Lol...i agree with you jemal about the yard art thing.. Lol

It is probably good idea to not lie to the gadam DMV. Even if the owner of minimania says that you should. HAHAHA. I will tell you that I never drive my real mini with not having a license plate on it because of not wanting to get a ticket. I get teckets too much for going so fast in my mini cooper and because police just want to pull me over and look at it and then they think that it makes them jealous and so they write a ticket or like five!!!!!! I would just make something to get it to pass the test like a exhaust filter and then get the test. 

Since the time immemorial California DMV has been giving car owners headaches big time!!  They really need to amend their Laws..They are not GOD??!! what is smog test for?? to measure pollution released by the exhaust?? jeez there is pollution everywhere!! and i mean everywhere!!!  These DMV people have been giving me problems even when i was still selling scooters and trike for people in California years back... if there are classic mini dealer or sellers here who says it's easy to deal with  DMV smog test issues, maybe they're into bribing.,,, and i don't do that, sorry!!!, especially that guy who've been selling minis for 40 years..hmm who knows.. anyway!

and don't be so bothered, in my experience, police don't really bother stop classic minis on the road because they know that its a show car and they know that you are just driving around and enjoying the day and wanting to show off your mini.,,that happened to me , i just bought my mini and i still use the old expired license plate for a month and nobody noticed it, i had a police in my back on a traffic light but he didnt stop me....

All this makes our burst through California for MMW 2016 and north again to home a walk in the park...as were MMW trips to/through California for MMW 1996, 1997, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2012.

Waiting for the 'wall' to be built around California to keep out all vehicles not meeting the age date tests.  Just think car meets gone, all race tracks closed....

On the serious side, we had smog testing in B.C. until recently.  What was realized by the data was that 1992 and newer vehicles were not a problem if in decent shape...and...that the number of licensed older vehicles was declining.  Thus the testing came to an end.  And our air is cleaner for the technology in newer vehicles and the servicing of older vehicles.

Though my built in July 1979 for Canada Mini 1000 was registered as a 1980, I kept the factory emissions label under the bonnet even though the Air Pump Equipped 998 head was soon lost in favor of a 12G295 Cooper head and the Mini later got a 1380 installed.  With ignition systems & carbs in good order, I never had any trouble generating passing grades at the smog test - even comparing the 1380 vs. factory standard 998.

The California rules are crazy, but I believe Minimans has the basic info in his post.
If there really is a chance that this car is earlier then the heritage certificate could help. It may not be easy but the date can be corrected.

One of our wagon was registered  as a 1964, but all the certificate and V5 indicated it was a 1964. I was referred to the CHP for an inspection to correct the date. having those documents at least mean the "vin check" assigned officer would look at the car.

This officer new what he was doing and was aware of date code locations on earlier cars. Fortunately all those parts were still original. So now instead of having two 1964 registered Travellers, we have one 1965 and one 1964.

However one previous successful date change resolution does mean you will have the same outcome. You may need to work with the previous owner to correct the date.
Terry

You Cannot get the right Doc's they do not exist for this car. What they need is a factory smog label verifying that the car was certified for the smog applicable for the year of manufacture. The mini was never certified for smog. So therefore you cannot get a smog or registration for it in California. Other states are allowing the 25 year rule to be applied for the purpose of not needing a smog Cert. California has decided to enforce the smog check back to 68 for out of state cars being newly registered and for change of ownership back to 75. If the vehicle does not have a 49 state compliance sticker under the hood or in the door Jamb the smog station will not test it or will fail it on visual inspection.

PS your best bet is to obtain the BMH certificate for YOUR car then if it was indeed manufactured in 74 or 75 petition DMV for a change in the Registration details. THEN do a change of ownership

Thats not very nice to say. I didnt take it to try to past it off as the one for my car. I took a copy to ask the CHP and the DMV to see if this is what I need. The DMV refered me to the CHP and the CHP said no. What would you have me do now. its not about the money is about ask questions and making sure I get the right docs.

Thanks TWW. I thought about that too. I took a copy of a heritage certificate in the paperwork I had, not the one for my Mini, to see if that would do it so that I would then order one. The CHP said no the car is illegal and I need to take the car to a lab to have it tested to federalize it but he couldn't do anything. Like I said no, agency wants to help. I have only to sale it or get an illegal smog as options. Really sucks, another life lesson.

Thanks to everyone for their response. I have been trying to get some resolution. I found that the vin # on my Mini according to the info on Mini Mania says that in was built in late 1974 early 1975. It is 1040XXX of the production run that started mid 1974. The production run started at 101XXXX, so it is 30000 or so from the beginning of that run. Maybe something happened during importing it.  I tried to go to the DMV with this information but they referred me to the CHP. Both agencies wanted nothing to do with it. CHP basically said that "I imported the car illegally and that the DMV made a mistake allowing me to register it". I explained to the CHP that I was buying it and that the car was already registered since before 2003 but he said it didn't matter. He never got around to verifying the vin# or look at my info, he just told me that since it was a gray market car I was basically screwed with the car. It seems that no one knows or wants how to help me resolve this issue. I guess it was wishful thinking that I would find someone in either agency to help resolve this. I think my best bet now is to sale the car. Once again thanks to everyone for their input. I will have to try again to join the Mini club.

Not sure I'd risk going back to Peru after that admission!!  The Natural History Museum of all things!!

I'll say again, no fake address will help on a change of ownership. And seriously, if you have a claim, your insurance will very quickly figure out you don't live at that PO BOX!

^^^ What he said.  In fact, you can get PO box in another area and register your car there...but there are some guidelines (like ober 2/3 of your utility bills need to be mailed there, etc or something).  There is a way - just need to be creative.

You also did Obama's birth certificate? :)

It is probably not such a good idea to suggest illegal ideas on the internet if you are also running a business and your tagline signature also points to that business.

just sayin'

Then there's forgery...shouldn't be difficult to change a 76 to a 75 on the paperwork.  I once forged an entire letter to show it as being from the natural history museum in Lima Peru, in order to get permission for collecting insects at a lodge in the Iquitos Amazon; Photo-shopped the official shield and signature off another document.  Sometimes you just have to get creative to overcome the red tape and bureaucracy pick pockets. 

That's pretty much what I was going to suggest....  Depending on when it was actually dated  ..first registration??...Heritage may actually record it as a 75.  

If so, its then a case of finding a sympathetic official to allow you to argue the case that the official "manufacturer" records show that the current State recognised details are incorrect.. 

Cheers, Ian

Went through a similar scenario recently, but for a legitimate  LHD US Import Sunbeam Imp.

Records were lost. No License plate. Nothing but a sellers bill of sale and the date stampings on distributer, wiper, and boot lock to tell the year of manufacture. The local AAA and DMV wouldn't take it. They had to have an official document verifying the vehicle's age-- an old reg, an old title or even an old insurance card with the car on it. I ultimately had to get a heritage certificate from Rootes Group heritage trust and they DID accept that to confirm the year (which was a year earlier than what it had been it's whole life due to the difference between date of manufacture and the date of first registration).

As always, it all depends on who you get at the DMV office you are heading to. But people are getting more persnickety. The legit stuff still goes through. It just takes longer and there's more hoops to jump through.

Hmmm, 'black market' smog checks usually find a way to pass a car that can't... won't run clean enough.  The Mini can't even be tested as there is no database of numbers to test to. The car was simply NEVER certified for US highways after 1967, so how would you go about testing it?  Not a matter of counties of residence either, as we are talking about a transfer of ownership, which will ALWAYS trigger a smog check for 76 and later in California.  The fake address method can easily result in you having "fake insurance" so be very careful!

That's the official view, but here is what some people "might" do.... If the car has been out of reg. for long enough, such that all the documentation can be "lost", the car is obscure enough that the VIN won't "red flag" if you "don't know" the exact year, heck it may well be wrong already.  Now, just look at what we found at the back of grandpa's barn.... looks like an old 74 Mini Cooper....