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My current battle with the PA DMV has raised my curiosity. How are the laws for antique cars set up in other states? Maybe I should "move" to my house in Georgia...

What problems are you having with the Penna DMV in getting
a antique plate or classic tags for your car. I have had classic plates on my Chevelle for better than 20 years.

If everything is bone stock on your car and you have four good plain pictures of the auto in question you should have no problems.

John F. Shireman

In Kansas all you need for a vehicle 1949 and older is a signed bill of sale to get a tag and title, provided you have insurance on it. If it's 1950 or newer, you need to have it inspected, but all that entails is having the HP come and verify that the serial number of the car matches the number on your bill of sale. You pay the officer $15, he gives you a signed piece of paper, and you take that with your bill of sale to the DMV, and get a tag and title, provided you have insurance on the car. It used to be any vehicle 35 years old or older, but so many people were stealing cars from farmer's hedgerows and getting titles for them that they changed it a few years ago. It's still easy as heck to get a title in Kansas, no matter what.

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Strangely, the trouble is that it had antique plate and title prior to my purchase and second owner never registered it so it's on its third title having last been registered in 1982. Doing one that has a regular title to start with is no problem. I've got 3 that way now that I've since converted to antique or classic. Trying to re-register one doesn't seem to go through. If it would have passed the picture test when I bought it, I'd have done it then. The plan was just register car and drive it/ fix it for a couple years then antique it. pics I'm gonna have to use are in my project blog.
So far Georgia's better= no inspection and $1.26 fee.

"Doing one that has a regular title to start with is no problem. I've got 3 that way now that I've since converted to antique or classic. "

I don't quite understand. Are u saying that there is a difference between a regular TITLE and a TITLE for an antique car in PA. ????

Here in TN. there is no difference in TITLEs. The only difference is in REGISTRATION for the license plate and the PLATE itself. According to law the antique plate must be surrendered to the state upon sale of the car.

I have a 48 Chief and 56 Cushman eagle i've owned and operated over 30 years. About 8 years ago when i registered them as antique there was NO TITLE change. ONly a registration and plate change. I previously had regular plates on them for over 20 years.

When i bought the 56 Executive the original owner had regular title and antique plate. I transfered title immediately upon buying the car and registered REGULAR plate. I still use regular plate on the Packard.

Here in Tn. there is no difference between REGULAR TITLE and ANTIQUE TITLE. A title is a title. The only difference is registration and plate. Antique plate never expires UNTIL transfer or ownership.

Laws vary from state to state. My guess is, that in your case, the previous owner never surrendered an ANTIQUE plate to the state upon selling the car to u.

Can u get a REGULAR TITLE transfer and REGULAR plate/registration from the DMV?????? Then a year or two later apply for antique plate.

Chuck -

The Commonwealth of PA can be a PIA to deal with, but getting antique registration shouldn't be too much of a problem. As an upgrade from a regular (PA) title, there's no notary work reuired at this stage. So, if you have the required paperwork, pix, and payment, you can simply take it all to your state congressman's local office and they will send it in for you, and you'll have the tag and title in a matter of weeks.

As I acquired each of my cars, I had the title work done without registering the car at all, but received a receipt as proof of my payment of the states sales tax. Later, after I had gone through the car mechanically (for piece of mind) and detailed it, I took the photos and applied for antique registration. Mind you, none of my Packards are trophy winners, but each cleaned up well enough to pass muster - though I didn't take the sharpest photos.

However, "the powers that be" were too picky about one of my Chevies, rejecting it for a rust spot on one door. I didn't have time to play their game and fix it and resubmit the app with new photos, and just said to hell with it. Now that PA has gone to a boring mainstream design with an image of some Oldsmobile from the Vintage era, I won't bother with antique plates anymore. (Bring back the purple plate!) I might consider YOM plates for antiques if PA goes that way, but that just begs the question of why they bothered going with that new uniform, yet "fugly", design in the first place.

Yet, I digress.

If you are trying to continue with PA antiques plates that were on the vehicle under the previous owner, you will have to get a signed release from that previous owner to use that same plate; unfortunately, a new set of four (current) photos will be required.

The only problem I can think of that you might have, then, would be if the car had PA antique plates earlier than the first previous owner, but that owner didn't have them transferred. At that point, you should be back to square one - applying for antique plates with a regular title - and will get a new antique tag.

Hope this helps.

Keith -

Here in PA, an antique title goes hand-in-hand with an antique registration plate. That's a one-time purchase for the owner - good for the life of the ownership or the car, which ever expires first. For years, at $50, it was a good value, but a bit less attractive today at $75 and with that ugly plate design.

After hearing all of what Brain says, I'd say move out of Penn and find a more antique car friendly state.

This opinion is also influenced by watching the reality tv show "Parking Wars". Pennsylvanian laws are about as anal retentive and stupid as I've ever seen, and I hope to never visit there. Sucks that they had to put Hershey right in the middle of it!

I'm still waiting on my last app. The title I got with vehicle was already branded antique but was on it's second owner since branding. The last time this car was transferred was in 1982 when it was brought in from Canada. So it's not in any of their current computer files. The "purple" plate on it came with car as the original owner left it on car when he sold it to dealer. The title was then signed over and notarized but not "flipped" into dealership's name. So the title I got when I transferred it already had the branding on it but no tag assigned.
When I buy a PA car, it usually has a regular title and can be registered. When it's ready, I send in title and pics with the $75 reg fee and $22.50 for title fee. Then, if approved, I recieve a new title with antique branding and a new antique plate. Expensive? Yes, but in 3 years it covers the cost of normal registration at $36 per year!