1975 Door DOT/VIN Sticker - Was CA different? Options

[DaveB]

The DOT sticker I have on my door doesn't look like what I see on other 1975 914's. The PPS said my car was Equipped for California. This is what the current sticker looks like:



Was this done just for California?

Thanks,

DaveB

[wonkipop]

couldn't wait, went off and searched out answer to my own question.


USA is fantastic.
all this stuff back in time is retrievable directly from govt. archives on line.

NHTSA section 567.
came into effect 1969.

for all you guys,
your legal vin plate is the sticker in the door jamb.
not the plate in the front trunk or anything else.
its the door sticker the feds recognize and mandate.

the stamped plate in the front was an unregulated plate (in the eyes of the USA Fed authorities) that many manufacturers had been doing off their own bat for decades before. used by registration authorities in other countries, like europe or australia, or even the individual states of the USA prior to 1969 to identify the vehicle but not regulated by the law or an act of parliament/congress etc in those countries.

now i get it.

all manufacturers in the USA and importing manufacturers conformed to this label law after 1969 for the USA by either riveting a plate in the door or doing what porsche and VW with a tamper proof label in the door. the NHTSA act specified you could do one or the other.

everything printed on the label is word for word mandated by NHTSA 567.

and the letters have to be in contrast to the background.

so -----> there would have been a little bit of leeway for some porsche colors with their stamped labels in terms of contrast and not with others i suspect.
so you could probably get away with a silver or black label on some cars and do either, but not others. possibly why its not hard and fast with certain cars as to what color label.

heres the act in original form.




moral of the story.
technically under federal law you should not be tampering with that label.
because thats the VIN plate in america. the one and only.
and if you do, you were supposed to order a replacement through a registered company with authority to make a replacement. via the dealer.