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Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:20 am

My Brother is getting a 1964 VW Bug Tilte and pan, he wants to put the title on his four seater, How hard is this to do? any tips you can give me to make the trip to DMV painless. I kinda did one on my sandrail but i bought a title from a 62 VW recon Dbug so mine was just get it in my name

Thanks in advance

Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:39 am

So if i read that right, you want to put the VIN numbers onto your rail buggy so you can have a title for it, right?

if so, not sure how strict arizona is, but here in georgia, a few of my friends have done that. all they did was cut the vin number off the tunnel and dash. welded the VIN number plate on the end or the torsion housing. if you still have a piece of the tunnel on the torsion housing, i'd prolly weld it there (like where it would normally go on a bug), unless you just have the torsion housing, or cut off the origional vin number. Anyhoo, then they rivited the VIN plate on the dash, on the bar on the bottom of the windshield.

when they went to get tags, they basically told them its just a regular bug, but when getting it insured, they told them it was a VW bug modified to a sand rail. they usually had to get some sort of special insurance for it (like collecter car insurance, that covers kit cars, or highly modified cars like that). hope this helps
-Mike

Sat Sep 05, 2009 2:16 pm

Ummm... Isnt that illegal?

Sat Sep 05, 2009 2:20 pm

Nicksan wrote: Ummm... Isnt that illegal?

Yep, but I have seen folks do it before. Just dont get caught, they will impound the car and throw your behind in jail.

Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:08 pm

My buggy is title as a 2003 dune buggy. Most states allow you to do so, somewhere there just has to inspect it to make sure it isn't held together by duct tape and gorilla glue. I got my insurance through progressive. They were the only people i could find to insure it. Cost me $200 every six months, but it is insured as a 2003 VW dune buggy so if anything happens I don't have to worry about the insurance company having a cow. If you insure it as a 1964 VW Bug, and something happens the insurance company could possibly deny the claim because its not what it is suppose to be. If I were you I would give the DMV a ring and ask them what it takes to get a title for a custom car or motorcycle.

Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:08 pm

Unless the entire tunnel is there you may get it impounded. It is real easy just to get a title for the rail.

Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:00 pm

ya, you might just wanna do it the legal way. you can even ask the hiway patrol title officer what is required to get it title and street legal if that is what you are after. some states will issue a new vin # for the rail. they print it on to a sticker., then peel and stick! i think things could get weird with a altered/ riveted on piece of tin with a different vehicles vin #.

Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:36 pm

California can be really weird about vehicles and titles, but, I picked up paperwork for new construction, filled it out, made appt with CHP VIN verifier, and half an hour later she peel and stick, and then drill and riveted a brand new vin tag into place, pretty painless fer sure.

Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:44 am

Arizona isnt too bad either about new constructed vehicles. All you need is the basic safery items like headlights, tail lights, brake lights, signals are optional if you tell them you use hand signals, a windshield, a windshield wiper it can be either motor driven or hand operated, you will need reciepts showing where all of the parts came from suck as motor and trans, steel to build the frame, or reciepts for the body, etc. A little word of advice, if the car looks like a cobbled together mess they will inspect it with a microscope, it its looks well built then they will usually give it a once over and call it good.

Sun Sep 06, 2009 8:28 am

My street legal 4 seat rail have the original vin from the "donor" rivited forward of the shifter. No problems at all. Now the title does match the vin but says 2S VW....I didnt think I wanted to bring into the equation that it was a rail. Even though they are legal for street use here and mine does meet all the requirements. Heck, finding a street patrol officer that knows all the regulations for a legal rail would be hard. Most of the ones i have run across, just want a ride.

Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:56 am

I think what he is trying to do is avoid emissions. It only takes a half hour of your time and a stack of receipts to street legal and title a newly constructed rail, but you have to go through emissions after 5 years. If you have a modified motor sometimes it's a little rough getting through emissions.

Sun Sep 06, 2009 11:50 am

James you hit it on the head.....Really tuff with a turbo

Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:03 pm

I have this...... "friend" that has a "smog motor" for his 5.0 mustang. Every couple years, the motor is swapped in for a trip to the smog station, and then reswapped.

Takes a weekend worth of work in the mustang (usually by my..... mean his-self)..... but a aircooled VW? 5 hours? Including the trip of the smog rep and lunch of course....

And you could have a SOLID running smogable 1600 for a pretty fair sum of cash monies...

Sun Sep 06, 2009 6:14 pm

Well, most of my friends had their rail registered as a bug, and insured as a rail buggy. for example, most of them (or whoever built the rail), cut the rear torsion housing off, right before the VIN number on the tunnel, so the origional number is still there. so far no issues. i forgot the insurance companies they used, but so far no issues.

Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:40 pm

im in a similar situation with my 74 baja.... i bought it legit from a guy (call him guy 1) in ca (im an az native) and he sold it to me with a bill of sale. the guy (guy 2) he bought it from sold it the same way because guy 2 lost the title. now im stuck without a title, the guy i bought it from moved and has a different phone number, and i am stuck with an unregistered bug... now what?

Tue Sep 08, 2009 9:19 am

Bruno Vegas wrote: im in a similar situation with my 74 baja.... i bought it legit from a guy (call him guy 1) in ca (im an az native) and he sold it to me with a bill of sale. the guy (guy 2) he bought it from sold it the same way because guy 2 lost the title. now im stuck without a title, the guy i bought it from moved and has a different phone number, and i am stuck with an unregistered bug... now what?

PMed ya