David Jenkins
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| posted on 26/9/05 at 06:50 PM |
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A question for our fellow builders in the US of A
This afternoon I watched a programme called "Rides" - I'd seen a couple of episodes before and hadn't been impressed, but this
one was about a bunch of guys who called themselves "The Burbank Choppers". Basically, they are 12 or so friends who like to build custom
cars and hot rods.
It was a good show, in that they didn't feel the need to shout at each other, have "issues" all the time, and stuff like that. They
just helped each other, had a laugh, and got the job done (makes a change from American Hotrod, etc)
Anyway, my question is, how can those people just make up a car and run it on the road - using US terminology - with no fenders and no mufflers? The
car they built was running a big Chevy block, 6 carbs, and very short pipes - it must have been loud. The tyres were totally uncovered, and appeared
to be slicks.
The whole car was scruffy (and they were proud of it) being in the class of cars they called "primer-paint hot rods". In the UK they
would never pass the annual inspection (MOT) let alone the initial ministry approval (SVA)!!
It did look like they were having fun, though... 
David
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derf
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| posted on 26/9/05 at 07:35 PM |
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The law varies from state to state, and according to the age of the chassis. If they built a car that was originally titled before 1972 then there are
virtually no emmissions or noise laws they had to follow, and pretty much anything goes.
In New Jersey I do not need to have fenders at all (I'm still deciding if I want to use them on my build). I plan to tiltle the car as a mid
60's Renault (how can i even fathom that someone would believe that it is a Renault?). All I need to do is to attach the vin plate and change
the title to my own name, inspect it at a private inspection station and usually nobody is the wiser.
Oh yeh, rides is usually a pretty bad show, except the one where they designed and built the cobra.
[Edited on 26/9/05 by derf]
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 26/9/05 at 08:24 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by derf
The law varies from state to state, and according to the age of the chassis. If they built a car that was originally titled before 1972 then there are
virtually no emmissions or noise laws they had to follow, and pretty much anything goes.
That explains it - they were grafting a Model-T body onto a Model-A chassis, and the newest bit was 1930's!
They were in California though, and I though that state had the toughest car laws...
cheers,
David
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Canada EH!
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| posted on 27/9/05 at 01:26 AM |
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As I recall from reading HOT ROD magazine for 40 years, if a car weighs less than 2000 lbs in California it does not require fenders. One guy went so
far as to register a winged sprint car as a model T Ford and drove it on the public highways
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derf
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| posted on 27/9/05 at 01:50 AM |
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I couldnt coment on the 2000 lb thinkg in cali, but I do know that Cali only gives 500 "new build" registrations a year, they are all
snatched up when the dmv (department of motor vehicles) opens up on the 1st bussiness day after january 1st. The rest of the folks that cant get
rigistered usually "move" to arizona, then mysteriously "move" back to cali right away.
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