Is my car a Tag Job? Barracuda Decode...
You just never know what kind of knucklehead you're going to get at the DMV, so, best to have all your ducks in a row
It's really funny, when I bought my Barracuda, the PO told me of the issues he had registering the car in Connecticut because an inspector was looking for another VIN location. IIRC, he managed to get it done after showing some documentation that there isn't another VIN.
Fast forward a couple years and I buy the car and bring it to New York State. I've been there, done that, with out of state cars, including Connecticut, so my butt was tighter than a ducks when it came to the paperwork. I even print out the instructions from the website so I can refer to them if I need to.
I did the usual drill, had ALL the paperwork filled out neatly beforehand, dressed nicely, big smile with a "Good morning, how are you today?" when I walked up to the window. A guy that looked to be in his fifties sat there and I thought I had it made... First thing that threw him was no title. He hands the paperwork back to me... "No title, can't do this". I push it back and tell him it's a 1965 model and there was no titles then. He starts to push it back and I notice the "trainee" on his name badge. I say "I have the procedure from the NYS DMV website right here, but why don't you get your supervisor and we'll get this straightened out". So, the supervisor says to me, "I'm going to show him how to look this up if you don't mind". "No problem, take your time" with a smile.
So... Long story short, he gets an edumacation on non titled cars. She leaves and he starts to write it up. He says this car is so old, the make isn't listed and I have to type it in. Turned out he was spelling Plymouth wrong and I got the registration and it said "Plynouth" on it. He was being real nice to me though and said he learned a lot. Didn't realize the mistake until I was home and I kind of forgot about it, really not wanting anymore of the DMV "experience".
When the registration came due, I went back in to the DMV to get it fixed. Walked up to the counter and smiled etc. but was bracing myself. The woman at the counter looked at it and understood the problem right away. Turned out she owns a '65 Mustang herself! She asked for an alternate ID besides my license and I gave her my CCW. Turned out she did shooting and we got talking about that while she fixed it and got the new registration paperwork printed. Interesting few minutes spent at the DMV.
