Need help with legalizing my S15 in California

[Florida240sx]

Bring it to Florida. Worst case scenario register it as a show car. Then have a toggle switch for your speedo..... No emissions I run no cat actually no exhaust system at all muahahaha open downpipe FTW

[Alfador]

Hey Dale. You might think about working a deal with the CA or fed government to buy all the grey-market cars they are going to crush, then import them into Bahrain and sell 'em. Imagine getting a confiscated R34 for like $200 + lading.

That would be a fairly good deal. I think the only condition of the sales are that they won't sign it over to you until it's already on the far side of customs, i.e. loaded on a container to go overseas or at the border on a trailer.

The one thing is I suspect that being a government sale, they would technically be obligated to do it as an auction. Either they would have to hold an auction for each car, or hold some kind of bidding process for the contract itself.

[Encryptshun]

The one thing is I suspect that being a government sale, they would technically be obligated to do it as an auction. Either they would have to hold an auction for each car, or hold some kind of bidding process for the contract itself.

One word: Halliburton.

/debate

[dickie]

I tried to get a job at Halliburton recently.

Where I live, natural gas rigs are going up every day. You can't drive 5 miles without seeing at least 1. Out of the various companies that operate these wells, Halliburton has the nicest trucks.

[slide4satan]

buy a piece of crap s14 then swap vin plates say your car is a modded s14. very illegal good luck

pics or i dont believe a word.

[Encryptshun]

Out of the various companies that operate these wells, Halliburton has the nicest trucks.

Well, you paid for 'em, they could at least let you drive 'em.

[FAST-DATSUN]

to be legal iit must pass DOT and EPA testing If it can before delivery and along with All Customs paper work, and have all the proper DOT and EPA paperwork with it, It will need AT LEAST, ALL new windows, front and rear bumpers, door bars, seat belts, air bags, All DOT approved lights ect.... Good luck.....

[dickie]

actually the Halliburton trucks are company-owned. A few of the rig workers lived at the apt complex I am moving out of, cool bunch of guys.

[nani]

just buy a cheap s14 and do the classic "VIN swap".

[dickie]

just buy a cheap s14 and do the classic "VIN swap".

I know this has come up at least 3 other times in this thread, but its not going to be the end-all solution you guys are making it out to be. Police departments in California are trained to recognize engine swaps, imported cars (the RHD thing is a dead giveaway), and im pretty sure having a VIN from a junked, stolen or salvaged car would worsen the situation in the event he was pulled over.

[Encryptshun]

I know this has come up at least 3 other times in this thread, but its not going to be the end-all solution you guys are making it out to be. Police departments in California are trained to recognize engine swaps, imported cars (the RHD thing is a dead giveaway), and im pretty sure having a VIN from a junked, stolen or salvaged car would worsen the situation in the event he was pulled over.

At that point, it ceases to be a "Operation of a non-street vehicle on a public thoroughfare" to "Fraud". However, in the meantime, you're going to get arrested and taken to jail for theft, because most VIN-swaps are done to cover up the theft of a vehicle. And if you ever drive it out of state, it's a guaranteed felony for transporting illegal goods over state lines.

Is it really worth it?

[bluemax]

Ummm so what, he is gonna help him convert his car to an alternative fuel so he never has to smog it...? So then he has a car that he doesnt have to smog, but cant drive it because it doesnt have a title/registration/is legal?

Hazwaste does more than just the check but I don't know if he's around anymore.

good luck

[redlineracer]

just get a fake town sticker oh thats bay talk for the numberd sticker in your back window just keep them updated it works.... really

[bone_stock_240]

just get a fake town sticker oh thats bay talk for the numberd sticker in your back window just keep them updated it works.... really

I like how you saved all the punctuation for the very end of your post.

[dickie]

i like how you repped the bay area for cred but ended up making everyone else from there look bad...

[redtop91]

I like how you saved all the punctuation for the very end of your post.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha so true!

i like how you repped the bay area for cred but ended up making everyone else from there look bad...

[S13Teddy]

I did hear about an S15 out in Irvine that had VINs off of an S14 though....

And I'd also be curious to hear the story behind that S15 at the Stillen Show....

[180sxfaktory]

Hey Dale. You might think about working a deal with the CA or fed government to buy all the grey-market cars they are going to crush, then import them into Bahrain and sell 'em. Imagine getting a confiscated R34 for like $200 + lading.

Here in Bahrain, 99% of the R32/R33/R34 GTR and GTsT that are being driven have United Arab Emirates plates on them, and 99.9% have LHD conversions. Bahrain has a strict policy in place about RHD. The only people who have Bahrain plates on their RHD cars are members of the ruling family- al Khalifa, a friend with a 1994 GTR VSPEC II (converted to LHD) and me. I brought my 180SX here and got some "help" via one of the big sheikhs who is also a car nut. My 200SX has been here since 1992, well before the laws changed, and since it has been carrying plates all these years, I have no problem with registering it or my 180SX.

I've been trying to hook up with an honest broker in the USA to source USDM cars, but have had no luck. Yeah, I'd love to be able to pick up confiscated/police auction vehicles because we do have a market here for good looking, reliable used cars, trucks and vans that are LHD.

I have some homework to do before I attempt to bring mine over to the USA. I am wondering if it would be less of a hassle if I bring them in under my company. Must research.

[Encryptshun]

Dale, hook up with me via e-mail and I can help you with the homework if you'd like.

[180sxfaktory]

Much appreciated, bro! Really... I appreciate it! I'll be e-mailing you later!

[nieko]

i saw an s15 the other day with my friend! we were driving down beach blvd. in huntington beach CA. we had to glance twice when we saw it. we were like uhhh ??? i dont remember what license plate it had on but it definately "looked" legit. but as you guys are saying, theres no way ?

[180sxfaktory]

Anything's possible with the right paperwork, the right people and the right money.

You may have seen one of the J companies who have brought over an S15, but again, with the right stuff, anything is possible.

[Alfador]

If by "anything's possible with the right paperwork" you mean committing major motor vehicle fraud, then yes. In order to actually get an S15 legal, someone is going to have to crash at least 3 (if not more, the DoT might have increased it) of them. One for a front impact and 2 for side impact. Probably a rear one as well I'm not sure. It doesn't matter how many modifications you do to make it "safe" as in replacing the windsheild and seatbelts and all that other bull****, if it's a grey import vehicle, and has no equivalent here that underwent crash testing, it is 100% illegal to register and drive it on public roads. You might be able to pull it off as a track car with the proper documentation, but that's it. All the people with S15's that "look legit" need is for one person who recognizes it to call the right office at the federal government and their car is going to be turned into a 30 rack of miller light.

It should be noted that the moment you swap a vin from another car and register it with that, it becomes a federal fraud offense that could potentially carry up to a double-digit prison term.

[kaizenveryfast]

I can't speak for the 180SX, but a block away from my apt. is a RHD Silvia, probably an 88-90 model. It looks fully legit, is sitting on the street and has both front & rear CA license plates. I only saw it when I was riding my bike around the neighborhood. Never seen the owner and the car doesn't move. Don't know the street for sure, but I think it sits on 183rd street in Torrance.

I'd like to know how they got it over here too.

[HashiriyaS14]

Don't do anything in California with that car.

A.) Incorporate LLC somewhere like Texas or Florida with really lax regulations

B.) Make car the property of the LLC

C.) Put plates from that state on car

D.) Voila! You can live in CA and drive a car from out-of-state because it technically isn't your vehicle, it belongs to an LLC of which you are 100% director! LOLZ AT POLICEZ0RZ!!

EDIT: This doesn't solve the problem of getting the car registered, but it's going to be easier in a lax state than it will be in CA. CA will be THE HARDEST state in the US to get it done in.

Anyway, no matter what anyone tells you, an S15 will NEVER be fully DOT and EPA legal in all 50 states unless you spend $200-300k doing all the crash tests, mods, and paperwork. It just won't happen.

BUT, that doesn't mean you can't drive one around, you just need to be willing to accept some level of risk that the cops are going to impound and crush it. It's a remote possibility in most states, higher in CA, but you can probably get it "legal" on the state level (not federally) in some parts of the country via some sort of misinformation/lying to the DMV.

In Idaho, for instance, I bet you could get it legalized as "an S14 with a kit on it" by doing a VIN swap and then just drive it around like a normal car, lol. That shxt wouldn't fly in California, nor would it be federally legal, but it'd still work, more or less.

I urge you to rethink this whole California thing, that shxt is going to get reposessed and sold at pubic auction to an overseas buyer pronto if you get nabbed in CA. I watch those auctions, seized R32's and stuff come through them all the time.

Honestly, if you got this thing for $25k, you might just want to turn around, resell it for $30k, pocket your five thousand bucks, and be happy. Then go buy a used NSX, Corvette, or something legal.

[komete]

People register kit cars and some build their own complete cars from the ground up and register them as dune buggies. Then their are hot rods. If that can be done I'm sure something can be done about the s15.

[Mr.Spag240SX]

People register kit cars and some build their own complete cars from the ground up and register them as dune buggies. Then their are hot rods. If that can be done I'm sure something can be done about the s15.

thats exactly what i was thinking. i have even seen a street legal BOAT!

i dunno why some thing can be street legal and others not.i wish there was a legal way to get s15s...a non expensive, legal way

[Encryptshun]

People register kit cars and some build their own complete cars from the ground up and register them as dune buggies. Then their are hot rods. If that can be done I'm sure something can be done about the s15.

By definition, a kit car can be one never produced in numbers greater than 500 per model year for street driving in any country. If you see a rat rod (like a '33 Ford roadster) registered as a kit car, it's because Ford never made a vehicle like that-- they just use the body style of a previously-modified 33 Ford. You'll also see them titled as antiques, since they are representational of a vehicle more than 25 years old. You see AC Cobras as kits because AC Cobras were never mass-produced for street driving--they were track cars which were de-tuned for the street after the fact (ditto the antique auto tags as well).

Guys, I'm getting weary of saying this. Our government has covered its bases really well. There is NO legal way PERIOD to import a production vehicle for permanent U.S. residence (even if "show/display" "off-road" or "racing") unless said vehicle is on the NHTSA approved list of vehicles and/or is more than 25 years old. Between 180SX, JDM 200SX, Silvia, and Skyline badges, only the 96 - 98 Skyline R33 is on that list. This isn't talking about titling; this isn't talking about registering. This is a federal mandate that it is illegal to bring the car into the country in the first place.

If someone got it in, then caveat emptor.

[180sxfaktory]

The right paperwork, the right people and the right money... there's nothing mobbish about that. I don't know why you took it to mean something illegal. I already know about the 3 crash tests minimum (the right money) and that it's a very hard road to travel on alone (the right people) to get to the end result- the right paperwork.

For all we know, it may have been done or is in the process of being done.

As for me and my 180SX and 200SX, if I decide to bring them to the USA, I am going to have a much easier time of it, since the S13 chassis was available as a new North Amercian production model at the same time as the 180SX and the 200SX. Even then, I will bring them in as my company cars, since I am already an LLC registered in Delaware, and they would be declared as LLC property and would be used in events and public gatherings to promote my company. As I stated earlier, I got some homework to do, because for every admirer, there are 5 haters who would love to do nothing but try to start some drama.

[r34 gtr]

register it in alabama. seriously, there is no way you couldnt get it registered. some of the vehicles ive witnessed here.... my insurance company has never once seen my car, it has never once in its life been subjected to smog, not one of the vin plates corresponds with another.. its really quite glorious. hell, register it as a 1985 buick lesabre, no one cares. ive even got valid vin plates and a clean title from a 1992 240sx coupe sitting here just in case! the car has been crushed but the insurance company doesnt know that.

ok, serious plan of action, and ive got it covered for $8k minus an exhaust. you buy a half-acre of some terrible central alabama swamp land, put a shed on it, claim it as your residence. register the car under that address using some vin stuff and a title from an s14. you get to pay nothing for income and property taxes and stuff, you get your "legal" s15, and you get to roll around socal with a "heart of dixie" license plate! you win like, 8 times!!