California Emission Label on '78 850 Le Mans

[wicks]

The lovely folks at the California DMV have now outright refused to register my Le Mans. It is a 1977 manufacture stamp with a 1978 title year. They say it has to have a second location of the frame number stamped somewhere besides the frame plate on steering head, and a separate emissions label somewhere.

They were not the brightest tools, and in my experience they often fail to know the laws they are meant to be enforcing. And thus, fail to collect money from tax payers of course. They suggested I call Moto Guzzi and ask them to pull the records from 1977 and send some kind of factory certification. HAH!

Was there a separate emission label on 1978 and later manufactured Le Mans? Maybe I could get my hands on one, or clone one somehow...

[canuck750]

Oh dear!

I though DMV were bad in Canada (they are by the way!).

I would go to Harbour Freight and get a set of metal stamps, pull a side cover and find a place to stamp the VIN # onto the frame if that satisfies them. As for an emissions label no idea.

Similar experience registering several Italian motorcycles here, lovely registry worker insisted that the 5, 6 or 7 digits on my bikes were not VIN numbers because they did not have enough characters like modern vehicles . On my Laverda I had to pay over $500.00 to have a new VIN assigned and a metal tag riveted to the bike frame. On my V7 Sport and Eldorado I kept going to several branches before I found someone with a brain to just allow me to register with the original VIN.

[wicks]

OOf, poor Laverda!

I think I'll just print the original dealer sale paper I have and print up my own plate that says:

DMV REFUSES TO REGISTER
100% LEGAL / ORIGINAL
(PICTURE OF ORIG DEALER DOCUMENT)

And put that where the plate goes.

[moto-uno]

  I may be way off the mark here , but as I understood it , at the time the Le Mans 2 was not imported into the US due to it's inability to meet emission standards , you got the CX100 , Le Mans body work but with the SP 1000 motor . Verified ( I just found the 1980 Cycle magazine confirming this) . Is there some way you can register it for parade use ?   Peter

[rschrum]

Move.

[wicks]

I have an 850 LM Mark 1, Series 2, not a CX.

I'm selling it to my Montana company. Problem solved.

[jasonsantacruz]

Not sure if this helps, but I recently had a rough time getting my Lemans 3 registered in Ca.  It was from Oregon so it had to be inspected.  First lady gave me a NO because the metal neck stamp VIN also has to have a frame number VIN stamped to match.  I was told to go to the CHP and they sort fix it (they can blue tag and do pretty much anything you need).  On my way out I asked another women if someone else could look at my bike as I felt it wasnt that complicated.  The next guy looked at the 6 digits stamped to the frame and noticed that the VIN on the metal plate had those numbers included but at the end.  He was OK with this and asked where my Emissions Label was..I said, well this is a 1983..should it have one and he said yes. So we look around and I pulled off the side cover and it was a metal sticker on the inside of my side cover.  He said good enough and got me a new plate and title transfer.  He also told me the first lady I talked to had a reputation for being lazy and a pain in the ass.  Problem solved.  Side covers can be swapped. 
Good luck !
J.

[mtiberio]

Are you near LA? If so, go see Mark at Guzzi Classics.

[earemike]

Di*kheads...

Sorry, for my T3 our reg system said the engine was from an ‘84 izuzu.

They rang the specialist inspector who told them to reg for me...

World wide these paper pushers have no idea.

[Groover]

Going to the DMV is always a stressful experience. Seems no matter what, there is always an issue of some sort. Was also going to suggest going to a different location, but going the Montana way may be the answer. Good luck.

[moto-uno]

  Originally you'd posted that your Le Mans was a 1978 model year , yet I thought the Le Mans 2 was made from 1978-1980 ? In Canada at that time they were able to register the
model year as the year it was sold ( long since made illegal ) . Peter

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Most DMVs are involved in interstate competition to see who can refuse to license the most motorcycles.

[Tusayan]

It occurs to me that the US-version riveted metal tag probably covers a OEM VIN stamping applied directly onto the steering head.

It’s not clear to me that a 1978 California registered motorcycle had an emissions label but I’m sure you can make one if necessary.  Look under the side covers as others have said and if there isn’t already one, find/make and apply one.

I had a similar recent adventure with the DMV, trying to put an original plate on the bike that it was sold with in the 70s.  The plate had stayed with the bike when it moved out of state and then back again.  They have a program that ostensibly allows it, but the fact that it was last on the same bike, and not being transferred from a different bike, made it a very, very difficult problem that had to be sent off to HQ.  it is still unresolved and I doubt I’ll hear anything from them.

I do as much as possible with the Auto Club, where the people have a commercial motive and are pleasant.

[wicks]

Yes in this case Auto Club were stumped because of it never having been registered. So everything was sent off to Montana yesterday, where they'll be happy to take my money and give me a plate and title. Then later, I can sell it from the company to myself with a regular looking Montana title/reg, to end up with a CA plate (at the Auto Club office). Annoying. And CA loses out on tax revenue, but hey they let the most successful company in history operate here and pay no taxes. Jobs was such a good tax strategist.

Happy thanksgiving to those of us stateside!

[Cage Free]

When Ive had anything other than a straight purchase of a currently Ca registered bike Ive used one of the many DMV service companies in my area. Easy to work with because they actually want your business and give a crap unlike the Ca DMV system which only seems to only tolerate us and are bothered if we have questions on a difficult issue.

[Tusayan]

FWIW my solution to the same problem (registering a never-registered mid-1970s motorcycle in California) was to get the VIN verified by the CHP, which involves getting a CHP appointment (a challenge in itself) and waiting.  In the end, CHP did it’s thing and with that paperwork in hand at DMV I did get eventually get the title and plate.

The No Registration —> Montana —> California route may work just as well to get a title, but you’ll have to have the bike inspected when importing it to CA.  In this case AAA can do the inspection. They may get hung up on the lack of emissions label even for a ‘77, or not, who knows.

[not-fishing]

FWIW my solution to the same problem (registering a never-registered mid-1970s motorcycle in California) was to get the VIN verified by the CHP, which involves getting a CHP appointment (a challenge in itself) and waiting.  In the end, CHP did it’s thing and with that paperwork in hand at DMV I did get eventually get the title and plate.

The No Registration —> Montana —> California route may work just as well to get a title, but you’ll have to have the bike inspected when importing it to CA.  In this case AAA can do the inspection. They may get hung up on the lack of emissions label even for a ‘77, or not, who knows.

I had problems in Folsom registering my V11 Lemans that  I picked up in Minneapolis.

My son suggested I take it to another DMV which is what I did 20 miles away in Placerville and the registration was easy.  Just a little further from the big city.

Funny how that works.

[Motormike]

Wise up and vote with your feet. Crap like that is only going to get worse.

[wicks]

Correct Tosayan. I am trying to find (any help appreciated) an emission label to stick on it temporarily in case AAA blows it again when I'm "bringing it back" to CA.

Once in a while, a politician does something cool for us old stuff collectors. Here in CA, Senator Jim W. Nielsen proposed a law that lets us put old blue plates on our old 70s cars, and Brown actually passed it. I had to build a file with copies of the legislation and train my local DMV on their own laws. Three visits later, nice original blue plates on my 73 911.

[wicks]

Anyone have a 1978 or later Le Mans with an emissions sticker? Picture?

[jazzamoto]

Anyone have a 1978 or later Le Mans with an emissions sticker? Picture?

Wicks,

I have a '78 Le Mans originally registered in North Carolina. The original title was lost but I had no difficulty obtaining a new California title. It has no emission sticker. I used the DMV office in Corte Madera, CA.

Jazz

[wicks]

Lucky you! ;)  Is yours the light blue version?  I think maybe our 1978 year models were built in 1977 and thus the law hadn't kicked in yet for those - maybe the 1979 bikes have em...