Guys I picked up another S2000 a while ago and I've noticed some oddities in the front passenger side fender. The previous owner (original owner) told me that the car had never been in any accidents (which Carfax confirmed).

1. The VIN stick was missing.
2. The bolts holding the fender had been touched before with a wrench since the paint on the bolts had etchings. This includes the three bolts visible on the side of the engine compartment, the two bolts visible on the side of the door, and the three bolts on the jacking point (can't tell 100% since the location is rather dirty). The screws under the fender well however don't seem to have been touched.
3. There are a bunch of rock chips in the crevices of the S2000 emblem. My first thought after I noticed this was that the emblem had been removed and then reinstalled backwards since I noticed that the S2000 emblem was facing a different direction than the emblem on the driver's side fender. Then I looked at some other pictures and learned that this was normal.

Now what puzzles me is that the fender doesn't seem to have been replaced since the paint matches perfectly and the panel sits perfectly flush. The owner furthermore assured me that the car had never been in any accidents and that he wasn't sure about the etched bolts and missing VIN sticker when I confronted him about this. The previous owner had the car serviced every 3.5k miles so it's understandable that he doesn't know much about the car. I'm trying to fully understand the car so any advice towards this matter will be greatly appreciated. This car was actually purchased as a keepsake so bear with me here. Thanks guys.

Here's a picture for reference.

 

Given that you have a Spa Yellow, the color is very difficult to match...they would certainly need to blend the paint...so I would look at other parts of your car for body work residue...paint overspray around the rubber pieces/plastic pieces of the window frame, inside door jambs, etc. Lift the car (with a simple jack) and check the frame of the car.

The chips behind the "S2000" emblem puzzles me...

 

Who cares? Even if is a repainted fender it meets the eye test.

And carfax is about 30% accurate and won't tell you about a lot of accidents.

 

And what do you mean by "keepsake?" Are you going to lock it in a bubble and give it to your grandchildren?

 

I've noticed no overspray on the car but if the panel was replaced, I assume that it'd be an entirely new panel since the vin is missing. I'll jack up the car tomorrow to get a look underneath.

 

Well "keepsake" might be an overstatement but I do plan to keep this car until the S2000 becomes a classic. Good condition 2000 to 2001 S2000s are becoming rather difficult to buy as is so I'd like to keep this car in perfect condition.

 

Thanks for the quick response guys.

 

that fender looks perfect.

 

The fender was probably replaced, and the shop probably just did a good job of paint matching it and fitting it with the proper gap clearance. Only way to tell is to take off the fender and see if there was any damage on the frame, but most likely its minor because if the fender lines up fine, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Probably just a minor fender bender parking lot incident.

 

I just took a quick glance under the car and under the fender through the side of the door still and everything seems normal. I also compared the two front fenders and noticed that the paint characteristics are identical. Furthermore I can't find any evidence (scratches on the body, etc) that the fender had ever actually been removed. I know for a fact that the previous owner took the car into the dealership several times to fix tsbs and minor nuisances. Is it possible that the dealership would mess with certain body components to fix whatever they're trying to fix?