Trabi/IFA Chat Forum

Don't ya just love the freedom to do what you want in the glorious sunshine state where there are no restrictions on what you wanna do. Unlike the poor repressive state that was East Germany where our beloved cars were built and driven.

Absolutely...

California is one of those places where the absurdity of accusing any one political affiliation for being overly authoritarian sort of crumbles away for all to see, since the majority of laws that cause us the most problems were bi-partizan efforts, often beginning as "propositions." It's an interesting object lesson, being an Historian and living in a state with the kind of political machinations that make Roman Senators look positively mild by comparison. I learned this the hard way, but it still stuns me.

I thought Virginia was odd; DC disorganized; Indiana full of revenge politics; that British law I was exposed to whilst living there was sometimes needlessly complex; but none of those held a candle to California. Not even close. My wife, who passed the California BAR to begin her law work, told me that California Laws were unique... and I had -no idea- what I was in for

You'd love MA, it has its own special brand of automotive legal insanity, but they mirror fed law on antique cars and leave them alone. Probably because there are so many antique and classic cars here per square mile.

Rezzato, did I read you're post correctly, was the Trabant destroyed in a collision or another car?

Tennessee doesn't have any kind of inspection system. They depend upon using police officers if anything needs to be verified like VINs for example. But they don't bother to check for equipment mandated on cars of that year like backup lights, seat belts, etc. Of course if they see you riding around without proper seat belts, then they will write you a ticket.

When registering cars in Tennessee the big thing is, the state is more paranoid about someone cheating them out of a dollar when it comes to registration more than anything. Like if the car has passed hands without being registered by the previous owner, they want to make sure that person had paid their fair share of the 4% tax imposed on automobiles. I've ran into that situation in the past and it can be a pain to sort out. It's all about the tax. They can easily verify if the car is stolen.

Unlike some other states I've heard of, the sales tax is paid up front after the purchase of the vehicle. Then from there on out, everybody pays the same, no matter the value of the car. At least they only charge 4% since our sales tax is 10%, one of the highest states in the country. But at least we don't have a state income tax like Virginia does. So I guess it balances out.

Last year the state raised their fee to $27 from $23. However the county I live in imposed a wheel tax back in 1984 to either buy new school buses or for something school related and it stuck. The county tax turns out to be higher than the state tax. So in my county it used to cost about $52 a year to register a vehicle but in neighboring Sullivan county their fee was only $23.

So last year the idiots that run my county couldn't balance the budget so they ended up adding an additional $44 to the wheel tax. So now to register my van and Subaru it's $96 a year. Sullivan county it's $27.

Luckily all of my cars over 25 year old have antique licence plates so they are considered permanent. So I no longer have to pay a registration fee every year.

I think it all boils down to the fact that the state allocates more money per student based on the population of that county.

Sorry, I had to rant!

It was my first Trabant. My friend was driving it home one night and someone t boned him. The car rolled twice and hit a tree. Both occupants were fine.
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Wow, I guess that's for spares only.

Are you sure it won't buff out?

It says a lot for the strength of a trabi which are often maligned as made from cardboard