Date:         Wed, 1 Feb 1995 19:55:47 -0600 (CST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         dakhlia@wuecona.wustl.edu (Sami Dakhlia)
Subject:      Re: Getting a vehicle into California - How hard?

>How hard is it to bring a vehicle from Canada into California and how much
>does it cost?  Does all the original emissions equipment have to be present
>and functioning, or do I have to pass a smog check?

Consider keeping your Canadian license plates and tell the cops you're
just a tourist.

Parenthetically, I've seen this practice in other countries. I noticed
that MANY new cars in the Czech Republic have California plates (no, I
don't think they get smogged). There's also this French student (whom I
won't name) who spent 6 years in Germany without ever changing his French
plates to German ones (the old Opel wouldn't have passed the TUeV). He got
stopped by the Polizei many times, but the car was in his father's name
who was *not* a resident of the FRG (how convenient). 

In Tunisia many cars have French license plates (but of course no valid
French tax sticker on the windshield). Oh, and I know someone in France
with Tunisian license plates on his old Sunbeam; the car hasn't been in
North Africa since the seventies. There's no way he can get a ticket
either, since the letters are in Arabic... :-O

Sami

dakhlia@wuecona.wustl.edu