odd car questions...

[wrkngirl]

This all came from a photo I saw of a car some guy had built, a bmw z3 body, with the roundel, on a miata chassis...

How does this guy register his car? I mean, any person who saw it driving past would call it a bmw, so if the person who drove it committed a crime the cops would be looking at bmws so wouldn't he have to have it registered as one?

Is it illegal to paint your car black and white and write "KOP" on it? Or would you just get a lot of tickets?

Is it a trademark violation to slap a leaping jaguar on the front of a volkswagon and tell everyone it's a custom jag?

I didn't have breakfast, I'll just have some more coffee thank you... :)

[Ice-9]

Ehh, okay. Here's my attempted answers:

1) Guy registers it as a BMW. Sorry, not too interesting an answer. (Why the hell would he put it on a Miata chassis? The Bimmer one is better.)

2) Dunno.

3) Probably illegal, but is Jaguar really going to come track you down and sue you for it? Unlikely. Hell, Racing Dynamics got away with taking a rival's modified BMW (think it was a Hartge H50 or something like it) and passing it off as their own at a car show, so I doubt a company would come after an individual.

Unfortunately, the answers aren't as entertaining as the questions. Guess I need more coffee...

[ufcrusher]

Ice-9, car and driver retracted that statement concerning the Hartge in this months issue. Apparently there were a lot of structural changes in the car, which made it a unique modification. I dont have the magazine in front of me right now, but that was the gist of the retraction blurb. It also contain something about how there are both an american corp called Racing Dynamics as well as a european one. The american corporation is heavily into after market modifications which dramatically increase the cars performance, and it was their car at the show with all the mods.

[zenbooty]

If you paint your car in black and white, the worst I think they could do would be to charge you with impersonating a police officer. I would think a halfway decent lawyer would be able to get you off on that one, though.

[Grizybaer]

You should be able to make changes like that, i dont think the cops could write you up for having a car that looks "like" a police car, unless you had the actual seal or police shield or whatever on it. They will give you a ticket for having blue lights spinning around on the top of your car though.

for the mazda that looks like a bmw, its still a mazda, when its registered, it should be a mazda

[Nanotech9]

grizybaer is correct...

when you register a car, all your actully registering is the VIN # and the frame associated with it. therefore, you take a Fiero frame, build a "custom 911 turbo" on it, its still a fiero on paper. plus, you pay fiero insurance, and probably only have a fiero engine :P



I strongly believe you can paint your car B&W like a cop car, cause there are "ex-cop cars" ou there, with their B&W paint, but no seal or other markings. Plus, a lot of states dont have B&W cop cars anymore... i even saw one state that had a wood-grain pattern on the outside of their cars... :puke:

[Ice-9]

Originally posted by Nanotech9
grizybaer is correct...

when you register a car, all your actully registering is the VIN # and the frame associated with it. therefore, you take a Fiero frame, build a "custom 911 turbo" on it, its still a fiero on paper. plus, you pay fiero insurance, and probably only have a fiero engine :P


Crap, you're right. I was thinking that the significant part was the body, but it is indeed the chassis. I wonder what happens if you've got the Z3 engine in there? Still a Miata, or is that enough to make it considered a Z3? At what point is it a modified Z3 rather than a modified Miata? Hmm...

As for the C+D article, I know, I read it. I just re-read it, and you're right that it wasn't a Hartge car, but it was STILL somebody else's creation, some company that did business with Hartge. That was my point - Racing Dynamics passed off some other tuner's car as their own.

[TheLoneGunman]

The DMV only sees your car once (if at all). You could say it is a Citroen and they won't know. Also, the Cops never really match up the car to what it claims to be unless it is wildly off (ex. you have a Dodge Pickup and the license is for a Hummer) and even then they are normally to harried to notice.

As far as the black and white car, it just depends on the purpose. There are plenty of fake cop cars out there (either resold cars or prop cars for the movies) and what I remember from filmmaking days was as long as you took off the lights and decals you were fine. It all goes to intent. If you have a vintage cop car and want to use it to look cool, that is ok, but if you want to use it to handcuff people it isn't

Jag is a trademark. Certain manufacturers regularly sue people who make kit cars (a better attempt than just putting on the logo). I believe Ferrari is one. I think Porsche is one that doesn't care as much (or maybe I have that backwards)...

[wrkngirl]

This guy blew past me in the emergency lane a few weeks ago while I was stuck in traffic, at first glance he looked like a cop car but it was only a black and white car painted like a cop car. Quite odd. Didn't see him pulled over when the traffic cleared, so imagine it worked for him...

[TheLoneGunman]

Perhaps it WAS a real cop and it was just his off-duty car

or maybe Bush or Cheney were driving :-)
(was it weaving?)