DMV offices generally are just like getting a root canal. Groucho, if you got it done with only that much grief......you know you are best off to just move on. When we went to register Flower's "T".......they wanted a weight slip (it's a truck) and a smog!! I finally convinced them that the smog wasn't required but they still insisted on a weight slip so we loaded the rolling chassis onto my hauler and took it to the scales........the unladen weight is now officially 1300 lbs.......so much for that.
Bought a 56 Studebaker Hawk in Long Beach 8 or 10 years ago, went to the San Pedro DMV it had a lien title & i needed a one way trip ticket. Things were going good, then she said the paperwork need the tow company to sign the form. Got that done and a gal said what about This? to the Supervisor. The Supervisor said it's leaving California and it's not coming back. That was that paid my fees and i was gone. When i got back to Minnesota with the car 3 days later i had a California title in my name with my Minnesota address on it. Here it takes 2 months This story worked out > Keyword here Leaving the state and never coming back! Maybe it all depends on the person your dealing with at the DMV i know here that helps a lot
So now you know the weight and it's official, as it's under 1500 lbs you can legally run it in CA without fenders.....
Is this just a CA rule or is it a nationwide thing? If someone could show this in writing for the rest of us outside of CA that would be pretty helpful.
Groucho, This is easy to take care of. Ask to fill out a "statement of fact" and state that you purchased the car in a dissasembled state, and have spent the last x years re-assembling it. They will ask you to sign the form, and they will waive all fees. If the person at the desk gives you a hard time, ask to speak to a manager. I've done this plenty of times (everytime I have back registration, actually... even on relatively new cars) and it always works. It's just that some of the counter people aren't familiar with the form so they will look at you funny. In fact, I think you can even just print the form out online and take it in... then they will really be confused pm if you have any questions.
Well, I hate to break it to you, but it's the same in CA. I just re-registered a '97 ford ranger that had about 4 years of back-registration. I told them it had failed smog and was parked, and hadn't been on the road since. Paid the current registration and was out the door, sticker in hand. Did the same for my ranchero last year, w/ 3 years of back registration. Infact, it's so easy - It's almost not worth non-opping cars anymore
I had a 70 SS Nova with mega Calif back fees (someone had made a DMV inquiry which made it active in the computer). I had to prove it was a low production model. Brought in a book to the DMV that had production numbers for the various Nova models. The SS models were the least produced and they bought that. Like was mentioned in above posts, you have to convince them. The DMV personnel will not voluntarily disclose these waiver policies either. A fellow car nut told me about it.
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