Quote:
Originally Posted by ossiblue
This is your best bet, IMO.^^^
If you can get confirmation of the model year, either by knowing the VIN or by title papers, that will suffice for the DMV. Note, many European countries date the model year of the vehicle by the manufacture date, not the model year nor the first registration date. Thus, a vehicle that was manufactured in, say, October of 1967 would be identified as a 1967 even though the manufacturer designated it a 1968 MY vehicle. I've seen this happen to VW's and Porsches from Europe.
In your case, it would be important to know when the car was actually built (month and year) and which month the manufacturer switched model year productions. That information, along with the VIN should make clear what model year you are considering. The hitch in all of this will be the paperwork, however. If the paperwork designates a 1968 model year (not just first ownership or registration), it may be impossible to convince the DMV bureaucracy that it is an earlier car. Perhaps going to the DMV with the VIN and a legitimate resource which shows the VIN within the year your describe will work.
|
The plot thickens - some interesting information!
One particular car I'm looking at isn't year-identifiable by VIN except that it was produced sometime between a range of dates. The paperwork shows it's date of first registration (sale and registration by a customer) as 1968. However, I do know that the model change from MKI to MKII happened in 1967 and there are VERY obvious features which differentiate the two versions. This is clearly a MKI, so pre-January 1st '68.
Now another bit of interesting information. I was looking at a local CA car for sale which is a 1968 (and clearly a MKII). The guy imported it himself and ran into this exact problem. I have been corresponding with him and he said it took him over a year of back and forth with CARB. They are the ones who need to approve it, not the DMV it seems. The DMV only want to know whether CARB have approved the car.
Anyway, his conversations with CARB were basically along the lines of, "It needs a letter from the manufacturer saying it would meet 1968 - 1972 emissions regulations". He responds that the manufacturer no longer exists, so that isn't possible. Then they came back and said it needs testing, in either Napa or Sacramento. However, those CARB agencies to which he was directed no longer have the ability to perform that test. The bottom line was, after a year, he was given a letter by CARB saying that they'd certify his car because they didn't have the ability to test it. What a cluster!
I'm going to dig a little deeper and seek the help of an importer. I'm going to try and get a pre-approval from CARB by documenting the car and the identifying MKI features along with VIN number and year range.
At the same time I'm focusing my search on pre-'68 cars. I'll beat them somehow!
I'll let you know how it works out, unless anyone has any other words of wisdom?
Again, that so much for identifying this issue. I thought I'd found everything but I was wrong!