Need some advice on Ca. Registration

[mikee]

Hello all!

I am brand new to this forum, new to owning a Cobra and live near Burbank, Ca. Hopefully, as we speak, it is safely on its way here in and enclosed transport from the state of Michigan.

I Just purchasd a FFR from a really great person in Michigan who built the car himself and has managed to register this 3 year old vehicle as a 1965 Ford Convertible in that state. When I called the DMV registration assistance office at AAA here in California, and told them I was planing on reqistering this in Ca., they informed me that I would have great dificulty in registering the car altogether.

Apparently the DMV in the state of Ca. sees these vechicles differently. They claim as they are not made by a major car manufacture (Ford, Chevy, Honda) they are built by hand, and therefore, subject to a through and complete safety check, including smog, wipers (which I do not have either of these two items), horn turn signals etc. and that the vehicle would not be rigistered as a 1965, but a 2000 model year and subject to all those smog laws.

My question, is HELP!
Anyone got any ideas or suggestions, or a friend at DMV?

Also if I might ask, if any of you could reccomend a good insurance company, reasonable Ca. rates with about 5000 yearly miles?

Thanks in advance,
Mikee
mplesh@mail.com
818 768 4444 evenings until about 9pm (we are old, tired and get up at 5am)