Arizona - How to re-title as a vintage 1960's Lotus 7 Replica (from a 2014)

[Car_Guy]

I know I have read about this here before, but my search skills are failing me.

 

I live in Tucson Arizona, and am required to go thru emissions unless the car is a 1967 or older.

 

I am looking at buying a used out of state Stalker that is currently titled as a 2014.  Is it possible to get that title changed to reflect that this car is a 1966 Lotus 7 replica?  What is required to make that happen.

 

Thank you in advance.

[straightcut]

3 hours ago, Car_Guy said:

I live in Tucson Arizona, and am required to go thru emissions unless the car is a 1967 or older.

I think you meant '67 or newer...

 

I was told years ago by an inspector at the Scottsdale AZMVD you could have the title year changed to an earlier year provided you could show evidence that the car you have is based off of an earlier production car and could demonstrate that the vehicle was in production during that time (and of course the inspector would need to agree after seeing your information).  Of course, I say this not having the name of the inspector and years ago, based on my memory alone...  It's definitely worth going to AZMVD and having a conversation.

[Car_Guy]

I've got some e-mails out to see if i can get a nice written version from them, but may have to actually go to the DMV and see what they say if it comes down to it, hopefully someone here has done it before and can provide additional confirmation/some tips

[TBone1209]

My experience in CA is it's impossible unless the original title stats the term "Lotus 7 " on it somewhere. Even if it says replica you can get it massaged to lotus 7 and the early year. 

[7Westfield]

What's the powertrain in the Stalker?

How difficult to make it compliant?

[Car_Guy]

It is a modern Chevy LS3, so i suspect with some Cats it would be compliant, but i would really like to avoid having to go thru emissions every 2 years and risking someone deciding it is no longer compliant.  I am also concerned that California is implementing emissions checks that verify the checksum on the computer matches what it left the factory with, I plan on keeping this car for a long time so I want to make sure that is as easy to do as possible.

[Car_Guy]

OK, I now have the car titled in my name as a 1962 Lotus Specialty Construction.  Here is what I learned along the way:

 

I am in Tucson, AZ, so like Phoenix we have emissions (part of the reason I want it titled as a Pre 1967 to become emissions exempt)

 

-          Transferring a specialty car title to AZ appears to need a Level II inspection, just make the appointment online and don’t even bother going to your DMV first, as they will most likely re-direct you.  Thankfully this is appointment based so it was easy to get a time, and not have to hope to be seen

o   For my Stalker the inspector was saying that my car “looks nothing like” a 1962 Lotus 7.  Thankfully I had the original paperwork from Stalker stating it was a replica, he accepted that and attached it to his report.  If you don’t have manufacturer’s paperwork bring in as much documentation as you can to show that it is a Seven replica

o   The DMV attached to the inspection station was much more knowledgeable on specialty construction cars than my closer DMV, so plan on doing everything there

-          No matter what my DMV wanted to do to update the year on the title they had to transfer the title as-is first (in Colorado is was a 2014 ASVE) to Arizona first

o   This kicks off an issue as Emissions testing is required for this

o   My saving Grace was having Hagerty Insurance lined up already.  This allowed them to note it was a specialty car and emissions were not needed (this was super easy to do just showing them my Hagerty policy, have that already when you get the inspection)

I also had to pay registration based on this, i believe there is an option to do a title transfer with no registration, I did not pursue this, but that may have also been a better intermediate step.

-          The DMV then had to submit some sort of modification request to correct my title from a 2014 lotus special construction to then become a 1962.  I am not sure what this was called, but they had to do some paperwork behind the scenes, and with the inspection report I had identifying it as a 1962 replica they were able to then mail me a title for a 1962 car, just a few days later

-         Note the DMV values the car based on the average value of the car you are replicating.  So my car was put in as a value of $50K.  When this was titled as a 2014 I had to pay $250ish for registration.  Once they updated it to a 1962, this was *mostly refunded to me as a credit which I could then apply to a 5 year registration which was basically the state minimum now.

-         

 

[MV8]

Amazingly reasonable State.

 

My State refused to allow me to register my GO4 Interceptors because "they look  like a golf cart". Had to eventually complain to the Governor's Office on that one. These are production vehicles many states (including mine) use on highways and are not "low speed vehicles". I prevailed mostly because they had no argument.

[wxywb021254]

This was my experience when registering my 7. I actually didn’t need to transfer the original title to my name, which is a bit different from your experience. Anyways welcome to the club! There are a few other 7s that run track days with Porsche club. Would be fun to get together sometime! 

 

[Car_Guy]

Definitely looking forward to enjoying the car.  My primary use will be AutoX, but definitely want to get it out on the track eventually.   If you have not done AutoX before it is a fun challenge, definitely different from track days, but much more active and direct feedback on performance.  Check out AZSOLO.com for Phoenix events and AZBRSCCA.org for Tucson events (I am on the Tucson board so i am a little biased...)

 

 

[wxywb021254]

Yes. I have done autox many times but found I am more of a track guy clearly. 😁

[fastg]

18 hours ago, Car_Guy said:

If you have not done AutoX before it is a fun challenge, definitely different from track days, but much more active and direct feedback on performance.

I think the opposite is true. On a track day when one lap is complete I immediately get to do another one, and another... I don't have to wait around for the next lap, with SCCA events there is a lot of waiting and not many laps. 

 

Graham 

[Car_Guy]

7 hours ago, fastg said:

I think the opposite is true. On a track day when one lap is complete I immediately get to do another one, and another... I don't have to wait around for the next lap, with SCCA events there is a lot of waiting and not many laps. 

 

Graham 

Wasn't intending to turn this into a track vs autox thread, there are different options out there based on what you enjoy doing, I just like to make sure people get out there and use their fun cars and know what opportunities exist in the community.