Restored pioneer vehicles titling

Titles on cars and trucks from upwards of a century ago will more accurately reflect the age of the vehicle.

Signed April 18 by Gov. Mark Dayton, a new law will, in part, change the title application and type issued for the vehicle. It takes effect Aug. 1, 2012.

Brought forth by restorers, the law’s intent is to create a titling process that allows for pre-1936 manufactured vehicles to have a pioneer plate and a title that says restored, rather than reconstructed, and have the proper vehicle identification numbers that are already stamped on the engine block.

Many of these cars are found in very poor condition and they take hundreds or thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars to restore.

According to Rep. Mike Benson (R-Rochester), who sponsors the law with Sen. Carla Nelson (R-Rochester), what happens now is when an owner seeks a new title they receive one saying the car is a reconstructed vehicle, it will have a Vehicle Identification Number that doesn’t correspond to numbers previously on the vehicle and the year on the title will be the year the vehicle was restored, not its manufactured year.

For example, Benson said, a 1910 Buick with hundreds of hours and tens thousands of dollars invested, would come back as a 2010 Buick. That means far less value to the owner.

HF2239*/ SF2202/CH195