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]

righteo mr. b @JeffBowlsby .

i think this is the about the 4th item you have challenged me on where i have been correct. lets see. charcoal cannisters? EC-A = california. EC-B = 49 states.
there was a few other things i recall from 1.8s. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)
i can't figure out whether you are exploiting me as a third world inhabitant to do your research hard yards (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) or i know more than you guys about your own laws and congress.

i first boned up on this crap back in the 80s in prep for my scholarship interviews to go the USA long before the internet existed and back then i used our fine provincial university library. believe it or not i was interested in USA construction code standards for energy efficiency in buildings. you guys had codes. no one else in the world did.
you had an EPA. down here we just copied you a few years later. back in that era ther rest of the world looked to the USA for technological leadership.

what a truly great time in the history of the planet. i mean it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

anyway i found this stuff because i was interested in the CARB approval dates for emission approval of the 1974 L jets, thanks to member L-Jet914 who had the CARB docs and posted them. when i went to the source in the CARB archives the approvals were always submitted and granted beginning in jan of each calendar year, despite the model year starting 4 months before.


here is the link to the clean air act in 1970 (in its 1970 form without the later ammendments). get a headache reading the whole thing if you don't believe me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) . you guys really know how to write legislation gobble-de-gook. i thought our government was good at it down here.
we got nothing on you.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/91/hr17255/text


and for those who don't want to have their heads throbbing due to reading how the government brings down a sledgehammer - an extract to just induce a mild bit of discomfort.




if you read the model year definition really carefully you can see how porsche did it.
read it three times and the penny will drop.
the act has one of those classic bureaucratic/legal definitions.
model year must include jan 1 of the calendar year as well.

if you are wondering why they do the jan 1 inclusion its how the act reconciles its broader goal of 1975 as the year standards are achieved with automaker annualisation.

anyway the point is, under the act, porsche for all intents and purposes could say they were not producing a 1976 model year car. they were not making it on or after jan 1 1976. they might have called it a 76 MY for the sake of the showroom, but when knocking on the EPAs door they were defining it as something else.

a bit like the famous 1970 1/2 ford falcon. only made for 6 months. ford had a 6 month model. (i wonder if thats got something to do with evap emission control systems? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) )

------

of mild interest is to note when the act set the standards for CO and hydrocarbons as 1975 and for NOX as 1976 MY. in reality this was executed a little differently.
sometime shortly after 72 it was revised to stagger - with california leading.
and the NOX was actually achieved earlier with the CO and HC coming later as the cat dealt with the CO and HC. NOX was done with ignition timing.
and whats not mentioned is the scramble to get the unleaded fuel infrastructure set up for the cats.
that was all rearranged with approval from the EPA after lots of discussion and negotiation with auto makers. the main goal was to achieve the whole thing by the end of 1975. ie Jan 1 1976. which they did.

i got other stuff too on file i found with the L jets.
stuff you guys would have long forgotten.
like for instance the EPA and CARB woke up pretty quick that every time a californian or texan drove into mexico they couldn't gas up on unleaded.
so the trip killed their cats.
there was a special little law that kicked in that meant you had to go have your car tested to see if the cat still worked. and if it did they gave you a sticker. and if it didn't you got an order to get a new cat.
i'm not sure this was enforced.
but its there as an ammendment to the clean air act.
dates from 77. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)