Henry J manufacturer's statement of origin to a motor vehicle found

[Gordie]

I ran across the above document for a 1952 Henry J along with a bill of sale from Kaiser Frazer Corp. to a dealer in Sheridan, New York.  The car could not be issued a title without these papers and I wonder what ever became of this car if it had no title.  The car was a fully accessorized K524 and the serial number is K 524 1208522.  The sale was dated Aug. 19, 1952  and the dealer's price was $1,643.38.  It would be nice if this car survived somehow.  The manufacturer's certificate of origin is the first paperwork issued for a vehicle from the manufacturer and must be turned in to the State who is to issue a title so this one is a real mystery.  Does anyone have any ideas?  I'll bet that there are not many of these statements of origin from the K-F factory out there.

[darrin145]

Gordie - A friend of mine bought a new Lincoln Mark IV back in '72. He was a used car dealer so when he drove the car, he put a dealer plate on it. The car was never registered, never went through a state inspection, etc. When the car was sold a few years ago, it went with the original MSO, even though it was 35 years old! I suppose it's possible the dealer in Sheridan never sold his "loaded up" J, drove it, parked it and hung on to it. I'd love to find that one! In New York State, there were no "titles" before 1973, so anything 1972 or older had only a registraton certificate. Even today, you can register 1972 and older vehicles with a pencil tracing of the VIN tag, current insurance card and enough money for license plates for 2 years. The registrant will receive a non-transferable registration while Albany investigates the paperwork (to check if it's been reported stolen, etc.) , if all is OK you'll receive a transferable registration and the vehicle is yours. A few years ago I registered  a VIN tag and built a car around it! I guess anything is possible.

Gary.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

There are two ways that this could happen.  First, as someone indicated, the car ended up the personal vehicle of a dealer and the car used dealer plates.  Second, the document was "lost" and the dealer requested a replacement from the factory.  This happens more often than you might think, and a new certificate gets issued with a notation that it is a replacement and is accompanied by an affadavit from the factory attesting to the situation.  I saw this happen first-hand when a GM dealership acquired the remaining inventory from another store that was closed by the factory back in 1990. 

The procedure and allowances for licensing vehicles never licensed before--regardless of model year--vary from state to state.