The Law

Here is the relevant listing in the Hawaii state laws concerning vehicles such as the one I am wanting to build. Its unclear how the state views three wheeled vehicles such as I’m building with motorcycle beginnings. It’s a good start for what I need to know, but there are many details that need to be filled in. That will come in time.

All this came from here.

§286-26.5 Special interest vehicles. (a) As used in this section:

     "Collector" means an owner of one or more vehicles,
including parts vehicles, who collects, purchases, acquires,
trades, or disposes of a vehicle or its parts, for the
owner's own use, to preserve, restore, and maintain the
vehicle or another vehicle for hobby or historical purposes.
     "Parts vehicle" means a vehicle that is owned by a
collector to furnish parts for the restoration or maintenance
of a special interest vehicle.
     "Street rod replica vehicle" means a vehicle that was
assembled from a manufactured kit, either as:

(1) A complete kit to construct a new vehicle consisting of a prefabricated body and chassis;

(2)  Components manufactured before 1968; or

(3)  Components manufactured after 1967 to resemble a vehicle manufactured before 1968;

and that has been modified in its body style or design
through the use of nonoriginal or reproduction components,
such as the frame, engine, drive train, suspension, or
brakes, in a manner that does not adversely affect its safe
performance as a motor vehicle or render the vehicle unlawful
for use on public highways.
     "Street rod vehicle" means a vehicle that was:

(1) Manufactured before 1968; or

(2) Manufactured after 1967 to resemble a vehicle manufactured before 1968;

and that has been modified in its body style or design
through the use of nonoriginal or reproduction components,
such as the frame, engine, drive train, suspension, or
brakes, in a manner that does not adversely affect its safe
performance as a motor vehicle or render the vehicle unlawful
for use on public highways.  The term does not include a
motorcycle, an antique vehicle, or a restored vehicle.
    (b)  If a street rod vehicle was manufactured before
1968 and has been modified in body style or design, the make
and year of the vehicle shall be the year the vehicle most
nearly resembles.  If a street rod vehicle was manufactured
after 1967 to resemble a vehicle manufactured before 1968,
the body type of the vehicle shall be street rod vehicle or
"STRD".
     (c)  A state vehicle identification number shall be
issued to a street rod vehicle that was manufactured after
1967 to resemble a vehicle manufactured before 1968, when no
vehicle identification number is present on the vehicle; when
more than one vehicle identification number is present on the
vehicle; or when the vehicle identification number is absent
from the body or frame, or both, of the vehicle.  The state
vehicle identification number shall be assigned by the
director of finance of the county in which the vehicle
resides; provided that not more than one hundred vehicle
identification numbers shall be issued annually.
     To obtain a state vehicle identification number under
this subsection, the owner of a street rod vehicle that was
manufactured after 1967 to resemble a vehicle manufactured
before 1968 shall provide:

(1) A title of ownership from the previous owner of the vehicle’s body or frame;

(2) A bill of sale or invoices for all major parts used in the modification of the vehicle; and

(3) A weight certificate issued by a state-certified scale for the actual weight of the vehicle.
(d) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary:

(1) Street rod vehicles and street rod replica vehicles shall be equipped with the following equipment:

         (A)  Hydraulic service brakes on all wheels;
         (B)  Sealed beam or halogen headlights;
         (C)  Turn signals and a turn signaling switch;
         (D)  Safety glass or lexan windshield;
         (E)  Electric or vacuum windshield wiper located in
               front of the driver;
         (F)  Standard or DOT/SAE-approved tail lights;
         (G)  A parking brake that operates on at least two
               wheels on the same axle; and
         (H)  Seat belt assembly as provided in section 291-11.6;

(2) Street rod vehicles and street rod replica vehicles shall be equipped in such a manner that no part of a vehicle, other than the vehicle’s tires, will make contact with the surface of a flat highway when the vehicle is operated on the same;

(3) Bumpers, hoods, door handles, and fenders shall be optional equipment on street rod vehicles and street rod replica vehicles; and

(4) Bumpers, hoods, door handles, and fenders shall be optional equipment on vehicles manufactured before 1968, and on vehicles manufactured after 1967 to resemble a vehicle manufactured before 1968.

     In the event of a conflict between this subsection and
equipment requirements specified in chapters 286, 291 and
291C, this subsection shall control.
     (e)  If a street rod replica vehicle was assembled from
a manufactured kit as a complete kit to construct a new
vehicle consisting of a prefabricated body and chassis, the
year of the vehicle shall be the year the vehicle resembles
as reflected on the manufacturer's certificate of origin.  If
a street rod replica vehicle was assembled from a
manufactured kit as components manufactured before 1968 or
components manufactured after 1967 to resemble a vehicle
manufactured before 1968, the year of the vehicle shall be
the year the vehicle resembles as reflected on the
manufacturer's certificate of origin.  The certificate of
title for a street rod replica vehicle shall be for the make
and year the vehicle resembles, and the body type of the
vehicle shall be street rod vehicle replica (STRD-RPLC).
     (f)  The state vehicle identification number of a
street rod replica vehicle that was assembled from a manufactured
kit as a complete kit to construct a new vehicle consisting of
a prefabricated body and chassis shall be taken from the
manufacturer's certificate of origin.  The state vehicle
identification number shall be assigned by the director of
finance of the county in which the vehicle resides; provided
that not more than one hundred vehicle identification numbers
shall be issued annually.
     The state vehicle identification number of a street rod
replica vehicle that was assembled from a manufactured kit as
components manufactured before 1968 or components
manufactured after 1967 to resemble a vehicle manufactured
before 1968, shall be taken from the manufacturer's
certificate of origin or provided by the director of finance
of the county in which the vehicle resides.
     To obtain a state vehicle identification number under
this subsection, the owner of a street rod replica vehicle
shall provide:

(1) Ownership documents from the manufacturer of the kit or components;

(2) All shipping and freight documents for the kit or components; and

(3) A weight certificate issued by a state-certified scale for the actual weight of the vehicle.

     (g)  A state vehicle identification number shall be
issued to a street rod replica vehicle when the vehicle
identification number is absent from the body or frame, or
both, of the vehicle; or when the vehicle identification
number is absent from the manufacturer's certificate of
origin.  The state vehicle identification number shall be
assigned by the director of finance of the county in which
the vehicle resides; provided that not more than one hundred
vehicle identification numbers shall be issued annually. [L
1997, c 246, §2; am L 2004, c 126, §2]

Getting up to speed

I have been thinking about building a car for a few years now. My previous choice was a Lotus 7 inspired car based on the Ron Champion book. I purchased a Toyota Van as a possible donor, but didn’t have the right space to build it and sold it when I moved. I then bought a Datsun 620 truck that was very rusty and took it apart, tossing the body and keeping the drive train components. It is a good donor, but that project is a little larger than I have room for currently. In addition, the ’74 Datsun engine won’t get much better milage than my Volvo wagon, and since it’s not desmogged, will be putting out more hydrocarbons than I’d like.

A bike build, though not having a catalytic converter, will be more fuel efficient due to its smaller engine and lighter weight of the finished vehicle, so it will burn less fuel, putting out less pollution over all than the Lotus 7 build. The Locost, as the Champion inspired builds are typically referred to, seem to be more oriented towards drivers with an interest in track racing. I don’t have any interest there, so that’s another reason why the three wheeler is a better first choice for a project. I may build a Locost at a later date since I do like the looks of that car as well.

Onward then. While I’ve seen several kits being advertised for the Honda based build, I haven’t found any simple plans available on line. The cost of purchasing a kit, plus shipping it here to Hawaii would be more that my budget can afford. And I like to build things myself, so I’m looking for plans. I did find some old posts from 10 years ago of offers to sell plans, but that’s a huge time in internet time, and we’ll see if any of the posters are still reachable and willing to sell plans now.

I have luckily found the largest component of the build, the engine. Craig’s List provided a link to a fellow selling a Honda CX650 engine and wheels. Sadly there are no brakes, drive shafts or title, so I’ll have to source parts online. Ebay is full of parts, so that much is easy. Getting some assurance that the motor is free of any ties to its former owner isn’t so easy. There are many vehicles that get left on Maui when their owners move away. Not enough time to sell them, not running so too difficult to sell, they leave intending to come back but don’t… the list goes on, so its very possible that this is a free and clear motor. But I need to make sure.

At the end of the project, I’ll have to request a new VIN from the DMV. I have a bill of sale for the motor,  but I’m sure that the inspector for the state will check with a Honda database to see if the associated VIN for the bike is reported as being stolen. I certainly don’t want to put a lot of money and effort into building this car and have it taken away in the end.

Getting that association between the motor serial number and VIN is proving to be harder than I first expected. Several posts online seem to indicate  that its a fairly simple thing for a policeman to do in the course of his duties. I went to the local police station, and requested that the number be looked up. I was told that a reason needed to be input to access the database, and my reason was insufficient. They were unable to help me. The officer suggested that I try the DMV.

The nice lady at the counter told me that they could only look up the VIN numbers, they had no listing of motor numbers. Fair enough, and pretty much what I expected. So next I called American Honda in Torrence. The person there said that while they could verify what motor serial number a particular VIN number had installed, they were unable to look up a VIN from a motor number. So either their database is restricted in some way to prevent this, or the designers didn’t envision that as a possibility and there isn’t a search field for it. All it would take is a simple text file of the numbers and Word or Excel could find the numbers in a few seconds, but no, apparently that isn’t possible.

So, I need to find the state  or county official that will do the verification of the build in the end and get them to check the serial number for me now. I’ll be making some calls to the DMV and find that out. The section of Hawaii state laws that concern this is §286-26.5. I’ll post them in the next blog since they were a bit hard to find online.