I am not an expert on this and neither is our DMV here. But they will accept any car titled out of state such as an Arizona car titled as a 1965 Ford. Then a few weeks later they will pull the title. I have seen this happen to 3 people. The statement they make is the car either has to have the Calif. SPCN number and show SPCN on the Title, or meet the emission requirements for the year the Title shows. Example if the title shows it as a 1965 Ford Roadster and it was sold in 2001, then you either get a SB-100 number or they will pull the title. The explanation that I got after talking to several people in the DMV and our BAR was that unless the title shows SPCN on it, the car is not legal.
Ron