New (Old) Seven Owner - Trouble Registering in CA

[hrcrc45]

Hi All,

 

I thought I might make a post here about some struggles I'm going through with a recent purchase of 1968 Lotus Seven, and see if anyone might have advice. 

 

Recently, I purchased a 1968 Lotus Seven from a private party in Colorado. I live in West Sacramento, CA.

 

I did some research before purchasing the car, and it had a clean Colorado Title, plus it pre dated 1975, so it would be smog exempt. That's unfortunately where my research stopped - I had no idea to even check for "Grey Market" regulations.

 

I took the car to the DMV with my bill of sale, insurance paperwork, and clean Colorado title - (I expected with the car being from out of state they would have to perform a VIN verification.) They told me that they couldn't verify the VIN, and that I would have to take it to CHP.

 

I immediately made an appointment with CHP, and gave the officer all of the information. He then emailed back with the following:

 

Good afternoon,

I did some research, and your 1968 Lotus 7 from England does qualify as a Grey Market vehicle.

For Grey Market import vehicles 1968 to 1975, they need to have full USEPA compliance which has been in effect since 11/15/1972.

You can check the attachments and here for further information:

Importing a Vehicle | NHTSA

A VIN inspection / assignment will not be completed until proper documentation verifying USEPA compliance have been presented to me.

Respectfully,

Officer Castle

 

When I reviewed the link and the information he sent, its all about actually importing a vehicle. The car I have has been registered in the US for (literally) decades. It had been in Colorado for the past 25 years, and was in Washington state before that.

 

The other thing I can't understand is how could it be possible to provide documentation that a car was manufactured to specifications that went into effect four years after it was built?

 

I was hoping that perhaps other owners of vintage Sevens might have some advise for me, (especially if they have managed to get their cars registered in CA.) 

 

Thanks in Advance,

Mitch

 

   

[m2711c]

Try going to a different office and see how it goes with a different officer. It is amazing how many different answers I get to the same questions asked at multiple locations. DMV roulette, I call it...

[TheDingo8MyBaby]

Hi Mitch,

 

I'm sorry to hear about the challenge you're having. 

 

This is a weird rule california has associated with importing 1968-1974 cars. https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/es/frequently-asked-questions?keywords=grey market. I think others have been trying to register out of state first and then later bring them in to avoid this issue. That may be why they've flagged you.

 

I agree your easiest course of action is to try to find someone else to do your inspection. There are tons of european and japanese cars purchased out of state all into this category (bmw 2002's, Porsche 911's, etc) and I have never heard of this issue coming up with them. It generally only comes up with imported cars. Hopefully you do not run into issue with the DMV either.

 

A few other ideas: 

-Find someone who offers registration services/vin inspections with the california DMV. These people generally have connections with DMV offices and can make things simple.  I reached out to a friend who has used the following companies (in Contra Costa): Teresa at 510 757 9029 or Nancy at nancysliensales.com 

-Do you have evidence that the car was originally sold in the US? That would make it clear that this isn't a grey market car.

-As a worst-case scenario, I have a friend that imported a 1972 MK1 ford escort. He was able to obtain a note from the CARB's lab stating that they are not able to test his car since it was a 1972 and they do not have the testing equipment available to test it. If you get to that point, let me know and I can try to find more information for you.

-You can probably find via google search of various forums others that have run into similar issues. I know I've seen similar threads for 1968-74 Porsches, Alfa's and BMW's, but generally these were for imported cars. 

 

 

 

[hrcrc45]

@m2711c, Thank You - I was thinking along those lines, but I was hesitant because I'm not sure now how many notes are transferred between branches, etc. I haven't reached back out to officer Castle, as clearly I need to be careful here. I believe they could do something along the lines of 'red tagging' the VIN, and it would be impossible to register from that point forward.

 

@TheDingo8MyBaby - Thanks so much for your response! I will reach out to the folks you have listed. On your other questions:

 

Unfortunately I don't have evidence that the car was originally sold in the US. That's where my mind went too, in that I didn't believe it was actually a gray market car to begin with. And gosh - to make matters worse.. the further I have dug into this, the more concerned I am that what I bought was not what was advertised. I can't find the frame number on the car, and the chassis plate only has the VIN - it does not say "Lotus Components..." etc... These were all questions I didn't know to ask, and I thought I was purchasing from a highly reputable seller. The car is still really cool and really fun, but if it was a replica it should have been sold as one.

 

Fascinating on the note from CARB! Obviously I hope it doesn't come to that, but its nice to know there might be a Hail Mary option, when all others have been exhausted...

 

I can imagine there would be other folks with similar cars that have run into this bureaucratic trap, for sure! Reading your post, I realized I actually have an acquaintance that did a lot with Alfa's - I should reach out to him as well, just in case.

 

Thanks Again and Take Care,

Mitch