Got a 2000 GEM E 825 2 seater at auction for $145. No batteries, no title, no keys. VIN, almost unreadable. Got some batteries in it. Most everything works! Runs, charges, good tires. Giant hassle getting registration in Arizona. Need level 1& 2 inspections, title bond. No wonder was so cheap. Anyone else have to deal with this? No wonder some part out good GEMS, rather then endure licensing.
On those years, the last 6 (?) Of the vin is hand stamped into the aluminum cross member typically under the bench seat. The first chunk of the VIN is easy to determine - they were all the same… its a production location code.
I dont know AZ dmv coding but CA has like 10 different combos of low speed electrics, some of which are “not for public roads” . It can be a total custer fark. I’ve imported two gems into CA one with Michigan title. The other with Pennsylvania title.
But the most fun was the first one, a 2002 i bought from a University of CA bus transit dept. $400 and beaten like a red headed stepchild (it actually was red too).
So CA state government plates are exempt from expiration and have a special type of title, both of which can only be transferred to another CA state government entity. Being exempt, they dont have all the same info, actually they have very little besides VIN… So when they wrote the civilian title for RED (Rolling Ecological Disaster) they didn’t know shyt about it was… It was a longback, it sorta looked like a pickup truck to them, so it got typed up as a pickup. But who made it? Half the “Daimler-Chrysler GEM” hood decal still existed and they could make out "Chrysler " so thats what it became; a 2002 Chrysler Pick up truck…
That was no problem for about two years untill a bored overachieving police officer pulled me over.
Asked me to “Tell me about the vehicle” so I did - all the good technical bits. After a few minutes when he realized that asking it that way was a mistake, he asked me who owned it. I looked at him and said “Me” He looked even more like “oh god, why did i not become a firefighter?” and said back “Who is ME? Could i please get your license and registration?”
(Yeah, we had been there for like 5 minutes talking and he hadnt asked for it yet)
Comes back from his cruiser and says that he has to call for a VIN check and we are waiting for a second officer.
Second officer shows up, he starts callingnit in "vehicle make Chrysler " she points at the hood…
Looks around at the bottom of the windshield and the didnt yet have the metal tabs in 2002
“Where is the vin?”
“Right here” i point at the roof of the cab right above the passenger seat. Right next to the big ANSI decal WARNING: NOT TO BE OPERATED BY FVCKWITS.
She basically almost looses it trying not to.laugh.
VIN gets called in, it matches.
He drops the tough cop act (i dont blame him, they have a shyttay job) hands back.the papers, holds out his hand so we can shake and proceeds to explain that his cruisers forward looking license plate camera came back with “Chrysler Pickup” and it obviously was not a pickup, so he pulled me over.
The suspicion that required the vin check was that since the ownership checked out was that i may have been swapping license plates with another vehicle i also owned. And we were all cool now and he apologized but hope i understood why this took 30-40 minutes.
My response was something like “No worries, these things happen and tell me, if i may be so bold, you must be a gun guy, Because cops typically only come in two flavors, gun cops and motorheads / motorcycle nuts, and you dont know jack abou cars, since the last time Chrysler built a pickup truck, it was around World War 2.”
Young cute blonde female cop looses it laughing… it was contagious . We all drove off smiling and everyone passing us was dumbfounded…
When i retired it, i was going to invite both of them to the shoot-out and car-b-que, but i decided to go full Leatherface and Texas Chainsaw Massacre it instead. Yes, I really did saw that truckette up, there is s photo in the for sale section "2002 gem longback, CHEAP!; Some assembly required " or something like that
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If you want a title for it, the easiest way is go see the manager of your local wrecking yard and ask him if you reimburse him for the fees will he take it in and request a " salvage title". Just some paperwork and you get a title and he gets dinner money. Not exactly what the law intended, but since it is not stolen (it isn’t, is it?) no harm, no foul. Also the same thing might be accomplished by a used car dealer. They can get a title in the case of a lost title
AZ, wants me to bring it in for a level 2 inspection. No appointments until 6/4/26. We’ll see what happens. Didn’t know about the salvage yard approach. Thanks.