Ok so I'm ready to take the plunge and get me some early iron. I've seen some smokin deals on ebay but alot of them dont have ***les. How hard is it to get a ***le for a car in the 1930's. I'm talkin field cars /barncars not obvoiously hot/stolen cars. Maybe yall can give me some links or point me in the right direction. I think thats the only thing holding me back is how to register when you peice a frame from this and a body from that, or you make a frame, etc. Any insite fellas? ....Joe
All you need is a bill of sale and a cop buddy who can come verify the vin#. If there's no VIN# they'll ***ign you one. I've never had trouble with this stuff. Hell, I've transferred a truck to my name with NO paperwork! Travis
www.dmv.ca.gov It's hit or miss with the CA DMV. Each worker has his or her own rules up in their head. One person will say no to you, the next day you go back and ask someone else, and they'll say sure. This has happened more than once to me. Build your car first. If you have no ***le, you can get one. The CHP will ***ign vin numbers. A cop buddy always helps. I know from recent experience. Here's where the numbers are on old Fords: http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_serialnumbers.htm Mike
As long as the car is out of the DMV computer, its pretty easy. I actually do my DMV stuff at the Auto Club, making it easier still. If I have any papers at all, I leave them at home. Just tell them you had it in your name like 10 years ago,(as long as you dont look like youre 12), but lost the papers. They will have you fill out a statement to that effect. Think of someone you bought it from, a price, a date you bought it, and youre done. They can verify the VIN there, or have a cop buddy do it. You will have ***le and plates for about 75 bucks. Remember one thing, keep it simple. And dont offer up any info, like you built it outta 5 different cars, etc. You will open up all kinds of cans of worms if you do.. They dont know what they are looking at, as long as it has 2 vin#'s on it, thats what they want to see.
The Red Baron has it right about the staff at DMV. If you take the time to be nice and polite and be prepared with the DMV employees, they're nice and polite back and will help you out. I've had great success at the Roseville DMV and I've never walked away in irritation. Even after waiting an hour for not having an appointment. But every time I've gone in, they've been nice and more often than not the women are "Oh yeah my daddy had a 59 Chevy when I was a little girl..." One of my buddies has had nothing but trouble with DMV in getting his cars taken care of, especially when trying to ***ign YOM plates to his cars. It got so bad that he filed a formal complaint against a supervisor and she ended up getting suspended cuz she was extremely rude to him (I know for a fact that he is a super nice guy so don't say maybe he was a ***** to the lady). Anyway... have your papers (bill of sale, law enforcement do***entation of the vehicle etc), money, and a smile with a soothing calm voice ready when you go into DMV and it'll all be good! Travis
Yo papa I rolled into DMV north(carmichael)with nothing drove my roadster there got the vin check walked up to the window filled out the statment of facts that I owned the car since 1990 lost the ***le walked out $51.00 lighter with plates need some help PM me DEAN
Thanks for the info guys, I feel a little more confident about buying a car without papers now. as long as I have that bill of sale.
The reason I chuck the bill of sale too, is they will want an application for a new ***le from the person on the bill of sale. Unless youre a good signature copier, leave the bill of sale at home. And if the cars in the computer and his name doesnt match what they have, then you have to find the guy he got it from, etc, or lien sale it. By saying you were the owner and lost the papers keeps it easy, the only signatures you need are your own.
so my best bet is to find a car that is either not in the computer with no papers or has the pink slip. You guys are great. Do they trip on fenders, etc? or are they just looking for the vin? Wondering if it would be wise to build semi stock just to get registered then do the metal work, etc. that can make them leary. Are their brake light inspections like with a salvaged car?
Typically the person checking the vin wont even know what kind of car it is. It helps to have as much stuff on it as possible, to avoid any problems. If you go telling them you built the car out of 5 different ones or homebuilt things, they will want receipts for all the parts, a weight slip,brake and light inspection, etc... Do your best to find all the vehicle codes that apply to your year of car, so you can show them if they question something. Unless they are an ***hole, they will appreciate you showing them. I usually bring a book with me that shows what the car is, and where the vin codes are, if they cant find 2... If they send you to the CHP, they may have more issues with the technical aspects of your car..
[ QUOTE ] Ok so I'm ready to take the plunge and get me some early iron. I've seen some smokin deals on ebay but alot of them dont have ***les. How hard is it to get a ***le for a car in the 1930's. I'm talkin field cars /barncars not obvoiously hot/stolen cars. Maybe yall can give me some links or point me in the right direction. I think thats the only thing holding me back is how to register when you peice a frame from this and a body from that, or you make a frame, etc. Any insite fellas? ....Joe [/ QUOTE ] Oh Jeesh, I see you mentioned ebay. Does that mean you're thinking of out of state cars? The following story is for a rare case: you have a valid out of state pink with non matching VIN numbers. But make sure you read the last paragraph whether my story applies to you or not. My 41 Ford PU is from Michigan. Lived its whole life there. Funny thing about 41 Ford PUs is that they use 40 frames. Know where the vin is? On the frame, the other possible stamp location is on top of the bell housing. Well turns out the VIN on the Michigan paperwork was a valid 41 VIN, but the VIN on the frame was a valid 40 VIN. They didn't match. I was S.O.L. at the DMV. How this happened in the first place I'll never know, lost in Michigan history somewhere. Don't fall into the muck and mire that I did if the vin on your pink does not match any vin you can find on the car you get. Having a pink is a great thing, just make the numbers match before you get to the DMV. Concourse Auto Parts sells VIN tags for 30's Fords. Use one of those to stamp a number that matches any paperwork you get. Mount the vin before you get to the DMV, and you're golden. ANOTHER KEY RULE FOR CA: Wanna drive your car before all this gets worked out? Get a temp operating permit. If you ask for one they will ask how long YOU think it will take to get your stuff in order before you come back for plates. Tell them at least 3 months. This will give you time to drive your rig before you have official paperwork for it. Good for debugging your rig. Getting insurance is cake too if you already have a daily driver, just get the old iron on your policy with your new iron. Another thing you can tell your insurance company is that the old rig is your daily driver, because a 30's Ford is worth pennies to them and it will lower your overall insurance costs. Another reason to own an old car. Mike
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