Today was a big, big day for the project. Not much was really done,
actually, but what was done opens up the road to a successful project. While
dismantling the truck, I contacted the Dutch DMV about the vehicle’s ID. They
advised me to come in with the truck, to have it’s ID established before taking
it apart further. So today, I did. Although I have the title and the tag plate
on the truck, I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. What if they did not
accept this as proper ID? Had I bought a piece of old iron never to be on the
roads here? Yesterday I rented a trailer, and in the evening loaded up the
truck and put it in the workshop at my work, so I could leave early this
morning.
This
morning I set out at seven o’clock, and I was well on time at the RDW (Dutch
DMV) in Nieuwegein. There I waited in line to ‘check in’ for my appointment.
I booked an
inspection with VIN number inscription, but this could not be done. It turns
out you only get the VIN inscribed to the chassis when you present a complete
and road worthy vehicle. Also, the DMV inspector ruled the presented VIN
certificate and tag plate probably did not belong to this truck. I was scared
at that point, as you can imagine. Did I buy a lot of old iron? Then the
inspector came with the good news! He was able to make the motor number readable
again, and the car could be identified by this number.
The car got ‘tagged’ and
all tags were photographed (not only by me…) and registered in the DMV
database.
One on the
engine, small hole drilled in the casting:
One through
the chassis:
Now I can
take everything apart further, and restore, rebuild, re-what-ever-I-like. I
should take care not to remove the tags, of course, but they are sturdy and
made to be on vehicles in need of restoration. Once the truck is roadworthy
again, I can go to the RDW for an inspection. If the truck is as it should be,
and all tags are retrieved undamaged, I can get a full registration on the car,
Dutch VIN, licence plates, the lot. The inspector told me today was the biggest
hurdle in the whole registration process, with this done it should be plain
sailing (and a lot of work) from now on. Yeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! I am
happy!!!!!!!