Texas Cobra in California

[Hawwk11]

Hey guys,

I have my eye on a 04' cobra that is located in Texas, however I live in California. The dealer in Texas told me they have made the car legal for Texas but they are unsure if it would be here in California. I have never purchased an out of state vehicle befor so thought I'd ask you guys here if by chance you have experience with this.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[ninty9cobra]

Just make sure it has all smog equipment connected. Has a catted mid pipe, and a carb legal air cleaner. If it's an aftermarket. So that it passes visual smog inspection. Make sure all smog monitor are on and haven't been disabled if it's tuned. And you should be good to go. And if not just check around for smog check on the down low and it should be fine, cost a lil but no worries about smog inspection troubles.

 

[Hawwk11]

Just make sure it has all smog equipment connected. Has a catted mid pipe, and a carb legal air cleaner. If it's an aftermarket. So that it passes visual smog inspection. Make sure all smog monitor are on and haven't been disabled if it's tuned. And you should be good to go. And if not just check around for smog check on the down low and it should be fine, cost a lil but no worries about smog inspection troubles.

Thanks a lot man. That's what I figured but for some reason now the dealership is giving me a hard time about even selling it to me. They told me earlier today that they are not sure they can legally sell it to me since I don't have a Texas address and the vehicle will be registered in California. I don't understand why that's their problem.

 

[SVTORANGE]

I think it has a lot to do with the emission laws in California most likely.

 

[Hawwk11]

I think it has a lot to do with the emission laws in California most likely.

Copy that. Sucks that we have the most strict emission control laws here.

 

[Mystic03]

Copy that. Sucks that we have the most strict emission control laws here.

cali all togather sucks balls

 

[Stanger00]

cali all togather sucks balls

lol.

OP, just make sure it has the stock mid pipe and all of the monitors are turned on in the tune if it has a custom tune in it. If you purchase you have 30 days to register it. Take it to a smog shop and they will tell you if it will pass visual and OBD II...Not sure if they are still doing the sniffer or not.

 

[whitedevil95]

Youll need that stock 4 car midpipe to pass. A stock intake or K&N FIPK will do as well for the intake side.

 

[xX03COBRAXx]

jusy so you know theres a 03 cobra mineral grey with 8k miles for sale asking 28k obo, just saw it in ventura craigslsit in cali.

 

[SVTORANGE]

It would be best for you to buy something in your state no doubt the CL find sounds like a doable deal for ya?

Good luck with your COBRA searching:beer:

 

[DSGCOBRA24]

I bought my cobra from Texas. It was very easy to get it registered here in beautiful Southern California. I went to private business that registers cars for the dmv, kind of like what AAA does. All they asked for was a smog certificate. My car has full exhaust with no cats and bigger blower and all the other bolt ons so obviously it wouldn't pass smog. A friend of mine knew a place that would make my car "pass" smog so I just paid a little extra to have my car smoged. Got the smog certificate and went back to register the car and the guy just went outside and checked the vin number on my car and that was it. Went back about 2-3 weeks later to pick up my California plate. They do charge a very small fee for the convinience of not having to go through the dmv process though but well worth it in my opinion.

Edit: Where in California are you located? If you want I can give you the name and number to the place I went to and you can call them yourself to find out what you would need to do.

 

[04compking]

I just bought a 2004 comp orange cobra from san ramos california and it originally came from texas. It has off road bbk h pipe, a pulley swap, magnaflow cat back, a tune, and a bbk cai and it passed. I wouldn't worry about it. If you want it buy it imo.

 

[Hawwk11]

Thank you all for all the replies guys, I really appreciate it.

Update: I called the Texas dealer today and asked to speak to someone else with more experience, and the salesman I spoke to said "Of course we can sell you the vehicle, I've never heard of that" So I will call tomorrow and see if we can move forward with this. I just need to get ahold of my credit union on Monday and finalize the approval.

Thanks again guys and I will keep you posted :thumbsup:

 

[Hawwk11]

I bought my cobra from Texas. It was very easy to get it registered here in beautiful Southern California. I went to private business that registers cars for the dmv, kind of like what AAA does. All they asked for was a smog certificate. My car has full exhaust with no cats and bigger blower and all the other bolt ons so obviously it wouldn't pass smog. A friend of mine knew a place that would make my car "pass" smog so I just paid a little extra to have my car smoged. Got the smog certificate and went back to register the car and the guy just went outside and checked the vin number on my car and that was it. Went back about 2-3 weeks later to pick up my California plate. They do charge a very small fee for the convinience of not having to go through the dmv process though but well worth it in my opinion.

Edit: Where in California are you located? If you want I can give you the name and number to the place I went to and you can call them yourself to find out what you would need to do.

Cool man that would be great. I live in Fontana btw. Please send me a PM with the info.

Thanks

 

[svtcobratenthan]

smog

I don't know this for sure" but I was talking to someone from cali a while ago on here and im pretty sure he said headers were illiegal there.

 

[SVTrojan]

Hey hawwk, is that the OW 04 on ebay with the KB? Looks like a nice car, let us know how it works out. I'm also in the hunt and would love to expand my search beyond CA. How does that work with your credit union, if you don't mind my asking? I think my credit union will want to have the title on hand before they finalize the loan. Good luck :beer:

 

[SVTORANGE]

Indeed good luck with the purcahse

 

[TBCobra]

Texas doesnt have emissions, only inspection so "Texas legal" probably means something along those lines. The tint is probably legal among other common inspection tests but it probably doesnt have cats.

 

[hotcobra03]

Texas doesnt have emissions, only inspection so "Texas legal" probably means something along those lines. The tint is probably legal among other common inspection tests but it probably doesnt have cats.

Texas has emission testing...just depends on county..