Folks-
I'm moving to California later this month, and trying to make a
decision on whether to bring my car.
Can anyone here give me any sort of guidance on bringing my car to
(and registering it in) California? It's not British, but I expect I'm
facing the same sort of problem I would be if I was bring the typical
non-smog-gear-equipped British car.
The car's a 1981 BMW 732i that I imported from Germany in 1986. Since
it was 5 years old when I imported it, I brought it into the USA under
the EPA's "one per lifetime" exemption; as a result, it has no
emissions-control equipment at all. Never did. It passes the Georgia
sniffer test honestly, and, since the visual inspection test here just
requires "no evidence of tampering" it passes the visual test, too. The
smog gear hasn't been tampered with, there never was any. It's fully
DOT and EPA legal, though.
In any case, the thing can't possibly be California-legal, can it? Don't
they actually have a list of equipment the US-model car of that vintage
is supposed to have (EGR, catalytic convertor, gas tank neck restrictor,
etc.) and check that? It doesn't have any of that stuff, and never did.
Are there exemptions available for US-legal but non-California-
conforming cars?
Anyone got the phone number for someone at the DMV who knows, assuming
none of you California SOLers do?
Thanks.
-Shel
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