the numbers, so Prince Bernhard drove back to the Netherlands with a new car with 'his' old chassis number.
In 1955 Prince Berhard traded his Ferrari 212 Inter Pinin Farina Coupe at the Ferrari factory for a new 250 GT Europa with chassis and engine number 0387/GT.
Again the factory switched the numbers, so Bernhard again drove in a new Ferrari with 'his' old chassis number 0139/E.

We have decided that in cases like this, we identify a car by its current stamped chassis number. But we mention the old chassis numbers between brackets.
For instance: Ferrari 250 GT Europa, chassisnumber 0139/E (0387/GT).