Reply to "VIN build date vs. Title Year"

KW, politics unfortunately gets involved too. A large fraction of Panteras are (or were) registered in CA, which once passed a no-smog-test-required law for seldom-used cars 25 or more years old. The cut-off date was 1 Jan 74 but it was quickly found the CA DMV would accept the 'build date' as the qualifying date. So, many 'original' 1974-registered cars built in late '73 were re-registered as '73s after having the build-date tag inspected at a DMV. In fact, Ford Motor Co themselves re-registered some 40 1974 U.S-spec GTS Panteras as '73s so they could be legally sold in CA- their biggest market. So the oft-quoted number of U.S. GTS cars is not 98 but 138 and not all are 1974s.

The smog exemption law was written with a 'rolling date exemption' but almost instantly, other busybody CA lawmakers began sniping at the statute to delete it, gut it or otherwise 'fix' it so you still had to smog-test all old cars. Its still on the books but dunno what happened to the rolling date exemption section.

One NV friend recently bought a restored big-block '68 Mustang out of CA that had a factory (I think) dual-quad setup, and it sold cheap because NO ONE could coax the thing to both run and pass CA smog testing for registration last year. Here in N. NV, smog laws are by county and in Douglas County, NV near Lake Tahoe, a blown Chevy big-block on nitrous can be street registered without hassle. NV also has a law that says 'if your car was never drilled for a front license plate, you are NOT required to run one'. I carry a copy of the law whenever I cross the border.... Fun to see police read the statute and try to find ways to still write you a fix-it ticket.