Bumping this one up for updates. I spoke with the girl at the local DMV today and was informed that 'kit' cars have to have an MSO and will be titled as the year of the MSO. Homemade vehicles will need an inspection (VIN and stolen part checks) and will be titled as the year of the inspection. What this means is that as of right now the 'proper' way as I've been told involves the car being licensed as a 2009 vehicle which, as of this year, means it has to pass a full California emissions test when it's 5 years old (new vehicles get 5 years free). This simply isn't going to happen when your car is powered by a 20 year old Quad 4 on DCOEs.
I thought maybe the DMV girl was confused so I started looking around online and pretty much confirmed everything she said. The WACs, the RCWs and Jonny Law have crimped down on us for no reason. I even found the Factory Five forums WA registration section which pretty much spelled out Y-O-U'-R-E--B-O-N-E-D. One guy with a FFR Cobra Rep got off lucky and the kind lady at the DMV ignored the legalities and simply entered a new vehicle... put the FFR serial as the VIN, FFR as the manufacturer and 1965 as the year. He just got his title a few days ago. Everyone else on there was pretty much saying it'll go in as a 2009, spend your 5 years of emissions free driving trying to figure out how you're going to get around the test later.
It's not going to affect my build; I'll move to Oregon for a month if I have to, or pay someone in OR to buy my unregistered car, title it in OR as a '67 and sell it back to me (Jack?
J/K). It's still something that lingers on your mind. At the rate the laws change here who knows where it'll be when the car is done.
I have a lead out to a buddy that works at the DMV to get me the real scoop and I plan on calling the WSP in the next couple days to see what they say but I'm not going to stop looking for alternatives.
The best plan I've come up with so far involves registering the car as a home built Street Rod under RCW 46.12.420, RCW 46.04.571 and calling it a 1949 Austin 7/Lotus Mark2 which pretty much gets me around all the rules provided they give me a vin without complaining. The year it replicates must be older than 1949 and it need only comply with the laws of what it replicates. If I tell them the donor was an 1987 Cutlass then I shouldn't have to emissions test it by the time I finish this thing.
Thank you SEMA SAC for that one... now if they'd just make another pass at WA and get this stupid Kit Car stuff sorted.