New WA State Street Rod and Custom Vehicle Bill

Sarah Young

Washington Governor to Sign Street Rod and Custom Vehicle Bill Into Law on April 18, 2011

Anyone who has ever tried to license a homebuilt car knows how difficult it can be to title and register it. Not only is the process lengthy, it's frustratingly arduous. But all that is about to change.

On Monday, April 18, Washington Governor Chris Gregoire will sign into law Senate Bill 5585, which will enact new classifications for custom vehicles, street rods, hot rods, kit cars, replicas, etc.

According to State Senator Michael Carrell, sponsor of the bill (and collector, restorer, and avid car enthusiast in his own right), the new classifications will help streamline the registering and titling process, making it faster and a whole lot easier to take that creation of yours to the street.

"If someone puts a 2009 Ford engine in the body of a 1949 Ford Coupe," says Senator Carrell in a written press release, "there shouldn't be any confusion about how to legally license the vehicle. Moreover, if someone builds a car from the ground up from scrap parts, aftermarket items or custom-manufactured pieces, it could be classified any number of different ways. The new law will establish constancy, and clarify previously unclear registration requirements."

Classifications will break down as follows: Altered vehicles manufactured before 1949 will be categorized as street rods, and altered vehicles at least 30 years old and manufactured after 1948 will be categorized as customs. Kit cars and replica vehicles will be assigned certificates of title bearing the same model years as the production vehicles they most closely resemble.

The law will also acknowledge that original parts may no longer be available, and that technological advancements have created improved materials. It will allow for the use of non-original components and will create a titling criterion that assigns these vehicles the same model year designation as the production vehicle they most closely resemble.

Further, the law will exempt street rods and customs from a range of standard equipment requirements and emissions inspections; vehicles in this class will be held to standards applicable to the designated model year. Finally, the use of "blue dot" taillights will be permitted, a favorite among restorers of classic automobiles.

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lsfirth

Wow...that's great news....for ONCE something is going our way :-)

Thanks for keeping us informed!

Lee

MikeWA

Thanks, Sarah, for keeping on top of this for us.

I hope this doesn't make any changes in what is probably the most lenient old car licensing procedure in the country. Buy a "year of manufacture" plate (only need one), register your car for a one time fee of $25, and that's it, forever! And the best part is, you're not limited to parades, events, rod runs, etc.- can also use the vehicle for "pleasure driving", as well.

hornet53

We all have SEMA and their SAN to thank for this legislation. They are pushing similiar bills all across the country. If you haven't joined the SEMA Action Network, do it. You get emails from them regarding the govt's actions for and against the hobby, and the email addresses of the legislators you need to thank and the ones you need to ask for more support.

Browniepetersen

Mike (WA) wrote:

Thanks, Sarah, for keeping on top of this for us.

I hope this doesn't make any changes in what is probably the most lenient old car licensing procedure in the country. Buy a "year of manufacture" plate (only need one), register your car for a one time fee of $25, and that's it, forever! And the best part is, you're not limited to parades, events, rod runs, etc.- can also use the vehicle for "pleasure driving", as well.

Mike, We passed the same bill here in Utah and it was the draft legislation that SEMA provided and we did some minor modifications. As an thought, our bill makes antique cars exempt from inspection, amd such but does need to be renewed yearly. It is a ten buck fee. The "Year of Manufacture" plate is the same and does require yearly renewal. Other clasifications have different fees. By the way, the HET is now publishing a monthly article on old car legislation. Some good articles there--watch for mine in a soon to be released issue...

Sarah Young

We bought a "Collector Vehicle" license plate for our Jet and have been happy with that decision. We haven't been able to put as many miles on it yet as we'd hoped, but have still enjoyed a couple lunch outings with it besides the couple car shows we've taken it to. I know they were recently trying to re-establish a fee for those plates as well and that idea got vetoed.

I don't have any "modified car" projects, but know a lot of hot rodders who've met some challenge with licensing their cars. I'm glad to hear the state's recognizing a much needed process improvement for those creative individuals and streamlining paperwork. I've seen cars that have been changed drastically but maintained their registration all along and slip through the safety net allowing unsafe vehicles to be on the street. I hope that changing laws encourage the renegades out there to comply with standards and make safety changes that could make a difference between life and death.

MikeWA

Another word to the wise on "rebuilding" a car- be sure you get a Bill of Sale for any parts you buy that are bigger than a bolt or clip. My nephew is a body man, works in a BMW place. He buys many salvage cars, takes off the usable parts and either sells or uses them to rebuild "total loss" cars (many of which are fine, its just that there are too many parts to replace to be economically feasible). Unfortunately, early on, did not insist on getting a Bill of Sale when he bought salvage cars.

He re-did a front-end total, and ended up without bills of sale for one fender and the hood. State Patrol would not approve it for license. He finally had to order replacements from China- didn't fit, looked awful- but he had bills of sale. Got it licensed, then put the good parts back on, threw the Chinese junk on the scrapper pile.

BTW, he sold this particular car to his dad. Several months later, some idiot ran a red light and totalled it (again)- this time, for good.