California registration

[rv-4mike]

I didnt say it wasnt possible to register an Atom in CA, there just isnt a legal way to do it. I've seen Atoms with CA tags also, though not in person. I havent met the owners so I dont know what they pulled to make it happen. I know when I asked on the Atom forum my post was pulled and the admin PM'd me to tell me "we dont discuss registration issues in the open forum". I know one of the leading Atom proponents who lives in Arkansas has made it known that you can register an Atom there no questions asked, and I know the two guys I met both did that as the most painless way they could find to get plates on their cars. My understanding of SB100 is that it isnt a legit way to register an Atom because SB100 is intended for kit car registration and you cant get an Atom as a kit.

 

When I was looking into this over a year ago my recollection is that you can title a car in CA that has been previously titled in another state. The trick is that the car has to have at least 7500 miles on the odometer. This was done to prevent builders from buying out of state titles and then immediately transferring title. I may be a little fuzzy on this because I immediately ruled it out as an option.

 

The state actively sought out and prosecuted owners who bought out of state titles and then switched to CA after getting out of state plates. There are some horror stories on the Factory Five Cobra forum if you care to look.

 

I'd say Mondo has the right approach. It's fortunate that the local DMV office is helping him out with temporaries (cant beleive I just used the words help and DMV in the same sentence!).

 

Mike

[roll a 7]

My understanding of SB100, after using it to register my car, is that a homebuilder can identify the chassis OR motor for purposes of registration as the determining factor of what the car is. A modern kit car is clearly not a 1960 Lotus, but as a replica it will be classified as that on the registration supplied by DMV, and then subject to the laws in effect in 1960; if the builder has chosen to register the Lotus looking kit by the chassis.

 

This is an enthusiasts dream law for 7 type cars and kit Cobra builders like Sen. Johannesen. The safety and smog laws were virtually non-existent in 1960.

 

If I had chosen to register the car by the modern zetec motor I would have been subject to all of the modern appendages attached to such a motor. That is why I chose to register the car by the chassis.

 

In my opinion the Ultralite is close enough in appearance to be a Lotus 7 replica for DMV.

[Mondo]

Your right Roll,

No problem registering any 7 kit under SB100.

 

It's just they give out only 500 and every DMV in the State calls Sacramento at the exact same day/time and their now all gone in a few hours.

It's become a lottery (which I lost out on this year).

[MoPho]

I have a friend who owns a Noble with an SB100 and is also a LEO, he said that several Noble owners have been able to bring out of state cars in and get SB100's.

I am trying to arrange a phone call with him to get more info.

 

I can certainly understand why the Atom owners don't want to discuss their technique in public

[MoPho]

Some more info http://www.nobleforums.com/showthread.php?t=1480

[roll a 7]

A guy I know here in CA is trying to buy a Noble and would likely appreciate any raesonable (legal) solutions for registering the car. Thanks for the link!

[rv-4mike]

Brad,

 

Of course you are correct - under SB100 you have the choice of registering as the chassis year or engine year. The problem is that Mondo missed the window for SB100 this year. I thought you were suggesting that he ignore SB100 and simply try to register his brand new Ultralite as a 1960 Lotus which obviously wont work. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

Mike

[roll a 7]

Mike: When will we get to see you on the road?

[roll a 7]

It has long been my opinion that SB100 allows us to put vehicles on the road that may pollute the atmosphere more than almost all other vehicles being registered for the first time in CA. As a compensation for this privilege, if we were required to remove a gross polluting old vehicle from service and have it CRUSHED we would then be making a positive step toward cleaning up the environment. And my miniscule conscience would be mildly assuaged. It would make me feel good to know that I had also done something to make the place a bit better.

 

Several years ago, when I had my Acura smogged, the guy doing it remarked about how clean the exhaust was for a six year old unmodified car. He said that one old VW bug put out about 25 times as much pollution in the same test. That makes a pretty good case for removing such a vehicle from the roads for the privilege of operating our 7s, in my view.

 

Most 7s do not accumulate that many miles in a given year, I think. Many get more miles on a trailer than on the road. This year my 7 has more than 500 miles on a trailer and less than 250 in operation, with most of the miles accruing @ Buttonwillow a few weeks ago.

 

OK, fire away at the liberal California heretic!!

[MoPho]

It has long been my opinion that SB100 allows us to put vehicles on the road that may pollute the atmosphere more than almost all other vehicles being registered for the first time in CA. As a compensation for this privilege, if we were required to remove a gross polluting old vehicle from service and have it CRUSHED we would then be making a positive step toward cleaning up the environment. And my miniscule conscience would be mildly assuaged. It would make me feel good to know that I had also done something to make the place a bit better.

 

Several years ago, when I had my Acura smogged, the guy doing it remarked about how clean the exhaust was for a six year old unmodified car. He said that one old VW bug put out about 25 times as much pollution in the same test. That makes a pretty good case for removing such a vehicle from the roads for the privilege of operating our 7s, in my view.

 

Most 7s do not accumulate that many miles in a given year, I think. Many get more miles on a trailer than on the road. This year my 7 has more than 500 miles on a trailer and less than 250 in operation, with most of the miles accruing @ Buttonwillow a few weeks ago.

 

OK, fire away at the liberal California heretic!!

 

 

I don't think that the Zetec in the Seven I would be registering is that much of a polluter, if at all.

My old Lotus is a gross polluter, but I am sure the amount of pollution it puts out from my occasional weekend use is far less than someone commuting daily in a modern car. Additionally, the Elan is an old car that has been "recycled", saving the environment from more automotive waste being buried and also from the pollution of manufacturing yet another car. My conscience is fine with that

 

 

 

Additionally, the process for hand building Sevens both at the manufacturer and by the end user creates much less of a 'footprint' than the big factory production line manufacturing technique of most modern cars

 

[MHKflyer52]

 

OK, fire away at the liberal California heretic!!

 

Hi Roll-a-7 and MoPho,

 

I am not fireing or throwing any stones here as I do agree with what you say but also diagree that our 7 polute more than other autos that are on the road.

I tend to think that 95% of the 7's that are out their probably would pass the current Calif. Smog test with relative easy as most of them have a proformance tune and run better that most of the new cars on the road due to their owners paying a lot more attention to their operation and proformance, that what 98% of the driving public dose with their rubber stamped autos that are now on the road.

A friend of mine that owns a smog test facility has told me that they see a lot of newer cars that fail the test due to lack of maintance (improper tune-ups, bad or dirty air filters, or lose or missing vacume hoses) or improper modifications that people think makes their car run better. An example is the oversize exhaust systems that you see on some cars, yes they reduce back pressure but if that is the only modification to the car it will not retain enough heat in the system to help burn off the gasses that the stock system is designed to due and can also make the computer think it is running to lean so it will richen the fuel air ratio which can also cause it to fail.

This is all just my belief and oppion which should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

PS: I have not see a 7 with smoke coming from the tail pipe like this GIF as of yet have you.:7head: I have seen tire smoke though and even provide some of it my self.:rofl:

[roll a 7]

New cars are programmed to pass the smog test. The test parameters are something like readings taken @ idle, 1500 RPMs and 2500 RPMs. So, cars are set up to run lean at the designated levels. This may not result in very meaningful operation of the smog systems in the real world of motoring. But they pass the sniff test, if not the smell test...

 

My 7 is presently running at around 93% stochiometric because I want to be sure that it runs a bit cool. Any smog station will tell me that I am running a bit rich.

 

Another guy I know runs his zetec @ 100% and has no issues.

[rv-4mike]

Brad,

 

My Ultralite S2K build is a pretty slow process. It's a long story. Hopefully it will be a driver by the end of the year.

 

Mike