LocostUSA.com

Yesterday was a big day with some good and some bad. Had a mobile tire installer come out to do the tires and that went great. Tires fit really well and look good on the car. After that I had a service come out to do my ASE Master Mechanic inspection. I used Auto PI here in Austin. No problems there.

Finally in the afternoon went over to the DMV. That didn't go great. Building a kit car is already out in left field, building a kit car from scratch puts you in the bleachers. They kept asking where I bought the frame(they are it seems to me unusually obsessed with the frame) and couldn't wrap their heads around that I had made it myself. After producing a receipt for the frame materials they seemed OK for a few minutes. Then the guy got all upset that I hadn't put a enough information on their form describing the scope of work done. The form had four lines for this! You give me four lines and complain I didn't put in enough info? I had pictures of the entire process and offered those up. They said they couldn't use pictures it had to be written. Honestly the pictures explain it a million times better than I can but what ever. I was told to type up a separate document that better detailed the process.

Certain documentation is a lot more important to the state of Texas than others. Anything related to the frame at all they want. Engine and transmission along with the body parts are the others. The body seems to be that most vehicles the body is integral to the chassis/frame but not so with these cars and they have a hard time with that. They also just don't seemed equipped to deal with a car completely built from scratch and also when you used a donor vehicle for the vast majority of the parts. None of the forms really let you explain this process properly. They are all based around you rebuilding a totaled car with parts from many other vehicles.

I started a multi-page document explaining the build with a few pictures. I'm going to try again next week and hopefully have better luck.

This is almost exactly what I just went through in Oregon. They were OBSESSED with the frame and they just couldn't fathom how it could be hand built (they even kept asking me to point to where I used the Miata frame ). They struggled with the single donor thing as well. I got the "Why the f*#k would you do that" scowl. I explained the universally accepted adage that "a car is worth more in parts than the whole, so it's logically less expensive buying the whole" and they STILL couldn't absorb that. The fix for me was a trip to the state police. They ran background checks on my donor and signed a form recommending the DMV issue a VIN. It was gravy after that. On my return trip to the DMV I had put together a few pages of pictures and SHORT simple descriptions with each showing the basic process, primarily focused on the frame and how it came to be and that seemed to help them understand.

_________________
Peace, Ron

Good knowledge for future reference.
My local tax office has a pre-built 'homebuilt'/mfg vehicle document kit that I picked up when I started this process.

In my case, 90% of my frame was complete when I bought it, with bill-of-sale stating as much.
Hoping my dad is well & established at the new shop by the time I get to ASE inspection & I can trailer it up there for that & some dyno time.

But, everything is on hold while we buy/sell houses & move.

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

Taking RTz's advice and adding a few frame in process pics. Also reading through the texas assembled vehicle manual I found that a kit car "kit" can just be a body with no frame. I did purchase the body as a kit so I'm going to run with that. I'm rewriting my statement of work to put more emphasis on following drawings and plans as part of a kit instead of designed by myself. I think they will have an easier time digesting that.

You must make it fit in their boxes before it gets kicked around enough to annoy. That is when a higher up says no because they can despite the rules. There is little recourse (sovereign immunity). It starts with the Dept or Revenue over DOR and ends at the Governor's Office. Best to avoid that.

This is either a "manufactured street rod" or "manufactured replica" of a Lotus Seven.

As the mfg, it is appropriate and required for you to create and provide a "manufacturers certificate of origin" (MSO). You can find MSOs to compare it to. Last I checked, there are no rules and mfgs typically have their own designs. A large mfg would have elements of their MSOs to help prevent fakes from being fabricated but that is not an issue for one offs and not an issue for anyone but the mfg really for liability. As mfg, it is on you.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

MV8, I was under the impression you couldn't legally do that own your own...

"If you plan to import a new vehicle or construct a motor vehicle on your own, you must also have an MSO. To do this, you’ll want to consult the resources of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, otherwise known as AAMVA. It is against the law to create an MSO certificate yourself, even for a car you built, so make sure you reach out to the AAMVA for help in this process."

_________________
Peace, Ron

Texas will accept an invoice/receipt/bill of sale from the manufacturer of the "kit" in place of an MSO.

I'd like to see your reference if it is not a third party interpretation; the regulation if you have it.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

I do not and I'm not professing it to be true. It's just something I've read a couple places, it very well may be a misinterpretation. Since we, as builders, haven't been required to provide MSO's, it leads me to think their could be some truth in it. I only threw it out there as a warning to do some research before attempting to formalize your own.

_________________
Peace, Ron

It has been a few years since I looked into it and my memory is fading as time goes by. I seem to recall that one must be licensed by the Feds in order to issue an MSO. It didn't take much to qualify, but there was a license fee which was prohibitive for a one-a-year builder. I'd give my memory a 50-50 chance of being right, and things may have changed since then. In any case, some Googleing should get the current info. I hope the one doing the research can read legalese. I don't trust car forums fo this type of info. I go to the source, the Feds.

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

Yes, if a business is manufacturing vehicles for sale. The MSO is normally a transfer doc.
This would only be a statement about the origin of the parts.
You might explain that to your inspector.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Took another trip to the DMV yesterday. My paperwork was accepted and they assigned me a VIN. VIN starts with TEX followed by six digits. Weird thing is my paperwork still needs to be approved by a regional DMV manager which takes about a week. So not totally out of the woods yet. The VIN assignment was interesting. They just pulled out a 3 ring binder with a list of numbers and wrote my name and the date next to the next one. The last number had been pulled in January of last year!

Here's lessons learned-

-Turns out getting rejected the first go round was a good thing. A BIG thing I discovered was which form to use. There are two different forms for registering an assembled vehicle here, VTR-64 and VTR-852. I originally was using this VTR-64. If I had used this I would have been subject to emissions testing which I would in no way pass. When you use a VTR-852 the vehicle only needs to have what ever car your replicating had on it when it was made.

-On my first trip they gave a me a checklist of required documents that was meant for internal use only and i wasn't supposed to get it. Not sure why as it was extremely helpful. I asked for a copy but couldn't get one. They did say it will get returned to me so I'll post it up then.

-The suggestion of putting a few small pics of the frame build process went over really well.

-Type up a few page description of the build process for the VTR-61 form.

-They only wanted receipts for the frame and the body. Even then it was only for the more expensive pieces. I had receipts for like $10 of metal from home depot they didn't want.

Hooray! I love reasonable, intelligent officials.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Yes! Congratulations

_________________
Peace, Ron

Congrats!

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766