BillyDean7173
Final Six
Thought I would share some info about getting the 73Z legal for the road earlier this month. Keep in mind that I live in Williamson County, so your county may be different. Check with your county tax office.
Here are the steps I took in order.
1. Insurance - I went with Hagerty for several reasons such as having a local Farmers agent who sells Hagerty about seven miles away from me, Guaranteed Value, and a feature called Cherished Salvage. If the car is totaled, I get the guaranteed value less my deductible and no deduction for salvage. In other words, I get my car back. Period. No trying to buy it back from the salvage company or at an auction. Some of the other insurers I checked out were pretty vague about what would happen to my car if it was totaled. Hagerty also covered my 71 as a project under construction. As FYI, your homeowners insurance policy may cover the car parts in your house, but may not cover the car or parts on your car. I went many years thinking both of my Camaros in the garage were covered by my homeowners insurance. Nope. If my house was damaged by whatever and the cars were damaged (or stolen), they would not be covered. At least that was my case.
2. Inspection - I went to my local Chevy dealer up the road. I asked the guy doing the inspection if there would be a problem since my car did not have the stock exhaust. He said no and that they only check for safety issues like turn signals, horn, brakes, etc. The inspection was $7.00 since they don't run an emissions test on cars more than 25 years old.
3. Year of Manufacture (YOM) License Plates - I had four sets of Texas 1973 plates and was hoping to at least use one for the car. I called the Specialty Plates Section of the TxDMV at 512-374-5010 to check on availability. I gave them all four plates. They asked about color and layout and then did their check. All four sets were available for use. Three had expired in their system and one was 100% clear (not sure what that meant). I used the set that was clear since that's the one my wife and I wanted anyway. I may sell the others; I don't know yet.
4. Registration - My wife and I went to the county tax office since she's on the title, too. I brought the title, insurance, inspection, license plates, and driver licenses. I also brought the title application receipt with no registration from when we titled the car in our names back in 2013 but didn't need it. The clerk looked over the plate for condition and then had us complete a special plate application. After that was done, we got the windshield registration sticker, cash receipt, and the special plate receipt with the plate letter/numbers on it. The registration was $75.50 total. We registered the car as a classic which requires an annual inspection and annual registration. To register the car as an antique was too restrictive for us because we will be driving the car at least once a week. Registering a car as an antique requires the car to be used for "exhibition, club activities, parades, and other functions of public interest" blah, blah, blah. I think you only have to register every five years as an antique and I don't know about inspections, but do your own homework if you want to go that route.
So now I'm almost legal. I say that because although I have the license plate on the back, I need to use some spacers for the standard license plate bracket on the front because the top of the plate is hitting the hood release latch. I passed a DPS officer and a sheriff the other day without the front license plate and I didn't get stopped, but I know they will bust me sooner or later.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Here are the steps I took in order.
1. Insurance - I went with Hagerty for several reasons such as having a local Farmers agent who sells Hagerty about seven miles away from me, Guaranteed Value, and a feature called Cherished Salvage. If the car is totaled, I get the guaranteed value less my deductible and no deduction for salvage. In other words, I get my car back. Period. No trying to buy it back from the salvage company or at an auction. Some of the other insurers I checked out were pretty vague about what would happen to my car if it was totaled. Hagerty also covered my 71 as a project under construction. As FYI, your homeowners insurance policy may cover the car parts in your house, but may not cover the car or parts on your car. I went many years thinking both of my Camaros in the garage were covered by my homeowners insurance. Nope. If my house was damaged by whatever and the cars were damaged (or stolen), they would not be covered. At least that was my case.
2. Inspection - I went to my local Chevy dealer up the road. I asked the guy doing the inspection if there would be a problem since my car did not have the stock exhaust. He said no and that they only check for safety issues like turn signals, horn, brakes, etc. The inspection was $7.00 since they don't run an emissions test on cars more than 25 years old.
3. Year of Manufacture (YOM) License Plates - I had four sets of Texas 1973 plates and was hoping to at least use one for the car. I called the Specialty Plates Section of the TxDMV at 512-374-5010 to check on availability. I gave them all four plates. They asked about color and layout and then did their check. All four sets were available for use. Three had expired in their system and one was 100% clear (not sure what that meant). I used the set that was clear since that's the one my wife and I wanted anyway. I may sell the others; I don't know yet.
4. Registration - My wife and I went to the county tax office since she's on the title, too. I brought the title, insurance, inspection, license plates, and driver licenses. I also brought the title application receipt with no registration from when we titled the car in our names back in 2013 but didn't need it. The clerk looked over the plate for condition and then had us complete a special plate application. After that was done, we got the windshield registration sticker, cash receipt, and the special plate receipt with the plate letter/numbers on it. The registration was $75.50 total. We registered the car as a classic which requires an annual inspection and annual registration. To register the car as an antique was too restrictive for us because we will be driving the car at least once a week. Registering a car as an antique requires the car to be used for "exhibition, club activities, parades, and other functions of public interest" blah, blah, blah. I think you only have to register every five years as an antique and I don't know about inspections, but do your own homework if you want to go that route.
So now I'm almost legal. I say that because although I have the license plate on the back, I need to use some spacers for the standard license plate bracket on the front because the top of the plate is hitting the hood release latch. I passed a DPS officer and a sheriff the other day without the front license plate and I didn't get stopped, but I know they will bust me sooner or later.
Hope this helps and good luck!
