The Unimaginable Struggle of Registering a Kit Car to be Street Legal

Depending on where in the country someone is attempting to register a vehicle, there can be a very different struggle. However, for those who would claim to be gearheads and have vehicles that are modified, it seems that no matter where one is, some sort of struggle applies. Whether it’s a lightly modified vehicle or a full-blown racing machine that the owner is trying to get on the street, it’s pretty hit or miss depending on where it’s at and what kind of person is handling the transaction. Long story short, getting certain vehicles on the street legally can be an incredible journey to get all of the T’s crossed and I’s dotted.

For those who have enjoyed the likes of heavily modified cars on the street, they might be able to attest to the fact that even these cars that already came with a title and have been seen to be street legal before said modification can be a struggle to get going with. Now, just imagine a car that’s essentially built from scratch and pieced together with all sorts of different components.

For Eric McClellan, the YouTuber behind Gearhead Daily, he would embark on a year-long build to construct the kit car, an SLC, from the ground up. However, as it turned out, maybe putting the car together wasn’t the most challenging part as he would try to take this custom-built machine and get it through registration as he wanted not just a track car but also one that he could put on the streets as well.

The story below from VINWiki tells the tale of the struggle going through the DMV, dealing with paperwork and technicalities along with proving that every single part wasn’t stolen. All of this came before eventually, Eric would meet a different person at the DMV who let the car slide through pretty easily. This really goes to show you that a day at the DMV can really be drastically different, all depending on who is helping you.