Hey guys im having problems registering my mini that i purchased. It was imported from japan and has no real paperwork for it. It has a 1300cc fuel injected motor but i would like to register it as a 1974 or later so that i wouldnt have to smog it. Any help will be greatly appreciated...thanks

 

Wow. You should've sought help online before bringing it in. If there's an inspection process, it is unlikely you will fool anyone with a Mini that has fuel injection, airbags, etc....I hear CA is a super PITA about this. You may have to sell it it ship it out of state. Then buy a legal car.

Another idea is to use one of the national title services that is out of state and get it titled in some other state. Then use that title to try to bring it into CA. Even at that, I think your in for a rough time. You need to thoroughly investigate the registartion regs and CARB requirements first.

Do a search 360 day search on www.minimania.com message board for this topic, you may find some help.

 

thanks minimad, i know im in for a rough ride, let see what happens

 

try contacting members of MOALA the Mini group in LA for help, or the miniguy:

If you need to reach Michael "Miniguy" Lewis,

Call: (805) 405-6263
or
Email: miniguy@miniguy.com
Michael used to import Minis and may be able to give you guidance. I met him once a few years back and he seems a decent guy. He should know.

 

I had a similar situation here in Canada - I bought my 1973 Innocenti Mini off a girl who had bought it from a guy from New York via Ebay, and the thing shipped with the wrong paperwork (accidentally). Basically, because the car never left the US with the wrong VIN, it meant that particular car (the correct VIN) never really entered Canada - so it didn't technically exist, and couldn't be transferred or insured. They wanted her to tow it back to the US boarder, move it back to the US, leave it there for two days while the made sure it wasn't used in a crime, then re-imported it, towed it back to the city, got safety inspections, blah blah blah. The basic bill was going to be about a thousand bucks in towing alone! She abandoned it and left the country for work, and I picked it up for pretty much nothing after it sat in a garage for a few years gathering dust.

Anyhow, so the problem was passed on to me - what to do with an uninsurable car? I lurked on Craigslist and the local Mini forums in Canada for a few months until I found a junked shell which was legally registered in Canada, and picked it up for 500 bucks. I basically yanked the VIN tags off that car (the engine bay, the door posts, the dash) and bolted them on MY car. No safety inspections, no certification, nothing. Your Mini just takes on a new identity. Mine is now a 1973 British Mini (on paper). To me, he's still Lombardo, the Italian Mini, but he's just wearing a British hat.

So just find a hunk of junk Mini with CA registration and steal it's ID. It's a Mini, nobody's ever going to know the difference. Keep the legit tags to pass on to the next buyer if you ever sell it so people know the backstory.

Cloak and dagger stuff!

 

...and don't feel bad about pursuing cloak and dagger options in CA. The State has made some of this stuff so difficult, it can be impossible to comply.

I've got an experience with Yamaha motorcycles in CA. I'd bought three basket cases and put them together into two functional bikes. The serial numbers for the engine and frame didn't match for one of them. It all worked out in the end. Between mulitple trips to DMV and CHP for inspections and paper chases, personnel were sure these were not stolen vehicles or parts. Eventually, I got tags for both.

When it comes to smog requirements in CA the State says you will be subject to the laws for the engine or car - whichever is newer. So, even if you go with VIN tags from a old shell, they may get you on the engine's age. One way I got around something similar to this was to temporarily swap engines. The dashboard wasn't complete with the "correct" engine, but I was able to advance one step.

You might also gather some ideas from studying the registartion laws for kit cars and home made vehicles. I know a guy in Livermore, CA that builds his own motorcycle frames (usually forkless front ends) and uses OEM motors from Honda and Yamaha.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the help RocketChicken and Billie_Morini.....ill go find myself a junker