1976 Is it a 49 state or Cali car? Options

[gnomefabtech]

Car came from Nevada but I can't tell if it was originally a California car. It still has injection but doesn't have a cat or smog pump. Doesn't look like it ever had either but I'm wondering since I'm going to try and register it here in California. Thanks in advance!!

Here is the Vin:

[wonkipop]

is that true that only california cars had cats in 1976?
i thought cats were US wide for 76 model year for all car makers and all models.

its certainly true that only the 75 californian cars had cats.
not the 49 state cars.

my understanding of the emissions laws through the 70s is that it is incremental.
california gets the standards the year before the other states do.
the next year the 49 states gets the california standard of previous year and california moves on to the higher standard. and so on.

i know from the EPA research we did on the L jets a couple of years back that i came across the government documents detailing the agreements auto manufacturers made with the EPA in the late 60s and early 70s. thats when the decision was made that exhaust catalysers were the way to go. in fact the automakers pressed for the cats rather than other technologies. the concern the auto makers had was in relation to supply of the catalysers and so they proposed a staged introduction.
the EPA agreed and thats how california got to be the lab test rat so to speak.

but i could be wrong about all this.