cmcgregor said:I don't know about the temporary tag thing, but what I learned from living in MA and buying a few cars out of state (one from NC)
Glad that NC one worked out for you.
The one fly and drive I've done was to bring a car from NY to NC. The car, a 2 door manual 1989 BMW 325ix, was exactly as advertised including the fact the heater core was leaking a bit and the clutch was a bit worn. It was inexpensive, and not too rusty for a NY car. We did the paperwork at the DMV, I showed them proof of insurance, they gave me a transit tag that I taped to the rear window and I headed out...
To immediately get into an accident 2 minutes after leaving the DMV in downtown Troy, NY that busted the tail light. The driver that hit me spent the entire time shrieking like I had killed her dog. The police came, I got a report, and I continued onward, despite the massive headache I had at this point.
Minutes later, I got pulled over by the police for having a busted tail light and no license plates. I explained to the nice policeman what I was doing, and what had happened. I showed him the paperwork from DMV and the police report. Then I waited while he went back to his car. A short time later, he came back and sent me on my way after explaining that he'd never actually seen an in transit tag in person before, and that he hoped my luck got better.
It didn't. Of course it didn't.
The 80s stock radio was weak, and the speakers were typical 80s. It could pick up radio stations, though. So I turned it up, it went POP and never worked again. So now I was driving in silence, as the sun went down.
Remember that leaking heater core? Somewhere in Maryland, in the middle of the night, the heater core started to leak faster. I bought several gallons of inexpensive 50/50 anti-freeze, rolled the dice and pressed on. This was in December, so rest of the way back to NC, I had to have the windows open so the windows didn't fog up, given the hot antifreeze leaking into the cabin.
It was a long drive, but I made it.
I wound up trying to refurbish the car a bit. The 325ix has a lot of parts that are specific to that model. They're also more expensive. I knew that going in. I didn't fully realize what a PITA it would be. Ball joints are cost 4 times as much money as regular E30 ball joints, and had to come from Germany. Finding replacement Bilsteins after one breaks while trying to remove it is more difficult than it should be, since they are not usually in stock. The cost/value scale was starting to skew a bit. The clutch wasn't anything special, though.
During the process of replacing the clutch, I gave myself a hernia moving the trans and transfer case, which is much heavier and more unwieldy than one might think.
Completely furious with my aching man bits and overall experience with the car at this point in time, I sold it.
I've not done a fly and drive since. It's been long enough that I'd been considering doing another, but after typing that story out again, I'm not sure I want to.
