How to identify a true Alpina?

[AlpinaMan]

How to identify a true Alpina? And what’s are the area and signs that you must look for before you purchase a genuine Alpina?

There are many times that people ask these questions but I always hear anecdotal answer such as, the front spoiler and rims, or car should have Alpina strips, or the color of the engine should be gray, or the interior should be Alpina upholstery, in which all those items could be bought over the eBay and put them on any regular BMW and make them look like one.
But what do you think in terms of technical and registered numbers that we should look for? (I will provide answer latter).

[Scooter]

The VIN number is always a good thing to check. However, I'd want to physically see the VIN on the car or have someone I trust check it out because it would be easy for someone to find an authentic VIN and claim that is the VIN of the car (if they are trying to sell a fake). I'm not sure about other Alpina's, but my B8 also has an Alpina plate attached in the engine bay.

[Stirling]

I would have said the plate with the production number on the inside of the cabin, or the Alpina VIN on the chassis, but I see in Alpina parts catalogs that these can be purchased. So I'm looking forward to the answer that AlpinaMan is promising for us!

As an aside, I have to say that Alpina has been the most customer-service oriented car company I have dealt with. They are always helpful and if you send them a VIN they provide so much information. Very impressive.

[quattro20v]

I would check to makes sure the Alpina VIN matches the plate in the engine bay, the stamp on the shock tower, the engine and also the plate in the cabin.

I'd also cross reference the BMW VIN on the firewall which is crossed out to the Alpina VIN and verify this with Alpina in Buchloe.

[ALP1NA]

http://www.m5board.com/alpina/recalp.html

[Scooter]

Good reference there , but I don't agree with the upholstery one. While I'm sure most cars got the Alpina marked upholstery, not all of them did, so I don't believe it would be sufficient to say a car isn't an Alpina because it doesn't have "Alpina marked" upholstery.