http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MGB-Lucas-Smog-Pump-Smiths-Air-Rail-Check-Valve-Gulp-NR_W0QQitemZ180251826056QQihZ008QQcategoryZ10076QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 MGB Lucas Smog Pump Smiths Air Rail Check Valve Gulp NR

 

Thank You in advance!

Cheers,

Stieve

"I'm betting the Joker told you to kill me as soon as we load the cash....No, I am suppose to kill the bus driver"

Technically, that is a true statement.  According to ARB, all cars that are 68-75 (not 74) must be certified for CA or 49 state emmissions by the manufacturer for the model year in which they were actually made.  This means that it should have an underhood label somewhere that says " certified to meet California Emissions..".

The fact that cars up to '75 are now exempt does not make any difference to them - in their eyes the exemption applies only to biennial smog tests, not to the initial smog compliance itself.  ARB has a tortured reasoning process to get there that is not fully supported by law or regulation.  So, according to ARB, your 68-75 model year car would have to be made intially compliant to get registration, then once that happens you would never have to be tested again, as you would fall into an exempt year.  Unfortunately, the process for getting it to comply intially is the same process that it would take to get a post '75 Mini to be compliant - that is, sending it to an EPA lab and paying $3K plus.

Although this appears to be ARB's offical reasoning, I have not yet seen this enforced against private owners bringing in one car at a time, whether from another state or as a direct import.  Direct imports stand the most chance of potentially being caught up in having trouble getting their cars registered, and while I have heard of a couple of tales of people being given a hard time, I have not heard of anyone being refused registration outright.

Cars titled in another state stand less of a chance of having trouble, however the VIN verification form asks the verifier to check the box for emission compliance labels, or note why they are absent.

Once again, note that this could happen, but has not happened yet that I have heard of.  How likely is it?  Read ARB's website on some of their enforcement actions and be the judge.  With a relatively "green" governor, ARB has been given a large mandate to clean up the air and they seem to be doing that with a passion, no matter who they trample on, big or little.

Steve

Life is driving Minis.  Everything else is just waiting.

 

You guys have one screwed up state there! We actually spoke to the California DMV who said "no problem , the car can be registered". Then we took a look at this:

http://www.miniguy.com/Consign1?id=4284b431ed09b9124e27d7d64e37a6d5

 Apparently all you guys who are running a '68-'74 Mini in California can be pulled over and have your registration taken away and be obliged to export the car. Why? Because California never cleared Minis for import and registration between 1968 and 1974! So if you get pulled over by the CHP or the smog police, they will check your registration and see "1973 Austin Mini"; they will then check their database and see that such a make/model/year of car doesn't exist. Case closed, registration revoked, car to be exported.

Anybody have anything to add to this depressing scenario?

Anybody in the rest of the USA or Canada interested in a really, really nice Cooper 'S' clone?

Thanks,

Daniel

No you cannot, you have to ship it to me in Florida instead...

Just kidding!

mine was in a trailer in project condition......and passed inspection......all they do is locate the vin, write down where it is and how it's attached.

Don't worry about how clean the car is as I took my freshly restored 75 to the DMV and had no problem,and I had a vtec motor installed and had moved the vin.

Life is like installing windscreens, it takes a lot of elbow grease and some personal lubricant. 

And now I've done a bunch of reading in the archives of this forum and I see that it can be done for a pre-1975 Mini imported from Canada but... as Steve was saying you will have to do your homework in advance and make sure you have all the right answers to all the right questions ready.

 

Daniel

Thanks Steve. If I understand correctly, anything pre-1975 does not have to pass smog or otherwise come under any close scrutiny. The DMV inspector just wants to make sure that the car in question really is a pre-1975 model. My car has a good Manitoba title which identifies it as a 1973 Austin Mini 1000 and the VIN is clearly visible on the windshield post. If it has one drawback, it is that the car is super, super clean so the inspector may have a hard time believing that is is 35 years old.

 Daniel

Maybe.

There was a memo issued from DMV HQ to the field offices a couple of years back regarding Direct Import vehicles from Canada and emissions requirements.  Seems many people were buying new cars north of the border and then bringing them in - cars not certified for US emissions. (at the time the Loonie was still cheap against the dollar making new Canadian vehicles a steal).  The memo warned to check documentation carefully on all vehicles coming in as personal direct imports from Canada.

The memo applied to all cars coming from Canada, and technically a '73 would have had to have been certified to US standards for that year, even though the exemption year is now '75, so a sharp VIN verifier may well be looking for the emissions compliance sticker under the hood (there is a check box for it on the VIN verification form...). 

Short answer: you might have a problem, although I have not heard of any pre-75 vehicles, direct import or not, being refused registration.  When you get ready to go, best bet is to take it to a private VIN verifier or auto club to do the actual VIN verification, and then take the paperwork to a small, out of the way DMV field office outside of a major city to turn in the paper work, you'll typically get better (read: more patient) service.

Steve

Life is driving Minis.  Everything else is just waiting.

 

yes as long as you have a Canadian title import paperwork. I registered my 75 without a problem

Life is like installing windscreens, it takes a lot of elbow grease and some personal lubricant. 

I think for California it has to be '73 or earlier, but I'm not 100% sure.  Haven't had to deal with CA car laws in a while. I'm sure one of the other folks will chime in soon.

----------------------------------------------
My Higher Authority is the German Purity Law of 1516 . 

Can I import a 1973 Austin Mini that is currently titled in a Canadian province into California and successfully title it there? Somebody mentioned there may be a new law in California that says you cannot import and register a pre-1976 car unless you can prove it was an original California delivery. Is this true? How can I find out?

Thanks for any help.

Daniel