4 ms·

Unless you live on Catalina Island, my bet is that you can't license it for the street. It's a shame. I'd own one in a minute set up for snow days.

GravitasFailure 5y ago
That's a California dealer license plate on the back of it. It appears to be street legal, but possibly only for city streets and not freeway driving.
Scoundreller 5y ago
Once it’s 25 years old, you can import anything you want and register it. That kei is a 96. https://helpspanish.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-278?language=en_US https://helpspanish.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-278?language=e... In Canada, the rule is just 15 years, which is why you’ll see more Keis here
- bsagdiyev 5y ago
  There’s the 25 year rule and then there is California. In NC I can import any 25 year old car, when I was in CA it still needed to get a sign off from the state BAR. They work on a different set of rules. You can register it in another state without the hassle you just risk getting tickets for not being CA registered.
  - OneEyedRobot 5y ago
    >There’s the 25 year rule and then there is California. Exactly. I remember in the DMV regulations that there's a special dispensation for Kei cars that essentially defines Catalina. 'An island over xxx square miles in size' sort of thing. It used to be big fun here (before they went to 1975 and earlier gasoline engined cars going to not being inspected) if you had a car that was incapable of passing even when new. I'm actually quite surprised that they don't check date codes on tires and require new seat belts every so many years.
    - bsagdiyev 5y ago
      It surprises me honestly. North Carolina does emissions and a safety inspection, there are quite a few cars on California roads that would definitely not be considered road legal here. Although to be fair our 25 (20 maybe?) year emissions exemption is rolling, so cars that turn 25 that new year are now exempt as well. It’s kind of nice.
      - linksnapzz 5y ago
        California does smog, but no safety inspection that I know of. You can have a car with the brake lines repaired with duct tape, but as long as the check engine light isn't lit and it passes smog, you're good to go. I met a guy at the La Jolla Concours d'Elegance who had imported an ('82?) Trabant. He had gotten it registered with the CA license plate "IRNCRTN". Apparently, Cal DMV saw that it was over twenty-five years old, gave him an exception and the plates, and then demanded that he have it smogged. A two-stroke Trabant. I believe he showed the DMV the bottle of oil that he poured into the gas tank after every fillup, and asked them if there was a smog check place willing to hook what is essentially an old lawnmower up to their million-dollar diagnostic apparatus. This seemed to work.
        OneEyedRobot 5y ago
        Passing visual was always the crazy part. Heaven help you if you have a 1976 car that's missing some part made from unobtanium. My understanding is that they can't test for NOx without rollers and the smog shops couldn't afford it. In any case, you'd end up with cases where cars put together by show judges couldn't pass because it didn't match some book. A lot of cars used to have to have crazy gadgets that interfered with spark advance. All for pass or not pass. Truth is, I'll bet you could drop the whole system and not see a change in air quality at this point. Super-dirty early cars get a bye (aircooled VW) and late model are rarely modified or worn out. If you feel the need to test, do a good job and then simply charge for the amount of emissions that come out. I have the feeling that the emissions industry has metastasized into a political power. Not unlike car dealerships. regarding Kei cars/trucks, my working theory is that most of the objections are safety related. Lots of DOT standards that the rest of the world ignores. Oddly, motorcycles are perfectly legal.
  - yellowapple 5y ago
    > You can register it in another state without the hassle you just risk getting tickets for not being CA registered. The trick is to have your license in that state, too. Then the CHP can't prove that you're a California resident (at least not during a traffic stop) ;)
jcrawfordor 5y ago
Japanese Kei trucks newer than 25 years old are pretty regularly imported into the US as Low Speed Vehicles (LSVs), which are permitted on streets with speed limits of 35mph or less. I'm not sure of the exact regulatory requirements for importing vehicles under this rule but it must be fairly relaxed as there's a number of small companies doing this. So you may have options for using a newer Kei truck around town. A lot of the vehicles you see on Catalina Island, for example, are sold under the LSV rule and also popular as things like campus vehicles.

GravitasFailure 5y ago

That's a California dealer license plate on the back of it. It appears to be street legal, but possibly only for city streets and not freeway driving.

Scoundreller 5y ago

Once it’s 25 years old, you can import anything you want and register it. That kei is a 96. https://helpspanish.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-278?language=en_US https://helpspanish.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-278?language=e... In Canada, the rule is just 15 years, which is why you’ll see more Keis here

bsagdiyev 5y ago
There’s the 25 year rule and then there is California. In NC I can import any 25 year old car, when I was in CA it still needed to get a sign off from the state BAR. They work on a different set of rules. You can register it in another state without the hassle you just risk getting tickets for not being CA registered.
- OneEyedRobot 5y ago
  >There’s the 25 year rule and then there is California. Exactly. I remember in the DMV regulations that there's a special dispensation for Kei cars that essentially defines Catalina. 'An island over xxx square miles in size' sort of thing. It used to be big fun here (before they went to 1975 and earlier gasoline engined cars going to not being inspected) if you had a car that was incapable of passing even when new. I'm actually quite surprised that they don't check date codes on tires and require new seat belts every so many years.
  - bsagdiyev 5y ago
    It surprises me honestly. North Carolina does emissions and a safety inspection, there are quite a few cars on California roads that would definitely not be considered road legal here. Although to be fair our 25 (20 maybe?) year emissions exemption is rolling, so cars that turn 25 that new year are now exempt as well. It’s kind of nice.
    - linksnapzz 5y ago
      California does smog, but no safety inspection that I know of. You can have a car with the brake lines repaired with duct tape, but as long as the check engine light isn't lit and it passes smog, you're good to go. I met a guy at the La Jolla Concours d'Elegance who had imported an ('82?) Trabant. He had gotten it registered with the CA license plate "IRNCRTN". Apparently, Cal DMV saw that it was over twenty-five years old, gave him an exception and the plates, and then demanded that he have it smogged. A two-stroke Trabant. I believe he showed the DMV the bottle of oil that he poured into the gas tank after every fillup, and asked them if there was a smog check place willing to hook what is essentially an old lawnmower up to their million-dollar diagnostic apparatus. This seemed to work.
      - OneEyedRobot 5y ago
        Passing visual was always the crazy part. Heaven help you if you have a 1976 car that's missing some part made from unobtanium. My understanding is that they can't test for NOx without rollers and the smog shops couldn't afford it. In any case, you'd end up with cases where cars put together by show judges couldn't pass because it didn't match some book. A lot of cars used to have to have crazy gadgets that interfered with spark advance. All for pass or not pass. Truth is, I'll bet you could drop the whole system and not see a change in air quality at this point. Super-dirty early cars get a bye (aircooled VW) and late model are rarely modified or worn out. If you feel the need to test, do a good job and then simply charge for the amount of emissions that come out. I have the feeling that the emissions industry has metastasized into a political power. Not unlike car dealerships. regarding Kei cars/trucks, my working theory is that most of the objections are safety related. Lots of DOT standards that the rest of the world ignores. Oddly, motorcycles are perfectly legal.
- yellowapple 5y ago
  > You can register it in another state without the hassle you just risk getting tickets for not being CA registered. The trick is to have your license in that state, too. Then the CHP can't prove that you're a California resident (at least not during a traffic stop) ;)

jcrawfordor 5y ago

Japanese Kei trucks newer than 25 years old are pretty regularly imported into the US as Low Speed Vehicles (LSVs), which are permitted on streets with speed limits of 35mph or less. I'm not sure of the exact regulatory requirements for importing vehicles under this rule but it must be fairly relaxed as there's a number of small companies doing this. So you may have options for using a newer Kei truck around town. A lot of the vehicles you see on Catalina Island, for example, are sold under the LSV rule and also popular as things like campus vehicles.