Looking at a 35 Chevy project and it's supposed to have a good New York title. The Problem is that it says registration on the top instead of title. It looks like a title other than that and has a place on the back to sign off if sold. Anybody have any information to wither New York used this type of documentation in the 1930's.
Older cars in NY. don't have titles. I am not sure of the cutoff but my 65 Studebaker just has a registration. Just needed that and bill of sale to register.
Chris' 38 is correct. If the registration is current the title transfer is easy peasy. If the registration is expired you'll need a notarized letter from the owner. DMV rules in your state may vary.
Make sure the title matches the serial number on the car. There used to be an outfit that sold them as titles. State offices got wise to it when multiple registrations for the same serial number popped up in multiple states when they computerized the records. Sent from my SGH-T399 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Chris and 31A are both correct. Until the early '70s NY only issued "Registrations" as proof as ownership. Every year you would get a new one and had to re register your car. Many people saved their old ones and some threw them away so old registrations are plentiful and a dime a dozen. Make sure all your numbers are correct. Be very careful, with computers if the numbers are being used on and existing car you could be in trouble.
NY will only except the most recent copy of the regi. ( the last valid year the vehicle was registered). If you don't have that, there will probably be issues.
1972 is the Cut-Off, 73 an later is titled, It's actually pretty easy in this state to register old junk, My 41 truck I drove to the local sheriffs office(borrowed dealer plate) they do what is called a vin # verification, take that, an a weigh slip, from local farm for me, or a scrap yard, go to DMV, get a non transferable reg. That day, couple weeks later transferable reg. In mail! Meaning"sellable"..
I would make sure the paperwork matches the stampings, and then call the NY DMV at 1-518-486-9786 and ask them if there are any current records on that serial number, BEFORE you move forward with a purchase. As has been mentioned, quite a bit of fraud has already occurred over the years, and it is being brought to light by the digitizing and sharing records. Find out, first. Don't find out the hard way.
Most of the answers are correct. NY used the transferable registration until 1972, 1973 was the first for a title and also the first smog year for most companies. One reply mentioned that NY will only accept the last year of registration as a legit transferable registration and that is correct. Thanks to computers other states can now do that also. That brings up a potential problem. I know of one individual and there are probably many more who would sell the old/no longer valid/registrations as "historical" documents on the net or other venues. Because of this I would suggest you do your due diligence when dealing with a transferable registration from NY. My DMV contact tells me that only registrations dated in the last ten years are possibly a problem and that registrations before that are not as likely to be in the DMV database. If someone has a NYS registration from 1955 for example it is not likely to have issues.
I'd be even most suspicious if the car is not in New York state. Sent from my SGH-T399 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
My buddy has done this with only a pencil lead rubbing of the vin. You have to be sure the car was never entered into the computers
VIN/serial inspections vary by state. Where I am, it has to be done by a properly qualified law enforcement officer, DMV employee, or a licensed and bonded vehicle verifier (like me!)
I tried to call the DMV in New York and of coarse they were closed on Wed. when I called. This a basket case car that was bought at the Portland swap meet about twenty years ago and put in a garage and never worked on. If the numbers match on the car and paperwork, I would feel confident that it's ok. My big concern was that it should have had a title instead of the registration. Thanks for all the responses. When I got my 42 Dodge about 4 years ago, it came with a bill of sale only and I had to have it inspected by the State Patrol. I was issued a temporary registration and had to wait for three years to get a free and clear title. I think I got my answer.
One last thing. On the front of the NY registration card it must say transferable. If it says nontransferable it will be a big problem.
Take a picture of the document, block out whet you don't want us to see. Paint is good for that. My '59 Ford had a new Colorado title and I registered it in NY. I have one of those old style registrations. It has something to do with the length of the VIN number. Just about any state standardized to a set # of characters in '73 and up.
35 Chevy should have the Vin number stamped on the cowl tag. That needs to match the number on the NY Registration document. (titles did not start in NY until 1973). There are two parts to a NY Registration. One says NOT VALID FOR TRANSFER and the part you need will say TRANSFERABLE. This part should be signed by the person who's name is on the registration. If there is another name below that where it says OWNERSHIP TRANSFERED TO then you will need some kind of paperwork or notary bill of sale from the person who signed in that spot. If they hopefully left it blank you will be able to sign your name in that spot when you register the car. As others stated, you may be able to do a VIN tracing ( I also take a digital image of the VIN when I do a tracing). Your DMV will search to verify there is no other vehicle using that VIN# and should be able to then issue a valid Title or Registration depending on your State. Good luck I hope it works out for you. 35 Chevy is a nice year and the only one GM used the suicide front doors. I had to convert my doors to make them suicide on my Chopped 37 Chevy Sedan.
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