I purchased a Fiberfab speedster in September that had never been registered in California.
I wasn't sure what to expect at DMV, because the car was built on a junked '70 VW pan and I didn't know date of the engine.
I got it registered as a SPCNS--specially constructed vehicle. I had feared it would be more challenging, since I wasn't the one who had put the car together, and I didn't have all receipts.
I was referred to CHP for a duplicate VIN inspection. The CHP "restored" the old VIN from Junked status. They attached a stamped tag with the old/new VIN on the door sill.
I thought I was out of the woods because the car was a 1970 and therefore should be smog exempt but the DMV referred me to the CA smog referee, which didn't make much sense.
The CA smog referees in San Diego are pretty cool. I expected some greenie/tree hugger turning up his nose at the thought of my dual carbed 2200CC 40's technology motor, but one of the guys was a drag racer and the other guy was building a Cobra replica. They explained that (with a SPCNS anyway) even though there wasn't a smog check requirement on a 1970, there were still prohibitions in 1970 regarding the modifications to what was "stock," so they couldn't pass the car. They suggested a certificate of sequence, which had feared from the very beginning would be the ultimate impediment to getting plates.
California grants 500 smog exemption permits each year, under Senate Bill 100, for SPCNS cars. Ordinarily, you have emissions requirements based on the year of the motor in your kit car. SB 100 gives you the choice of using the model year the car most closely resembles, or using 1960 if the car doesn't resemble any other car previously produced. Either would work for me, because there weren't any prohibitions on anything back then.
I showed up to the DMV today (again!) at around 6:45, I was the fourth guy in line!
Two of the guys in front of me had built Cobras and were after the same thing as me. One of the guys had arrived at 4:30AM!
When they opened I was called immediately. I didn't have a lot of confidence when my clerk said, "boy, it's been so long since I've done one of these, I don't even remember how."
I'm thinking, Yeah, Lady, it's been exactly one year and they were all done on the *same* day because they don't last more than *one*.
So she took my paperwork then came back and said that they were calling Sacramento to apply for my sequence number, and I should take a seat. Around 8:15.
At 12:30 she comes over and says they still haven't gotten through to Sacramento and I should probably go do something else for a while and check back in a few hours. Not encouraging.
I went back at 2:30 and found out that my lady was in a meeting. Waited another 30 minutes and flagged someone down asking if they had gotten word on the SB100 applications that came in earlier?
The guy looked like a doctor explaining that the patient had died on the table when he said "oooooh, boy, I think they're all gone already."
What!? I was the third frigging guy in the office that morning! Had these jerks just sat around with their thumb up their ass all day??
I sat back down, dazed, and getting angry. Am I supposed to get temporary tags every month for a year? Would they even ALLOW that? And what if I don't make the cut NEXT year??
Finally, my girl comes over and asks whether I was the guy from earlier in the day with the kit car. Yes, I say. Good news! she says, the certificates are all gone--only 500 per year--but they were able to get one for me: 415/500.
So I'll get my certificate in 8-10 days, another smog referee trip where another special tag goes on the door sill, and to the DMV for plates.
It was a bit of a pain in the ass up front, but now I have the satisfaction of A) knowing it won't ever be a problem again and B) it's the competely iron-clad legal way of registering a speedster replica in CA.
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