Smog & Safety regs

[Guest Anonymous]

Here's the deal: I've been working on my own body design, and am beginning to narrow down the donor chassis. Originally, I was going to use a tube chassis from a kitcar company. By going this route, I could use a custom frame at a fraction of the cost of a truly, custom built tube frame (kitcar chassis range from $2500 - $7500 depending on the company, quality, etc).

 

I stumbled across the problem of titling and registering these kinds of kitcars rather recently. From what I can piece together, out of the hundreds of differing opinions and experiences people have, these cars are supposed to be registered as the year they were produced or completed, which would then subject them to more modern emissions and safety equipment standards. The game becomes finding a way to register the car as a 30+ year old car to get emissions exemption without mileage limitations (a few states have laws for "Specialty Constructed Vehicles", however the state imposes a 5000mi limit, and some even impose a mileage limit from one's household).

 

There are many ways to do this, some work and some don't. All are questionable. I wasn't put out by this, but I found cases where titles have been revoked, either because the person moved from an emissions-lenient state to an emissions-strict one, or because they got found out on their "scam".

 

Two other problems I have are:

 

(1) because my body design isn't a copy of any vintage car, I can't play the game of registering it as a '65 Cobra or '55 Porsche or whatever

 

(2) As I intend to use a more modern engine, one of the most popular ways of registering as a vintage car (using a pre '65 engine block) is also out.

 

Now, it seems to me that kitcars & rebodies built on production car chassis, like the 250GTOs that members here have built on Datsun Z-cars, simply remain titled as the donor vehicle. Thus, if one gets an older 240Z, then it remains such and one can be exempt from the dreaded smog & safety checks.

 

Do I have my facts relatively straight? Would using a 30+ year old Z keep me exempt in most states & counties? Finally, are there any instances where a production car can be so customized that the DMV would force it to be re-titled?

[johnc]

I suggest you get a copy of Florida's vehicle code and read the pertinent sections. Relying on what other people say can cause a lot of problems.