New member with CA registration question

Hi Chris:

I think Jim’s sage advice is helpful in any situation.

I don’t think you’ll need to travel far from home for the registration process, I simply picked the DMV and CHP locations closest to me since I’m still having issues with my clutch on my Spyder.   Fortunately for me, the Santa Monica DMV employees knew about the specialty car registration and the appointment  went smoothly;  several inspectors came out to look and chat about the car.

I had put my 11-99 plate frame on the car – I don’t know how much that helped at the CHP inspection station but the appointment took less time than it was to drive there.

I went for my appointment at the referee station a few weeks ago for the smog exemption certificate but their state wide network was down so I couldn’t complete my penultimate step. 

I’ll keep everyone updated on my progress. 

Chris

If your new tub is a VS then it is pan based and has a VIN number in the usual place between the seats toward the rear seating area, if you are a member of the AAA club,

you can register at your local office and eliminate the DMV altogether.

I have done this many times....The VIN is the only important factor, and all VS tubs have a VIN in this location....

Thanks Guys for your advice. As the car is a recent new build, I'll contact Kirk at VS and ask for his guidance on the registration process.

Third times a charm; the first two times the DMV network was down so they were a bust.  This time it took all of 30 min; very nice guys at the BAR - they helped me through the process, gave me tips that avoided further complications and cost, and didn't even charge me a dime. They did noticed that the DMV had missed a digit in the VIN, so now I'll have to go back to the DMV to rectify the missing digit.

I found the entire process from the DMV (30 min) to the CHP (15 min), and the BAR (30 min) to be trouble free and the folks very professional and easy to work with.

Made one last trip to the DMV a week ago, got the VIN number fixed and ordered a period correct black and yellow California plate with 19550RS. 

I purchased my VS from CA but registered in in WA first. I then transferred the title to CA and had no issuers at all. It is a 66 VW. It was registered as such in WA. No CA smog is required and no one wanted to even look at in CA. 

The problem is that Spyders don't use a pan and therefore don't have a VW VIN number, or in most cases no VIN at all.

So Washington to Cali is irrelevant here. If you register a SPCN(which means special construction) in California you really need to follow the SB100 exemption process. It makes the state happy and secures the future of the car with the authorities.

Other states are different and some of what you say is applicable, even in CA for a pan-based car.

My issue was that I had a WA title showing the car as a 2013 Kit, but also showing the original 1963 VW VIN. In the end I went to DMV with two sets of forms filled out, one for registering as a 1963 VW, the other for registering as an SPCN. I remembered the advice to smile and be nice as I got passed to four different people, none of whom had ever dealt with this situation before. To my relief, I left DMV with the car registered as a 1963 Kit so all I had to do was get the brake/lights certified to complete the process. I'm also smog exempt and can't be accused of representing the car as something it isn't. All in all, I'm very happy with the outcome  Chris

Replica is bought, the person gave to ride'm hoping to get in my house, hopefully soon more photos in maximum 2 finish assembling lol

Welcome To The Madness! Best of luck with your project, Richeuly! Keep us posted with progress pics of your Spyder! 

Thanks the first step will be painting want the closest the original version here in Brazil for Vw parts are easy to find, I'm having trouble finding the fuel tank cap and vdo pressure gauges, can find a kit was much more expensive.