Journal: The History Of "Nemo"

I took the paperwork to New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission to get Nemo licensed. Since the car was from Rhode Island and too old for a title, all I had was the bill of sale and the registration from 1981. Now for the problem. For some unexplictable reason, the state of Rhode Island in 1981 registered Nemo using the engine number instead of the VIN number. So there I was with a registration with the engine number and a bill of sale with a VIN number. Do you think soneone could walk out the door and verify both numbers were for the same car? Of course not. "You'll have to go to Rhode Island and have them issue a correct registration" I was told. "We can't accept incorrect documentation. The issuing state will have to fix it." So I called Trenton MVC and told them of my problem. They told me the same thing. So I asked "If I were to come to you and tell you I had a car from New Jersey that hadn't been registered in 25 years and that the old documentation was wrong and I needed you to issue a registration with a correct number on it for a car you can't see to verify that the numbers are correct. Would you do it?" "No." "But yet that's what you want Rhode Island to do?" "Yes." They did tell me I could mail everything I had in and request an execption and they would review the case and see if the documents would be accecpted, but probably not. So I called Rhode Island (At this point what did I to loose?) I talked to a lovely lady named Susan and explained my problem. "Why not just go to the seller and have her issue a bill of sale with the correct number on it?" "You don't understand. The bill of sale has the correct number. The Rhode Island registration has the engine number instead of the VIN number." "Why did we do that?" she asked. My point exactly. She told me to mail her everything I had and they would issue a notorized certificate of registration that would be good in any state. Whew! I might the Hagley Car Show on the 17th after all.

Follow-up: I got the letter from Rhode Island today and can you believe it? Both of their forms have the wrong number! Guess I will be making another call on Monday. I wonder how fast they can send the paperwork with the correct numbers.