We have made a deal on the car and the few small rust spots seem manageable.

However, he can't find the pink but he does have the registration and renewal form from 2003 and a bill of sale and release of liability. I have never been in the situation of not having a pink to turn over when registering a car but I know it can be done.

So what is my best move? Should I get it towed home and get moving on it right away to get it running so I can smog it and then go to the DMV and get it registered (pay back registration etc.). Or should I run straight to the DMV and get it registered NON-OP until I can get it running?

I heard somewhere that registering NON-OP is harder to reverse when you get it running again and want normal registration.

Any help on this would be appreciated.

Any help on this would be apreciated.

Trailer or flat bed it home. You could get ticketed for lapse of registration if it is by a regular tow truck. The wheels cannot touch a public road.

Have the owner sign an application for a duplicate title. There is an area for them to release interest in the vehicle as well.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/formsreg_alpha.htm

Go to DMV and pay them. There is no real economical way around it. The sooner you pay the back fee's the better. Immedietly ask for non op status. Then you can fix it at your own pace.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/vr_info.htm#BM2512

When you finally go to get the car smogged get a PRETEST!

If you take smog test without getting pretested and the car fails you may be considered a "GROSS POLLUTER" and be subject to yearly smog checks. In other words you'll be on California Air Resources Board S*#T list!

Search for discussions about preparing your car for smog testing on this site and check out zcar.com as well.

Anyway, Good luck and keep us posted!

Dave Ruiz

I was able to call DMV today and found out that the car has $380 in back reg fees and penalties!!! (No lean against it at least)

It doesn't look like it is going to be cheap to get it over the hill from Santa Cruz to my house.

All told with the price of the car, back reg, towing, etc I'm looking at more than double the sale price of the car (almost $1,200) for a car that isn't running and needs a lot TLC to get it up and going.

What would you do?

I think you need to ask yourself what you want and need to do with this car, and we still haven't heard about rust. On the one hand, $1200 for a restorable Z that has minimal rust is probably a good deal. But I think at this point you need to acknowledge that it might take considerably more than you are thinking about to get the car running and back on the road. We know it needs brake work, and the engine, drivetrain and running gear are a total unknown. Plus the emissions ramifications.

I don't think $1200 is too much to pay for any S30 that is straight and mostly un-rusted. But are you looking for a car that needs as much as this car might? What's your time frame?

At the price you are figuring, perhaps you may want to look at one of these.

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/car/627245503.html

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/car/624746055.html

Well I had to call off the sale. My house sprung a leak and it looks like I am going to have to take my fist full of dollars and plug the hole! :mad::disappoin

Bummer! Had that happen 2 years ago. Cost me almost $3K to get the problem fixed. Still better than a whole new roof at $15K !