I got my 65 coupe all registered this year and figured I'd share my story of what I went through.

Here's the saga of trying to get a VIN number assigned to my car in MA. The procedure is that I'm supposed to go to the registry of motor vehicles and fill out an application for getting an assigned VIN number. I did this on October 20th. I just walk into the registry with the form, explain to the person at the desk what I'm doing and how it works, pay the $50 and get a receipt for this application. I was in and out in about 15 minutes. Then I can call up and try to schedule an appointment for the VIN assignment with the state police at a salvage title inspection center. There are 5 centers around the state and you can go to any of them. I chose the Bridgewater site because I heard horror stories about the officer at the Northboro site, so I wanted to avoid any hassle. The Bridgewater site is about 1.5 hours from my house vs. about 50 minutes to the closest site in Northboro, so just a little bit further, but hopefully worth the extra driving.

So on Nov. 7th, I call up and I get a recording saying that if I'm calling for a VIN assignment, leave a message with my name and number and someone will get back to me. So I leave a voicemail saying I want to make an appointment with my name and number. I don't hear back after 10 days, so I call again and leave another message on Nov. 17th. Again, I don't hear back. So on Dec. 9th I call again and actually talk with a person this time. I again leave my name, number, etc. and the guy says he'll forward my information on to the Bridgewater site. Again, no calls, nothing. So I took Thursday Dec. 23rd off from work and since I hadn't heard anything back from the state police, my Dad and I took a trip down to Bridgewater to try and talk with someone about trying to get a VIN number assigned to my car. The place opens at 8am and it is first come first serve for salvage inspections. We get there at about 8:50. We are the 8th car in line on a road outside this building which houses equipment for the Mass highway department. There wasn't really a place to walk in and we didn't want to bother anyone, so we figured we'd wait our turn and then try to talk with someone. Around 9am, 2 cars pull out and the first 2 cars now in line pull in. We are now 6th in line and see that it takes a little under 1 hour for the office to inspect 2 vehicles for the salvage title. At this rate we figure we'll be seen a little before noon. At 9:50, I get a phone call on my cell phone and as I pull out my phone it says "restricted number". Since I didn't know what that was and figured it was just a telemarketer, I don't answer. A few seconds later, it says I have a voicemail. I listen to it and there's a guy that says: "Hi Matt, this is the officer from the state police salvage title center and I'm calling to schedule an appointment to get a VIN assigned to your car. I'll try back later."

Unbelievable. After all that time waiting, the guy calls as I'm waiting in line at the site!!!! I couldn't believe it and of course start laughing and kicking myself for not answering. Oh well, at this point we are 4th in line and probably have only another hour or so to wait.

At 11:15 or so, it was our turn. We drive into the parking lot and the officer comes out. He's looking funny at my Dad's car because we have valid plates, whereas everyone else for the salvage title has the car either on a trailer or with dealer plates. I say who I am and that I'm trying to schedule and appointment to get a VIN assigned and ask him if he could review my paperwork to make sure I had everything I needed. He then says, with a puzzled look, "I just called you." He then says a comment about my Dad's car with regular plates and that he hopes that car wasn't there for a salvage title. He said, oh you didn't have to wait in line, you could have just walked up and talked to me. We said we didn't know and didn't want to hassle him. He takes my paperwork and goes inside. We wait for about 10 minutes, then he comes back and says it all looks good. I just need to bring two copies of it and a copy of my license to the appointment. He then says, how about next Thursday at 10am. I said perfect. Then he asked if I came to Bridgewater because of the trooper in Northboro. I said yeah and laughed. He said next Thursday, I can just pull in with it on the trailer and not have to wait in line. I asked what about if it snows next Thursday and he gave me a number to call just in case. He was really polite and professional.

On Sunday, I look at the 5 day forecast. Sunday - Sunny, Monday - Sunny, Tuesday - Cloudy, Wednesday - Sunny, Thursday - Snow, Friday - Sunny. Thursday snow? Are you kidding me? Maybe the forecast will be wrong as it still is a few days out. Tuesday rolls around, nope, still snow for Thursday. I call the officer and am able to change my appointment to Wednesday at 10am. Wednesday morning we load up the car on the trailer and head back down to Bridgewater, get there around 9:30 and unload the car. The officer comes out around 9:50 and I drive into one of the bays on the building. I hand him my paperwork, he checks everything out and assigns me a VIN. I had to cut away a little bit of carpet on the frame near the chassis number and clean up the glue and he lets me stick on the number. The other officer there had never seen a FFR coupe before and took a few pictures. We loaded back up and were out of there by 10:30.

Dec. 29th, I get all my paperwork ready to bring to the RMV to get a title and registration. After calling up and getting insurance yesterday, I had my RMV-1 Form, application for VIN signed and stamped with the assigned VIN, Certificate of origin and the invoice for the kit.

I get to the registry about 10 minutes before it opens and there is a small line. The door opens at 9, I get a number and seconds after I sit down, I'm called. I say that I'm here to title and register a 2016 Replica vehicle. The person had never done one before and asks a few questions, then asks a co-worker and supervisor, calls on the phone etc. This goes on for about 20 minutes, then I write him a check, he hands me the plates and a registration and I'm out of there at 9:30.

I can now legally drive my car (for a little bit). I have 7 days to get a sticker and was going to do that today if the snow held off, but by the time I got home it was snowing. After 3 years, I now have a car I can legally drive, but it's December in New England and snowing out so I can't. Hopefully Friday or Saturday the roads will be clear and I can take the car for a ride. Then I can start the next part of the process in MA. Get a failed emissions sticker, schedule an appointment at a MAC and hopefully get emissions exempt, then go back and get a valid sticker.

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I'll post about getting my sticker next.

-Matt