I don't have all of the details (but I could probably get them from my Dad as he works for a manufacturer here in California) but from what I understand if you don't want to have to meet all of the current year standards for safety, lights, brakes, emissions, etc you have to apply for a special VIN and they only offer 500 a year in California at the first of the year and they are usually all gone in the first 20 minutes or so that the offices are open. Otherwise you have to fall under the category where you have to meet all current standards. There is also a problem with people doing VIN swaps on cars as well and there are a lot of people getting in trouble for that most recently Unique Performance and also Boyd Coddington.