You didn't ask about my out-of-state SPF Cobra registration experience in the SF Bay Area in 2018, but I'll answer anyway.
SB100 addresses Cobras, and it address GT's too, since it's the same deal - roller car minus driveline that YOU assemble, not SPF.
A GT40 isn't considered somehow special to the DMV - DMV must, by law, be consistent for everyone, so they don't get into the weeds about what you're trying to register, just whether or not your vehicle is or is not qualified. SPF's are all qualified.
I'm so confident about it that I put a deposit down on a GT40 the other day without even checking on SB100 - it's a non-issue in my mind.
A specially constructed vehicle (SPCNS) is a vehicle built for private use, not for resale, and not constructed by a licensed manufacturer or remanufacturer. Smog Certification The first smog certification for a SPCNS vehicle must be issued by a Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) Referee Center...
www.dmv.ca.gov
- Read the link above carefully, and print out only the applicable forms called out in it, put them in a sealable folder to carry with you through the process.
- Print out the link and put it in the folder to refer to if you get any guff at a DMV, then leave that DMV and find another - Daly City laughed and told me that "we don't do those" when I went in there.
- The first smog certification for a SPCNS vehicle must be issued by a BAR Referee Center. You will be registering the car as a 1965 or 66(?). My Cobra is registered as a 1965 and contained a 351w, so the BAR assigned it status as a "1960" vehicle for smog cert reasons - as in it is exempt from smog check requirements because the 351w was introduced in 1960. Or something.
- Expect to go through a lamp inspection. The place that I go to isn't fussy about reverse lights. Be prepared to say that the car never came with them. If that fails, put one on and rig it up to a switch so that the light lights and the guy can say that he saw it light up and pass you. Nobody cares that much about flunking you. You'll be fine or need to find a different inspection station. Trust me: they just want their $45.00 fee.
- CHP will have to inspect. The one officer in the field office near you that does VIN inspections will never be in when you go - call first.
- DMV will have to inspect. You will go through line, probably more than once if you don't have everything lined up, but that's fine. There are DMV offices that handle more SPCNS registrations than others. In my case, it was Pleasanton CA, and they were more than just fine to deal with, and I will go back there next time. Very nice, competent people, and I say that knowing that this is the CA DMV that I'm describing.
- Bond not required - SPF will give you a Statement of Origin document to establish car's VIN and existence, which precludes Bond <<OR>> You will have a title from the out-of-state prior owner, which also precludes the bond requirement.
- You can also get temp tags and drive the car around during the process. BAR guys were amused to see my car drive in on its own wheels and not on a trailer, so consider the out-of-state thing a blessing on that part.
I walked my Cobra through the process after purchasing out-of-state and it was really not the problem that some crybabies online made me think it might be. If you resign yourself to being persistent and patient, you will be fine. This is not a fast food order, and I went to inspections at two different junior college auto shop BAR stations (who were thrilled to see the car), went to the DMV twice, and read everything that I could online while worrying furiously that I was going to get denied in the end. None of that ever happened, but I know not to go to Daly City DMV now.
I think that it took 30-45 days or something?
I could have done it faster, but I had to keep working and living too.
I was so nervous that I climbed the government food chain and wound up talking to the woman in charge of SB100 things in Sacramento for 5 minutes. She assured me that this isn't a problem, that the number of slots given out every year are so low that they aren't a real problem for anyone, and that she in particular felt that SB100 was written expressly for exactly what you and I want to do - register a SPF as SPCNS.
Superformance would be out of business in this state almost instantly in California if SB100 went away.
You'd hear about something significant like that, don't you think?
Until you see real proof that it's discontinued, take heart and
!seriously!, don't worry about it.
I also advise against hiring a fixer to do it for you.
This is a government function that is designed to be accessible to the public, and if you just ask questions and put one driving shoe in front of the other, you will be FINE. There is nothing exotic, just unusual. There is nothing convenient either, but it's no worse than any other beaurocracy, and you're skirting the entire smog enforcement complex on a new car, which frankly, we really ought to be barred from doing if you think about the spirit of smog regulation - keep new cars from polluting like old ones....
Apply patience and persistence, and you will be rewarded. Treat it like an Amazon purchase, and you'll be howling like the other silly people online who don't bother to write back into their threads to mention that they got their car plated in about the same wait that I went through.
The system works.
You'll be fine.
