PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

I don't know about frame recall for Utah. I was there for final four games.

Weather changes from day to day there. I mean sunny then next day snowing, so on. Weather drives me nuts.

 

Martinsburg ehh? That's a stones throw away from my house (40 min). There's plenty of employment opportunities just up I-81 in Hagerstown, MD. Ironically same town/city I work in.

 

I know all about Mitsubishi Mr. Slims!

 

I cannot believe that it has been almost three years (and 45K miles) since this momentous occasion! Gonna have to get a new sticker to commemorate 150K...

 

I previously thought that when it came to a vehicle, the title stayed with the body, and this was what allowed people to put a modern chassis and drivetrain under a vintage body; This allows emissions testing rules to be circumvented, even in California. Unique creations I've personally seen include a 1929 Plymouth body mounted on a 1982 Toyota 4x4 chassis, and 1933 Ford body on a 1980s Toyota 2WD chassis, and a 1950s Chevy truck body mounted on an early 2000s GMC Sierra Denali AWD chassis; 1947-1954 Chevy "bullnose" bodies on Chevy S-10 chassis seem to be a popular way of doing things as well.

However, recently, I was talking with a friend who's owned a lot of vehicles in his lifetime and is absolutely sure that the title stays with the frame; When my 2010 Tacoma was getting its frame replaced at the Toyota dealer last November, absolutely nothing had to be done with regards to the title or the VIN. My dad is the original owner of my truck and he bought it new in September; He paid it off in late 2012 or early 2013 and transferred the title to me in December 2016. The title to my truck has been stashed in a fireproof safe since early 2017, and as such hasn't seen the light of day since then.

So, say someone buys a mechanically sound Taco that has a clean title but a bad frame, and then buys a totaled Taco that involved in a light rollover or something and has salvage title; Until the conversation with my friend a couple weeks ago, I was absolutely sure that the Taco with the rotted frame would retain its clean title, but now I'm not so sure.

So, when a body and drivetrain from one truck are combined with a frame from another truck, which title is retained?!?! If I move to any of the other 49 states in this country, would that state's DMV give a shit that the frame has been replaced?

 

I didn’t have to do anything when I had my frame replaced

I don’t believe the frame is stamped with a vin

 

This was not a body from one vehicle being combined with the frame of another, but...

My ex-girlfriend's dad had a UK-market 1970s Mini Cooper that had some sort of body modification where a VIN or serial number didn't match; He had been living in North Carolina at the time and moved to Pennsylvania without realizing this would be an issue. He had a North Carolina title and plate, but when he attempted to register the car in Pennsylvania upon moving here, he was denied; He called up North Carolina DMV and found out that he'd have to physically bring the Mini back down to NC to have an NC cop inspect it. This in itself was not a big deal, but the car was not the most reliable thing around and it lacked certain creature comforts like air-conditioning, which would be obligatory for a summer trip from Pennsylvania to North Carolina and back; My ex's dad had trailered the Mini to Pennsylvania on behind his GMC Yukon XL, and by the time I started dating her in 2013 the Mini had been languishing in the backyard of their home here in Pennsylvania for a few years, and needed a lot more than a jumpstart and an oil change. They ended up moving to Florida years ago, and I believe they stopped in NC on their way down there to get the VIN issue dealt with; That ended up working out, but no matter how advanced things become as the years go by, it would appear that dealing with the DMV will generally always suck!

 

This is exactly what my friend and I were talking about; He believed that the dealer probably put a VIN plate of some sort on the new frame; I am pretty sure the frame doesn't have a VIN on it either...

 

I don’t have any expertise in this area but it makes sense that the title would be body related and not frame.

As you stated above restorations. If somebody put a 70’s Baja beetle on and pre Tacoma frame say 92, the title wouldn’t say 92 Toyota pickup. It doesn’t make sense.

 

A Beetle body on a Toyota truck frame is something I would definitely like to see!

Also, a friend of mine has a 1974 Ford F100 that he has owned for probably close to twenty years; The bed rotted out and he replaced that with an aluminum flatbed. The cab also rotted out, but the frame is surprisingly solid, the drivetrain is mechanically sound, the front clip is good; He bought a rust-free cab and put that on his truck, but I highly doubt that the cab had its own title...

 

Also, is a certificate of title the same in terms of size and basic looks across all 50 states? I know that a California title was pink until the late 1980s, which is where the term "racing for pink slips" originated, but I'm assuming that an Iowa title is similar to a Pennsylvania title...?

 

They are pretty similar but will have some differences in content. I found this out the hard way with an Arizona title that needs a notary but an iowa title does not. Here you can just sign the title and hand it over with a bill of sale (which is just a piece of paper that says I sell this to this person for this amounts)

The place was convinced they needed to notarize my title (from iowa) since you do in Arizona but the rules are based on the issuing state. So we then had to do a correction since it was notarized and isn’t supposed to be..

 

A Pennsylvania title requires a notary for transfer of ownership as well, though if the vehicle is titled in the name of someone who is deceased, just showing the driver's license of that person is suitable. My neighbor's father-in-law died of COPD in 2020 and they had his 2005 Chrysler 300 with about 83K miles that they didn't really need, and it was making my neighbor's wife sad to see it in the driveway day after day; I called my friend Tyler, who gave them $2,500 cash for the car and flipped it. Anyway, the title was signed on the hood of the Chrysler it belonged to at the curb in front of my neighbor's house. Tyler has been flipping cars since before he was old enough to drive and has built up a relationship with a licensed notary public; My neighbor signed the back of the title and a picture was taken of the late owner's still-valid license by my friend.

A similar thing happened in late 2019 when my friend Gwyn's ex-husband took his own life and his 2004 Tacoma by default went to their kids, since he didn't have a will; Her ex's apartment was a mess, and they gave up on trying to find the title. They went to a notary and applied for a new title in Gwyn's name (Gwyn's son just turned 18 and just got his license this year, and insurance was cheaper with title in her name), which was much easier than Gwyn or myself thought.

 

Does Iowa handle all vehicle-related stuff at the DMV, or are there privately-run notaries where you obtain a title and license plates; The latter is how it works in Pennsylvania. You go to a DMV location to obtain a driver's license or non-driver ID card, take a driver's test, etc...

Pennsylvania is the only state I'm aware of where dealerships are also licensed notaries and any vehicle purchased at a dealer by a Pennsylvania resident can be issued a Pennsylvania license plate on the spot. When we lived in Northern Virginia and my parents traded their 2000 GMC Safari for a new 2004 Honda Odyssey, they transferred the plates from the old van to the new van. However, if you don't have a trade-in, then you get paper temp tags and have to go to the DMV to apply for new ones. The same thing happened when my dad traded a 1990 Mazda B2600i pickup for that GMC Safari in 2000, at which time the plates that had been issued to the Mazda when my dad bought it in 1998 were transferred to the GMC; Those Virginia plates, as stated above, were transferred to the 2004 Honda Odyssey and remained in use until my dad registered it in Pennsylvania in about 2006!

 

Both if these FJ60s belong to an old friend of mine from when my dad was stationed at NAS Whidbey Island (he still lives in Washington, south of Seattle); The one in the top photo is his daily driver, and it's a factory 4-speed! It is mechanically sound, runs great, and even has ICE COLD A/C! Unfortunately, the frame has a significant rust problem...

 

He bought this gutted out shell, which includes a solid, rust-free frame and has a title; His plan is transfer all of the good parts from the complete rig to this body shell, but I have no idea which title he will use...

 

We do everything at the dmv / treasurers office

or if you go through a dealer they do all the paperwork and send it in. Then plates, registration, etc get mailed to you, unless there was a trade in, then they just move the plates and send you the paperwork.

you really only need to goto the dmv for license stuff, or if you are doing private party sale. Most renewals and changes can all be done online.

 

From what I understand the title stays with the frame, a lot of newer vehicles are unibody so the body IS the frame but on a traditional body on frame construction the title is supposed to be associated with the frame.

That said it is the person registering the title's responsibility to swap over and or order and install new VIN plates on the body if the frame is changed.

I don't think anybody would really ever look that close or care unless there was a insurance or ownership dispute.

Ironically I don't believe the VIN number is stamped on the frame.

But I could be wrong about all that, it's just what I remember being told when parting out a vehicle.

 

The door jamb label is the official dataplate for the vehicle, with VIN, date & location of manufacture, declaration of FMVSS compliance, etc. That's the label they view when you get the vehicle plated and insured. Since the label is on the body, the title is with the body.

 

In the bullseye for a stupid ice storm, even got an email from the electric company suggesting preparations for outages. Filled up the generator with gas plus filled up a couple 5 gallon cans too, just praying it misses so l don't have to use it.