Hi,

This is a long, heavy post but please bear with me.

I'm hoping someone here can help me understand and navigate the rules for licensing and insuring a full-on custom that's not based on a production car.

I know that you can build and, if the certifying mechanic deems it built safely and correctly, have a certified homebuilt car.

This gets a little murky with online searches but this link from approximately 2017 :

http://www.svao.org/kitcars.html

details a possible major issue with homebuilt vehicles being registered as the model year in which the vehicle was completed.

Therefore, if I build a car and finish it this year, it will be registered as a "2024 Homebuilt".

This next part is quoted from Canadian Rodder (   https://www.canadianrodder.com/features/fyi/registering.htm  ),

"Homemade Vehicle

Constructed without using manufactured main components (e.g. body and chassis / frame both made from scratch), and therefore has no V.I.N.
NOTE: This designation is primarily for homemade trailers, constructed by the owner.

Homemade vehicles are registered in Ontario as:

V.I.N.: assigned "HOM"
MAKE: HOME
MODEL: HOM
MODEL YEAR: Year the homemade vehicle was built and registered with the
ministry.

Kit cars are not homemade vehicles, for registration purposes"

One of the issues here is that if a vehicle is registered as a 2024 Homebuilt, it has to have an Electronic Stability Control system (see that link I posted above that states vehicles built after September 2011 must have ESC).  So that's a significant hurdle.

Secondly, the major problem I see with pretty much any Homebuilt vehicle regardless of the year it was built is getting insurance.  I know for a fact that no "regular, run-of-the-mill" insurance carrier will insure a Homebuilt vehicle.  For that matter, from what they've told me, regular insurance companies won't insure any vehicle that's been modified.

*****  Hagerty specifically told me they will not insure these types of custom homebuilt cars.  *****

Hagerty told me to call a broker to ask about Facitlity Insurance. 

The broker told me you have to basically apply to Facility insurance to see if they will insure the vehicle.  At that point, IF they insure the vehicle, you're good to go but Facility insurance is two to four times more expensive than regular car insurance.

So, to summarize: 

1.  We scratch built a car.

2.  If we can somehow dance around the ESC issue, got a safety from a mechanic.

3.  Registered it with the Ministry and now have only one possibility of insuring it (Facility).

If Facility insurace falls through, then what? 

Or, 

If we buy an old car (let's just say a '51 Ford F1 to pick an easy one), go to the Ministry, register the truck in our name and then build a complete, scratch-built custom using some Ford parts here and there (but our Homebuilt looks more like a mix of a 1950 Allard J2 and Starbird's Predicta than it does like a '51 Ford F1), can it still be licensed it as 1951 Ford F1?  

Will a specialty insurance company insure a full custom like this (basically because the ownership says, "1951 Ford" even though it doesn't look anything like the 'donor vehicle') ?

Are there any other options?   Any workarounds or tips anyone can give me?

Thanks for your time!