Vehicle certification is serious. Vehicle manufacturers cannot “whitewash” the information.
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011-title49-vol6/xml/CFR-2011-title49-vol6-part567.xml
Those DOT regs do not even apply to the many thousands of 'Special Construction Vehicles'.
Only larger scale manufactures that build over a certain amount of vehicles must strictly adhere to manufactures DOT regs.
A private vehicle owner can legally modify any vehicle to make it whatever he wants, he can paint over or remove every DOT sticker if he wants, except for the actual VIN plate.
A small scale manufacture or home made vehicle have little or no DOT regs to follow. ( I've done several ). SPCN vehicles can legally be registered in California and many other states and are legal drive on all the roads of America.
If you build your own vehicle, California only requires a Brake and Light inspection Cert. ($45) and then an assigned VIN number plate is affixed to the chassis by DMV . It will be registered and insured as a SPCN....not a Ford or Chevy no mater what engine it has.
You will not see any DOT stickers on a Jessie James motorcycle frame, he didn't make that many motorcycles.
YES...You really can legally build and drive your own home made vehicle here in the United States of America. You can take a cab from a half ton truck and put it on a military Duce and a half chassis and hook up the biggest 5th wheel you want and go camping.
sorry all you sticker police...GVW stickers are not even an issue for non-commercial vehicles.
Don't be afraid....some of these people probably think they can be charged for tearing the label off their mattress.
IMO> Beef it up, make it stronger, it will still perfectly legal to drive.