In California the smog exempt stopped at 1975. (6 years ago I think) After that it will never be exempt NEVER.
My truck is a 77 I pull a 5th wheel with it. So far I have put in a new engine 351M. That is what it came with. Had the front end rebuilt, a geerVender overdrive and Flow Master exhaust, and that is as far as I can go to still pass smog.
I would like to change a few things to give it more power
So is there a way to change the year outside of buying another truck and starting over. (1975) Leagal of course.
I was told that the fram is the year.Doesn't sound right to me,So I though I would run it through the form and get so appions

 

Buy the older truck, get it registered, then do what you want. You can't change the year of the vehicle, and if it looks like you're getting funny with the dmv, they will charge you with fraud, & make a nice mess for you.

The frame has a number, so does the cab. If you did some swapping and it ever came out that the vin was different than the title, more trouble.

 

Just buy a junk 74 or 75, put the id tag on your 77 and use the 75 title to buy plates. As long as both truckd are regesterd to you, they have no reason to question it. I did it with a 74 and a 72 VW bug and a 75 and 71 CJ-5 jeep when I didn't have titles for the 74 bug and the the 75 jeep.

 

That is HIGHLY illegal.

To everyone else thinking of doing something along these lines:

These threads pop up every once in a while and it's always a huge argument. One side tells you it's illegal (which is the truth) and the other side tells you how to get away with it. It never ends. No matter how many times people go out of their way to look up the laws from the state's websites and post them here to prove to you all that this is illegal and you can do time for it if you're caught, people still insist on saying it's not true based on here-say despite hard cold facts in plain text and try to convince people to do it anyway.

Stop breaking the law, people. It's illegal to skirt the law by swapping VIN plates and registration around in order to avoid smog checks or for other motives. These threads are getting old. You can look up on any of the 50 state's DMV websites and find the exact laws telling you NOT to do this, but no matter how many times myself or other benelovent members of FTE try and do so, people want to pretend it's not true. I simply can not understand why the issue won't die.

 

It may be, however to a cop, all bugs look alike and so does all jeeps. Both vehicles were regestered to me, so when the call in my plate number it comes back a 72 VW bug, even though it's a 74 bug. On the jeep, the I.D tag was on the fire wall, so I pop revited the the 71 jeeps I.D tag to the 75's fire wall, I belive the bugs were on the dash or the door jam, I don't remember now. At anyrate, I never had a problem as I owned all the vehicles, both bugs and both jeeps were titled to me. Of course it wouldn't work using a pinto I.D tag on an LTD, but since all bugs and jeeps look preety much alike, no reason to investigate further. 74-77 ford p/u's look alike, except 77 gad amber turn signal covers and 74-76 had clear ones, so you would want to change something that obvious in case the cop is a ford truck buff. If for some un forseen reason they would go as far to check the serial number on the frame as both vehicles are regesterd to you, you would get fined. Unless you robbed a bank or something, there's no reason for the average cop to look past the I.D tag on the dash board even they even do that. I've never had a cop even compare the serial number on the regestration to the one on the dash, but if they did, you would still be covered that far, just no further. Both my vehicles had lost titles and were from out of state (W,Va) and I live in Ohio. I tried the title office and they just gave me the run around. The vehicles were to nice not to drive on the road, so I did what I had to do and never had a problem. Of course you can't sale the vehicles after that, you would have to junk them or sell them with no titles, or you could get yourself and someone else in trouble. The jeep I sold to my cousin as an off road only deer hunting jeep and he still has it. The bug my ex-wife took during the divorce, but both bugs were in her name, so I don't know what she did with the good 74 bug, if she sold it as titled it would be her butt in a sling and I've never heard where she was in jail. So I would say she drove it untill the wheels fell off and then junked it.

 

Like I say, I'm not saying it isn't illegal, I'm just saying it works, the risk factor is up to you. I found the risk to be very low here in ohio and you have to use vehicles that look alike, for instance, 71-74 pinto's, or 71-73 mustangs, 70-71 torinio's, 83-88 rangers, 89-95 t-birds, 73-77 F-150's, 66-77 bronco's and so on. Cops might be dumb, but there not stupid ha ha.

 

Thanks for the help all pro and con. That sounds interesting. Now the search is on for that older truck.

 

yes buy a older truck and take all the parts you want off your 77 and put them on the 74/75, and you will have no problems...and then put the stuff you took off the 74/75 and put it back on the 77 and sell the 77. in Cali you can change the motor to what ever you want on a pre smog car. the dmv never looks or cares to look at them because there are no laws that say what you have to have on them. my truck is 70 with an 87 engine in it and it is completly legal. but yes if you just start to change vin plates you will get into trouble but as long as you keep the frame and the drivers door (i think thats where the vin plate is or did they move it on those trucks) even then the door can get changed just keep your vin plate. it is all in the frame!

 

Here in Ohio, if you fail smog, if you show a reciept showing that you made 260 dollars worth of repars, they will pass you. So some guy's will spend the 260.00 bucks every 2 years to keep thier illegal rigs on the road. Or if you know someone who owns a shop, they can write you out a fake reciept every couple of years. Personally, I would just do the I.D tag swap from an older truck, it's illegal, but less hassle and cost less than paying 260.00$ every two years. I don't even know if they do that in Cally, They probobly make you pass to keep your rig on the road, none of that 260.00$ crap like here in Ohio.

 

I found a 74 but is a half ton
I think in Calif. you have to spend around 500 or more not sure,But don't want to go there.

Don

 

There is a program for financial assistance and some limits on the amount you have to spend, but it only lasts for the 2 years, then you're up against some other process to either make it smog or scrap it for $1000 or something, hell I can't keep it all straight.

Have you checked the requirements for your '77 based on the GVWR? Some were exempt the the GVWR was over a certain amount.

 

so is driving a few mph over the speed limit.

 

A FEW mph over, they let it slide.

Changing the VIN, which is probably a felony, they don't let that slide.

You know the difference between an infraction and felony don't you? Like bumping someone vs. bumping someone off?

All you fellers suggesting felonious solutions, you gonna serve time or pay the fine with the OP?

 

Driving a few MPH over the speed limit won't land you in jail. Illegally swapping VIN plates will. You can't make the generalization that just because one thing is taken lightly, means everything else that is illegal will be as well. By that logic, is it okay to rob people too? You might say "robbing someone is much worse than speeding," which is something I will agree with, but if you look up your state's laws, you will see that the topic in question is subject to punishments much more severe than speeding, too. This thread is turning into exactly what I alluded to in my first post. Why people will encourage their fellow beloved FTE members to commit a felony is beyond me.

And I will second everything 85E150 said.

 

I;m not encouraging anything, I just explained how I did it. I's more of a big deal if you were running a chop shop, not so much when both trucks are yours to begin with. I heard it's a hefty fine here in Ohio if both vehicles are yours.