In order to get "FlipTop" registered, I knew I would have to make at least two trips to the DMV. The first was to find out how persnickety they might be, and to get a three day temporary permit to drive the car over for the inspection. It's only about four miles away, but still I decided to be safe rather than sorry. The permit only cost $1, and I needed to know how to prepare for the inspection anyway. I arrived at 7:45 this morning because I wanted to get in and out before there was a long line. I was sure they opened at 8am. I was wrong. They opened at 7:30am! Oh well, no significant line yet anyway. I was checked in promptly and sent to stand in the "A" line (the one for "hard" title issues. I didn't think that sounded like a promising start, but . . .) I only had to wait about 8 minutes when I was summoned to a young lady's desk. When I arrived, there was a placard on her desk that said "Please be patient. I am in training". Oh great. This should be fun! It was not unexpected when she admitted she had never seen or processed a title like mine. She was very confused about the 1965 date and the 2016 engine. Once I sorted it out with her, she had to get her superior to walk her through this one. Only a couple minutes later, they both returned. It took about five minutes, and they had issued me my temporary permit, taken my $1 bill, and sent me to talk to the "inspections" department. Oh boy, here it comes!!

There was one other gentlemen in the inspections department when I arrived. He was having a golf cart inspected (why, I can't possibly imagine!!). I explained my needs to the receptionist and initial screener. She filled out a couple of pieces of paper. I asked her if I needed to make an appointment for the inspection, and she confirmed that yes, that is usually a good idea. I told her I wished to complete the process on Wednesday (exactly two years to the day of the delivery of my kit by the FFR semi-truck.) She said "that shouldn't be a problem, but did I have time to bring it in this morning. We are dead at the moment". I hadn't planned on doing the entire process today, but the window of opportunity swung wide for me. I immediately made the six minute drive home, grabbed the remainder of the documentation that I was sure they were going to look over in detail, and fired up FlipTop for her first real trip on city streets!

It was quite exciting to really be driving the car beyond the side streets of my neighborhood. It surely drew looks and thumbs up! (I am absolutely sure it was the car and not the driver getting the thumbs up!!) When I arrived back at the DMV, there still was only one person in front of me, and there were two inspectors. A woman came out and called the other gentlemen out for his inspection. Apparently he had bought a totaled car, restored it to basic driveability, and was planning to give it to his daughter. The inspector was grilling him on every aspect of the car! I sat there thinking, "if this is what they do to an old beater of a car, what do that do to someone who built his own car?" This wasn't going to be pretty!

About five minutes later another inspector came out. He was very friendly, and seemed at least partially interested in the car. He walked around it once, asked me to open the hood, looked for a engine serial number (didn't find one), instructed me to close the hood, walked around it once more to admire the paint job, and he was done! The entire inspection couldn't have taken three minutes. He didn't have me start the engine, didn't check the brakes or lights, didn't check anything at all! He affixed an official state of Arizona VIN plate to the car. I had to pay $25 for the inspection. Done! This is just too easy. You just know it has to all fall apart soon, right?

I was sent back to the main waiting area, assigned to Line "A" again (great!) and by sheer luck was re-assigned to my favorite trainee! I explained to her all wanted to do: 1) reassign the "FLIPTOP" plate from my truck to the Roadster, 2) title the Roadster into my Trust, 3) get a new plate for the truck. She immediately got that "oh my gosh, "this one is way over my head look" again. She took a copy of my trust certificate, a copy of my initial purchase Paperwork from FFR, my certificate of origin from FFR, surprisingly not a copy of my insurance card. She headed off to the supervisor again. I waited. And waited. and WAITED! about 20 minutes later she finally returned,all her notes and instructions in hand. After that, it was just a matter of processing each task one at a time. First she transferred the old plate off my truck, and assigned it to the Roadster. She needed a bit more help figuring out how to fit all the information into the very limited slots available on the computer system. She process the title and the registration then made copies of all my provided documentation. Then she handed me the bill for registration. "Here it comes . . . steady . . . keep calm . . . you knew this was coming . . . You can handle this . . . " (all inside my mind of course!): $73.10!!!

The entire registration, inspection, and titling had taken me a grand total of 2 hours and 25 minutes, and included two full round trips to the house, and cost less than $100 total! I am really sorry to tell you that if you live in one of those semi-socialist states that requires half a day, lots of frustration, and an inspection that approaches the level of a rectal exam! I could not be more pleased with the entire process. It would have taken even less time if I hadn't had to wait on the young lady to learn the job, but lets face it, you have to learn sometime, it might as well be on me. I'll bet she doesn't see many of these cars in many months of work. It was a pretty unique opportunity for her. I was just happy to get it done!!

So what did I do when i got home? I'll give you a hint: