Editor's note: For the past few years, there has been a great deal of discussion and confusion when it comes to registering kit and replicars in California. But the problem is really threefold: one, smog certification; two, registration; and three, determining value for taxation purposes.
Problems with the third aspect are what led to the California State Attorney General's office raiding Boyd Coddington's hot rod shop with warrants to determine the legitimacy of his registration process for the cars he'd built and if declared amounts of value (for taxation) had been submitted to the state with false numbers, undercutting the value and therefore the tax levied. (Coddington was fined $3,000 and told to educate people on how to legally register their car.)
The first and second problems-misunderstanding how a car is registered and how (or if) it needs to pass a smog certification-have often combined into one headache, though it should be viewed as two separate dilemmas.
Smog certification-basically making sure the car doesn't foul the air more than it should-with specially constructed vehicles (primarily kits, street rods, and replicars) is addressed below in a recently published letter by the California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR). California has had a system in place for "smogging" a car, it's just that for the most part it wasn't written down anywhere where the average kit owner could read it.
And though many kits and replicars are registered hasslefree in a handful of states around the country (most of them follow the lead of what the car looks like: you built a '34 Ford-it's now registered as a '34 Ford), it isn't quite that simple in the Golden State.
Because California is a concern to many of KIT CAR's readers (and manufacturers sell a fair amount of cars to California customers), we thought we'd try to help clear the air. The following is a statement from the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), followed by a statement from the California Bureau of Automotive Repair.
The California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) has recently published its policy for Smog Check certification of specially constructed vehicles. The publication was prompted by discussions with the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) and officials with the California State Attorney General's office.
For the past year, SEMA had been working with appropriate agencies to dispel rumors and misunderstandings regarding California's vehicle registration and titling process so that specially constructed vehicles, including street rods, kit cars, and replicas, can become properly registered, titled and emissions-certified in the state.
Under the BAR policy, the emissions controls of specially constructed vehicles are determined by one of two separate processes: (1) based on what the vehicle body or engine most resembles, or (2) model year or configuration of the engine installed. In the first case, under the provisions of the Specially Constructed Vehicle Emission Control Program (commonly known as CA Senate Bill 100), a smog test referee compares the vehicle to those of the era that the vehicle most closely resembles to determine its model year. The vehicle's owner can then choose whether the inspector will certify the vehicle per the year of the body or the engine. If there is no close resemblance, the vehicle is classified as a 1960 model year. The Senate Bill 100 registration program is limited, however, to the first 500 applications for registrations of specially constructed vehicles submitted to California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) per year that meet the criteria. The DMV doesn't categorize the vehicles into SB100 or not; the applicant does that.
In the second case, for specially constructed vehicles without a Senate Bill 100 sequence number, the only emissions controls required are those used when the engine was originally manufactured. For example, a Cobra kit car using a '68 351C Ford V-8 would require all emissions equipment originally required for that model year engine. A dune buggy upgraded with a '91 L79 TPI GM V-8 would require all emissions equipment used on that engine. More generally, if a configuration precedes '66, no exhaust emissions controls would be required. If the configuration precedes '61, no PCV system would be required.
If a range of model years applies to any particular engine configuration, vehicle owners will have the option to select the model year of emissions controls to be used. Further, according to the BAR, new and rebuilt "crate" engines fall into this "range of model years" category. As an example in this category, using a Chevrolet 5.7L ZZ4 V-8 engine in a replica of a '32 Ford roadster would require emissions equipment found on the first 5.7L engines used in '67. Finally, in some instances vehicle owners may be required to provide engine information to aid in the identification and inspection process.