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A Nice New Years story

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Team_Sprite

Team_Sprite

Jedi Trainee
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I wanted to relate a nice story for the New Year, even better, a nice DMV story. The pink that came with the Team Sprite car was out of state, and, therefore, required a VIN inspection before we could register the car. We are 17 miles of winding canyon road (and a patch of dirt road) away from our DMV, so we must either trailer it in, or find a peace officer willing to drive out here to inspect the car. The CHP informed us that there was only one officer qualified and he was on a three-week vacation. This was early December, so we needed to get going on this if we were to have the title by the Jan 19th sale. The Sheriff’s office sent out a very nice young man who was younger than the car by at least 20 years, and we went over the form, line by line, together. The next morning I presented myself, with form, to the DMV. I also asked if there was any possibility of changing the 1959-year on the pink to ‘year sold’ and registering the car as a 1958, the year it was made. Due to a rabid flu, there were only two people staffing the entire DMV office that day, and this request was met with a look more appropriate to a suggestion that she transfer the title of the police car in front into my name in exchange for a box of Chicklets. She took my paperwork and money and I left, not looking at the temporary title until I got home. Dumb and careless. The VIN was missing a letter, and it was after five o’clock. Nine the next morning finds me sitting at the manager’s window pleading my case, only to be told that our paperwork was already in a government sealed mail pouch. I would need to wait till the new pink came, then get another VIN inspection and resubmit the whole thing. Realizing that I was probably the only person he would encounter that day telling the truth (perhaps the only person in his whole career) I took out a few photos and the newspaper article about the project and began pleading our case. He never got past the photos. “It looks like it’s smiling at me.” “It is” I replied. He poured over the five photos (the ones taken for the auction catalogue) then excused himself. He returned with the sealed mailbag, broke the seal, rummaged around for a few minutes (I was holding my breath) until he found our paperwork. I ventured my “change the year of manufacture” question, timidly producing Horler’s book to show dates and VIN numbers, and explaining that it was important because 1958 was the first Sprite year, it would sure be nice if it was registered as a 1958. He removed all traces of the car from DMV records and re-entered the new information. In ten days I had a new pink with the car listed as a 1958 sold in 1959. As I have said again and again, this little red car brings out the best in everyone it touches.

Brian & the girls
https://www.teamsprite.com
 
Now that *is* a nice story.

And congrats on your persistence for "getting things right". It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:
"Always tell the Truth. It will amaze your friends and confound your enemies." (Mark Twain)
 
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif Very cool!
The lengths you go through for perfection Brian truly are inspirational, I sure hope you'll stick around here after the auction.
 
Yea....I tried that one time.

The Elva is still a 57 on the title.
(They didn't even start making them until 58 & mine is a 60)

And the VIN is off by an "S".
(The title number makes it an exceedingly rare, factory built racer & I know this to be wrong.)

Oh yea.......I did get it changed from an Elva Carrier to an Elva Currier.

I gave up after some nice police officer told me I'd have to park it while the corrected paperwork was being processed.

Also.....I knew these guys.....I see them at work a lot.
 
I've a distinct impression it's largely due to the individual you encounter. Sometimes a DMV visit is like a cross-exam with you as the accused, sometimes like talking to Aunt Bea. It seems to have improved around here in the last few years, thankfully..
 
The first Midget I bought was a racer's parts car so he had never transferred the title to his name. He sold it to me with a CT title with the previous owners name on it and a bill of sale with his name on it. I went to the insurance agent to get a policy and they said I couldn't register it without a title in the seller's name. I said OK, can you write me a policy please, and they said I couldn't register it without a title in the seller's name. This went on for several minutes until they just wanted me out of there so they wrote a policy. As Doc says it depends on the RMV person, the first three I got all said no, then I went to a branch near work and got a nice lady who had a friend who had one when she was 16, wanted to go for a ride in it, searched through the stack of stock plates to find one that had the year in the plate number and was overall very nice. She got her supervisor to OK a new title and everything was great. The problem was that I was $15 dollars short on cash in hand for the registration and sales tax and they didn't take credit cards. This is the best part, she went into her purse, took out $15 and loaned it to me. I went to the ATM and took out some cash and paid her back 10 minutes later, no line, and no fuss.
 
And folks wonder why we love Bugeyes. Why heck most everyone loves Bugeyes.

Ever notice how you can stop and or block trafic with all the lookers and smilers.
 
Nice to hear your positive story, Brian. A nice reminder that kindness, patience, and honesty can still get you somewhere in this world.
 
drooartz said:
Nice to hear your positive story, Brian. A nice reminder that kindness, patience, and honesty can still get you somewhere in this world.
Click to expand...

HEAR,HEAR!! Smiling Frog eyes help a lot too. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif


Stuart.
 
Great Story,

He smiles at me two, it is amazing the joys that these cars bring.

Patrick
 
Good is like a snowball rolling!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
With a rock in the middle!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek.gif
 
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