The Nickle and Dime Express: a Not Really 1946 Harley UL Big Twin Flathead

[hacksaw01]

the bike is a beauty. i think the seat is a bit mismatched but i am not the one riding it so ...
i think the important thing here is how did u title a case? in many states thats rather impossible. in vermont i realized that they had a covid induced policy , since modified , that allowed people to get registrations, but i dont think actual titles? even vermont wanted to see a complete bike , not a bare case.
in Ma.you would need a title without exception. in Ct i believe, and i hope, a bill of sale and a complete running bike can be presented to pass inspection and be registered. anyway it should be mentioned that in many states , unfortunately, bolting together a pile of parts leaves one with just that. a bolted together pile of parts.

[chuckthebeatertruck]

It used to be dead simple to title cases in any of twenty states. I used Maine and Arkansas for eons, then Vermont.

Loopholes closed in 2023. . .enter Saints Title.

$400 and you shall have a title my friend. It is fast and fully digital.

probably half the bikes I’ve bought had no title or paperwork. I’ve literally never had an issue.

[exeric]

I agree with Steve above; Saints Title is the way to go. As mentioned before, some States expect a full motorcycle and may not title just an engine case. I had that experience here in Florida with my '48FL. A Sarasota county sheriff had to examine the motor #s in person and when he saw just a bottom end on a bench he said, "That ain't a motorcycle". I resolved that by hoisting the bottom end into it's frame and he said, "That works".

[chuckthebeatertruck]

I've had that "it ain't a motorcycle" line more than once from a police officer. Ditto when I've done VIN transfer (yes, it is legal and yes, there are forms) on salvage vehicles.

I've watched the look when I've brought out a bare frame or in the case of Harley, bare case halves. They always start sharpening their pencils . . .then we have a discussion about what they are or are not signing off on. They are NOT conducting a vehicle inspection and no one is asking them to certify a vehicle is in any particular condition.

While they hate it, EVERY single vehicle inspection form ONLY requires they verify there is a VIN and that it is valid. NO state requires the VIN to be part of an assembled vehicle for this purpose (vs registration) and EVERY state has a form for VIN transfer in the case of an unrepairable vehicle. IN the case of an unrepairable vehicle, it becomes super obvious they are just verifying the VIN has been correctly transfered and the numbers conform. Weird by true -- and when you're in a shop and most of the vehicle is apart; it becomes obvious they can't verify the vehicle. As a result, I've only had one officer push back; so I asked they call their Desk Sergeant who agreed they only needed to verify the number and nothing else.

In the case of the flathead in this thread -- I actually had the captain of a local PD come out because I knew his officers wouldn't like the bare case half from previous experience asking them to sign off on Vermont's forms. . .and he was more than cool about it and spent a good half an hour looking around my shop and asking questions about vintage bikes.

If you are polite and explain it; it's generally not an issue.

If you also remember that most officers work shifts and are most likely to be in the "right" mood at the start of their shift; you can time your request. In chicago land, shifts are generally 7-3 and 3-7, rinse and repeat three shifts a day. Roll call is first 15 minutes -- so if you time your request about 45 minutes into a shift you'll likely get a fresh and rested officer who just got their coffee and is much more likely to look and trust, vs dig and challenge.

YMMV