Once again I apologize for not posting sooner.
One of the greater drains on my soul (which contributed to me booting myself offline) was passing Belgium's equivalent of the DOT technical inspection. It is held every four years for cars older than 30 years, and annually for all other vehicles.
If you fail, your car is, of course, banned from the road until you fix the problem. Well the problem I ran into was Kafkaesque, to say the least. It took me three tries to pass. That was exhausting.
When I first passed the tech inspection four years ago, they checked the lights brakes and suspension. It was a no-brainer. Since then, they got a lot more strict and were placing classic car testing on par with regular vehicles.
This time around I was more and less confident. Not really because I swapped in a high(er) performance 400 SBC
but because of the T5 transmission I swapped in. That required making the cross-member removable. Although I did a clean job, messing with the frame is a big no-no here. If they caught me, I was toast !!!
It turns out they were very impressed with the underside of the car. They had an issue with my headlights (I wound up having to replace all of them ) and... with a paper sticker that was missing !
In the doorjamb they claim there should have been a sticker that has the VIN on it and the various Gross Vehicle Weights. I tried to explain that it's nuts to expect a paper sticker to survive on a 50-year-old car, especially as mine was clearly re-sprayed at one point. Nothing doing - they failed me and I had two weeks to "do something about it".
I went home and researched the sticker and indeed as of 1977, these were placed on the car:
So, I contacted GM and asked them for a certificate with these numbers. For $250 GM sent me a letter certifying that information for my VIN.
I went back to the tech inspections and they said the certificate "although valid, is not enough". They needed the sticker as well. Where do I get one of those ? I am VERY sure GM doesn't produce certified stickers. "Not their problem." I even asked them if I could glue the official document in the storage area behind the seats. Prrrrt - no. They wanted an original sticker.
So what do I do ?
Eckler's makes reproduction stickers for $50, excluding VAT and shipping... but presumably for cars from 1977 on. And they require a copy of the car's title. But who's to say the inspectors would accept that ? That's not worth the expense to gamble on it.
Soooo, I spent a few hours on photoshop and made my own sticker. I aged it with a few passes of matt varnish and laminated it on there.
I returned to the tech inspection with fingers crossed and showed them the sticker.
Sure enough, I got a comment: "that looks like something you could print yourself". What could I say other than, "yes, it sure does, doesn't it?"
And like that, I passed tech - valid for 4 years.
Aggravation I did not need and certainly a very unwelcome expense of time and money... and for what ?
One of the greater drains on my soul (which contributed to me booting myself offline) was passing Belgium's equivalent of the DOT technical inspection. It is held every four years for cars older than 30 years, and annually for all other vehicles.
If you fail, your car is, of course, banned from the road until you fix the problem. Well the problem I ran into was Kafkaesque, to say the least. It took me three tries to pass. That was exhausting.
When I first passed the tech inspection four years ago, they checked the lights brakes and suspension. It was a no-brainer. Since then, they got a lot more strict and were placing classic car testing on par with regular vehicles.
This time around I was more and less confident. Not really because I swapped in a high(er) performance 400 SBC
but because of the T5 transmission I swapped in. That required making the cross-member removable. Although I did a clean job, messing with the frame is a big no-no here. If they caught me, I was toast !!! It turns out they were very impressed with the underside of the car
. They had an issue with my headlights (I wound up having to replace all of them ) and... with a paper sticker that was missing !In the doorjamb they claim there should have been a sticker that has the VIN on it and the various Gross Vehicle Weights. I tried to explain that it's nuts to expect a paper sticker to survive on a 50-year-old car, especially as mine was clearly re-sprayed at one point. Nothing doing - they failed me and I had two weeks to "do something about it".
I went home and researched the sticker and indeed as of 1977, these were placed on the car:
So, I contacted GM and asked them for a certificate with these numbers. For $250
GM sent me a letter certifying that information for my VIN.I went back to the tech inspections and they said the certificate "although valid, is not enough". They needed the sticker as well. Where do I get one of those ? I am VERY sure GM doesn't produce certified stickers. "Not their problem." I even asked them if I could glue the official document in the storage area behind the seats. Prrrrt - no. They wanted an original sticker.
So what do I do ?
Eckler's makes reproduction stickers for $50, excluding VAT and shipping... but presumably for cars from 1977 on. And they require a copy of the car's title
. But who's to say the inspectors would accept that ? That's not worth the expense to gamble on it.Soooo, I spent a few hours on photoshop and made my own sticker
. I aged it with a few passes of matt varnish and laminated it on there.I returned to the tech inspection with fingers crossed and showed them the sticker.
Sure enough, I got a comment: "that looks like something you could print yourself". What could I say other than, "yes, it sure does, doesn't it?"
And like that, I passed tech - valid for 4 years
.Aggravation I did not need and certainly a very unwelcome expense of time and money... and for what ?
