Old frame, new motor trying to register in R I

I am building a pan, the frame is around 1958 to 65? or so. It's a stock harley frame and has no vin #s I'm putting a new pan repro in her. has anybody tried to register a bike under these circumstances in R.I? if so what am I up against... ridgedpan

Can't speak for R.I. but I went thru a similar deal in Indiana many years ago with a '47 Knucklehead (no # on frame). State Trooper came out to the house, checked the engine # against his list of stolen & wrecked then parted-out bikes & he pointed out that @ one time the # had been altered. But going back to 1953 they had a continuous record of registered ownership & no theft with that # so he signed a couple forms for me to take to DMV - his certification was all it took.

But with all the changes in laws & regulations, it's best to look up the applicable ones up 1st as calling a DMV office may very well get you a lot of info that's wrong. Those folks are not attorneys or paralegals, they're not authorized to give legal advice anyway & I know folks who just got the runaround. You can look the statutes/regs up yourself for free here:
FindLaw: State Resources: Rhode Island: Laws

Time-consuming to be sure, but beats paying a paralegal or attny. & I've learned it's a lot easier to deal with Gov't. employees when you've printed out a copy of what the law(s) actually says. And perhaps the State's website already has the forms you need for a "reconstructed" or "salvage" vehicle - whatever they call it in R.I.

re

thanks man, I will take your advice and check that site out. good talking with ya.