I'm have thinking of building a Rock buggy. Only I want it to be street legal.

I see Street legal sand rails all the time.
Seems like they all have a windshield turn signals. fully operational head and tail lights.

What else does California require. What kind of Smog problems will I run into?

WHat will it be registered as?

Any one have a clue as to what kind of headaches I will have?

start with something that is already titled. Then do whatever you want to it but keep it titled as the original vehicle. Do you want it to be street legal or just to get a plate for it? There's a big difference in the two. If you start with something pre-smog (73 and earlier) then getting a plate is just a matter of a little paperwork.

-Steve

I was thinking of doing the whole deal with a pre smog vehicle.

I have a 63 vw bug title Should I build off of that.

Probably not

I can see getting pulled over and see the problems accosiated with what is on the title and what I am driving.
Same goes for a pre smog jeep title or any other 4x4 title.
I get pulled over then I have to deal with the law saying this is fraud this isn't a jeep or whatever.

Unless the law identifies the plate with what the original motor was in the vehicle. Maybe thats how VW sandrails are done.
Yep thius is a motor out of a 1964 bug. HAHAHA in reality it's an 1835cc dual porthead having dual carb having racing motor.

So maybe and old waggy title would be cool. Especially if I made the buggy a 4 seater:flipoff2:

So what about these guys that make cars from scratch?

At least for OK, the title is based off the BODY. Not the motor, frame, etc...... It's what it looks like.

For what ever that's worth.... :)

Okcrawler that is my point exactly.
My buggy will not look like a jeep it will not look like a waoneer.

Sandrails do not look like VW bugs.

and people still register this stuff as vehicles they do not look like.

So I was thinking can I get away with registering my rock buggy as the 63 bug that I have?

HMMM maybe if I put the front and rear bug fenders to cover the boggers

just buy my cj5 grill and slap that on the front and call it a jeep :D

I think I'd rather do the VW fenders :D

It would look kind of cool :D

I have been looking into registering a rail. A friend did it in AZ, but I think that he pulled some funny stuff. No windshield, horn, etc., etc.

I think it might be easier to get Mexican plates for it you know?

I would be worried about driving a lightweight rail on the street, in case you are hit by somebody.

Todd- PM Aggro (Brian). He's been there and done that :)

Can you just put a red triangle on it and call it a farm implement? If I were to build a rock buggie, it probably wouldn't go faster than 50 mph, I would just need enough to get to the trails.:D

In Ca. the vin # needs to match the registration and that needs to match the type of car. ie, you cant plop a 64 VW Bug body onto a 86 Kuzi and call it a 64 Bug. Cops get real weird when frame #'s and body #'s start getting mixed up.

Originally posted by lowrider
In Ca. the vin # needs to match the registration and that needs to match the type of car. ie, you cant plop a 64 VW Bug body onto a 86 Kuzi and call it a 64 Bug. Cops get real weird when frame #'s and body #'s start getting mixed up.

I think you're missing the whole point. If you can take a bug, and make it a sand rail. Why cant you make it a rock buggy? furthermore, what do you do if you MAKE a vehicle from scratch? What about kit cars?

I have all the forms for a homebuilt now. cause I did the green sticker and asked for the info on himebuilt. Looks pretty hard. asks for motor VIN....smog must comply equating to the orignal trans and such. if the orig. vehicle had dual exhaust so must the new one. adaquate mud flaps. brake and lamps w/ inspection form. you must see the ref to get the vin so you can smog to then register it. functional speedometer.

pretty much CA wants you to build the vehicle around the motor and trans. if the vehicle had a check engine light so must this. and so on. same fuel pump blah blah. you get it. so basically I'm SOL as far as that all goes :D

Sweet silly with tha answer! Actually dude, that might work damned well in Toads case

Originally posted by mike


I think you're missing the whole point. If you can take a bug, and make it a sand rail. Why cant you make it a rock buggy? furthermore, what do you do if you MAKE a vehicle from scratch? What about kit cars?

here's what's gay w/ that. in the CA DMV computer they see a 2wd bug as it is. then you want to register this blantanly 4wd vehicle as it and it won't fly. you could lie but then you get FUCKED! like I did. I registered my truck as an auto because the reg was cheaper. so I get pulled over 2 days later for not having a camper shell. fawkin chp is out for blood at the end of the month. so it's a toss up as to wether you get caught or not.

Sillyneck, common dude. Getting a Green Sticker vehicle reg'ed is like paying your fee to the bottomless General Fund and slapping a sticker on a motorized shit house. You pay 22 bucks and you get the sticker. Driving it on the street is a whole different ball game--one that costs money and patience.

My dad rebuilt his 32 Roadster, and WITH a legit frame number still had to go thru special construction inspection and get a new VIN#. Oh yeah, everything was just as ole Henry Ford built it.

Trying to get an obvioulsly non-streetable ride like a rail legit is hard.

Think Mexican Plates.

todd just register it in vermont :laughing: thats how Kryon got his CR500 street legalized;)

Originally posted by J-Bone


Trying to get an obvioulsly non-streetable ride like a rail legit is hard.

Think Mexican Plates.

Wow, go to AZ. Rails are COMMON on the roads there. Then again, so are golf carts.

Originally posted by J-Bone
Sillyneck, common dude. Getting a Green Sticker vehicle reg'ed is like paying your fee to the bottomless General Fund and slapping a sticker on a motorized shit house. You pay 22 bucks and you get the sticker. Driving it on the street is a whole different ball game--one that costs money and patience.



I know. I said I GOT the info WHILE I was getting the green sticker. not related but it's what I did because I was thinking about it. it's rediculously hard and a waste of time for me to get my jeep situated. I didn't have time due to tickets leading to FTA's, I have no records from my mustang that I snagged the motor from, I frankly don't want to hook up all the smog sh!t and deal w/ an ass of a smog ref.

getting a home built vehicle registerd is really not that hard once you get down to it. just gotta put lights and all that kinda crap on it. theres a guy here in town that got his golf cart registerd, used to drive it all over hell... :D

Originally posted by okcrawler
At least for OK, the title is based off the BODY. Not the motor, frame, etc...... It's what it looks like.

For what ever that's worth.... :)
Not exactly. Most frames have the VIN of the vehicle it came from. So incorperating a section of the original frame with the VIN would proably not be a bad idea. I think even Lances tube cruiser has part of the frame. In the eyes of the motor vehicle dept having the frame as well as the body vin will elemintate the possiblility of two vehicles showing up with the same vin. As long as it's past the age of inspection they shouldn't give a flip about the engine. Heck most old vehicles are not going to match the engine S/N number anyway.
Need to check your local laws. There may also be some stuff in the Kit car arena that may help. While some kit cars du utilize the frame and chasis some don't. Prime example is Cobra's. All tube frame with many of those kits. Somewhere there is a loop hole on those but I bet it does require some sort of safety inspection so keeping part of the frame of the original doaner might be the easier way to go.

Originally posted by Grim Reaper


my junker is a 1973 land rover Series III 88" that is on an early bronco chassis and drivetrain. i will not be registering it cause it is a POS, but the guy who had it before me had it legally registered with no problems as a 1973 Land Rover.

although it WAS new hampshire, i would think that it would hold true elsewhere.