That’s a $4-5000 transmission right there, just waiting to go kablooey.  You can’t swing a dead cat around the local CL without hitting several needing transmissions listed for under $1,000.

(I would pay real money to see him in *that* particular Malibu)

Followed by liberal application of asphalt.

Chevy Malibu - come see what the buzz is all about.

Naah, you don’t have to let it sit. It’s passed smog. Pay the fees and they’ll hand over the 2020 tags. If you call the DMV and give them the plate number, they will tell you the back fees. If you can get the VIN from the seller, you can plug in the info here and get the total to transfer the vehicle: https://www.dmv.c…

Thank you - I forgot about that. It looks like it also was tested in Sept 2017 and October 2015 which would indicate it wasnt due for its biennial until this year. Either the tag was lost, not installed or stolen (happens a lot) or that the owner just didn’t renew it.

Most vehicles on the road now do not get a dyno (Bar-97) test, they are inspected on the OIS (which is connecting the OBD2 and a visual).

Edit: I used to smog test cars in CA and forgot about the “pre-test”. A person can go into a test facility and ask for a pre-test. This test is just like the real test, the only difference is that the pass/fail result is not transmitted to the state and therefore would not show up in this query.

https://smogcheck.ca.gov/pubwebquery/Vehicle/PubTstQry.aspx says there have been no tests on that plate, so unless they’ve taken it in and specifically asked for a “pre-test” (which does not transmit pass/fail info to the state that then would show up on this report) then it hasn’t been tested.

You can check vehicle smog history in CA by entering the VIN or license plate at https://smogcheck.ca.gov/pubwebquery/Vehicle/PubTstQry.aspx

Maybe the convicts should also be designing them.

Right?  Bring back the Lightning!

Interesting. The only remotely similar tidbit I can offer is that CA has two types of year registration stickers (tags).

This is what I was really trying to get across. Nevada, Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona for example - at least some of their plates are NOT stamped. Completely flat.

Wow, trigger much? Okay, I’ll admit I was wrong in this case. I assumed they were like Nevada - which *IS* not stamped.

Doesnt change the fact that it’s not STAMPED. It’s FLAT.

Nevermind whether the front plate is or is not required...

They had the tailshaft tooling already - the same transmission was used in the 2WD Ranger. That leaves the driveshaft. I don’t buy that being more expensive than sourcing what *should* be just a different length than the one they were likely buying from an outside vendor.

The one thing that sticks in my mind about these is the last couple years of these (‘89-90 if memory serves) that were sold in 2WD trim had a dummy transfer case installed that had nothing inside of it besides what it needed to pass-through to drive the rear driveshaft. There were labels on them that said basically…

I was able to get past the bro lamps and the visual vomit that is the exterior but this stopped me dead in my tracks.