All:

I just purchased my first FD. This is the first car that I have ever purchased from out of state. I'm from California, and I bought the car from New York.

Is there any chance that this car is not California certified, i.e., only 49 state legal? The car is being transported, and I don't want to bother the seller. I suppose it's too late anyhow.

Thanks,
Ravi

 

As a follow up, the real issue is, can I legally purchase and register this car? Assume it passes smog, etc.

Since the car has 40000 miles and is not "new", does the distinction between 49-state and 50-state even matter?

I appreciate your help.

 

I thought that Ca special stuff only applied to cars and bikes that were near new anyway (like within a year or two?) It will need to pass Ca emissions obviously but other than that I think you should be fine if it passes the sniffer and has all emissions gear in place (pre cat and main cat, air pump, egr, ect.)

 

you can register any market car in CA as long as it isn't new, so any FD is fine. "new" is defined as having 7500 or more miles on it, you can't buy a car in another state and bring it right into CA.

the FD actually is different CA and FED in 1993, but its actually better in CA we have a sensor on the EGR valve that goes bad all the time, and the FED cars don't. the EGR has no effect on tailpipe emissions, in a smog test so it doesn't matter.

in the early 90's most cars have some little difference for CA, and its fairly rare to see a CA car sold new outside of CA, although it did happen. as cars get newer the only real difference is the sticker on the hood, and you see that by like 2003 most cars only have a different sticker under the hood and maybe a small software tweak

 

If the car is stock, you will be able to register it, assuming it will pass smog. My car was originally sold in one of the Carolina's. I had no issues registering it here.

 

Awesome, thank you guys. I really appreciate it. The California statute only applies to "new" cars, and subject to other exceptions. So I should be good.

 

Adam hit a critical point - it has to be stock or if modified it must have CARB approved modifications and all OEM smog equipment. When I moved to CA (~15 yrs ago) I had a 69 Chevy pickup. I had to replace the carb & intake manifold back to OEM. That's on a 30 year old truck. Laws have changed since then, but as the RX7 is a newer vehicle some of those changes don't apply.