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I have a weakness for the older Ford truck with a standard transmission. I have found this one owner truck with 55k miles here on the mainland. It is a great deal and would make a great truck for my various projects on Big Island. It is a 2 wheel drive dually flatbed. I have not gone through the process yet of car ownership on the island.I see in ads there are things like "taxes paid" and safety inspection passed. I wonder if this cool old truck would be roadworthy by modern Hawaii rules. Would it be an allowed to run on the road vehicle or is it just a dumb idea to pay as much to bring it over for as I am thinking of buying it for? Thank you for responding in advance.
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I'm not sure I understand your question, but in Hawaii you need to get an annual safety inspection. It is supposed to check to make sure all your lights and seatbelts work etc but really its just another bureaucratic hurdle imposed by the nanny state to make our lives more difficult and expensive.
In every other state, if you buy a car that hasn't been registered in 20 years they rightfully assume that the people who didn't register it should be help culpable so when you go to the DMV and register a car you just bought you pay a new registration fee and go. But the nanny state doesn't work that way. In Hawaii, if you have the money to purchase a vehicle you should be punished. If previous owners didn't pay the registration fees for 20 years, you should. Or else it will never be legal to drive. That is why vehicles, and not people, have "back taxes". None of this will be an issue for you when you import a car from out of state, so go ahead, it's the safest way to buy a car here.
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Hawaii does not test for emissions, so no worries there...
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fees being based on weight - a little different from some states that base registration on a percent of value....
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Thank you. I am glad they do not require emissions tests on an island made of live volcanoes. The weight - that explains why the weight stickers on the bigger trucks. I wonder how well the gas that is blended for island use sits in a carburetor bowl. Does it gel up? I have encountered some strange mixes in Washington state that made it so I swore no more cars and trucks with carburetors. Here in Alaska gasoline sits fairly well and use Heat additive. The '66 I can probably sit inside the engine compartment and tear the carburetor apart with a screwdriver and put it back together in a few minutes. I wonder too if the modern fuel in Hawaii is a big enough percentage of ethanol to damage valves and so on in the combustion process.
Where the nanny state really gets me is by way of insurance. I have to insure every vehicle individually when I can only drive one at a time. They should be insuring me not the vehicle. It is a bold ripoff.
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alcohol free fuel can be found on island -
lead in fuel a thing of the past however.
Not sure if ss valve seats were in use in the 60's - about mid 70's if I remember right -
upgraded valve seats and guides will fix that - any head exchange service / machine shop should stock the newer guides and valve seats that do not require lead for lubrication and cooling....
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Safety inspection requirements seem to have just been slightly upgraded, but I'm not sure of all the details. In addition to all the lights working, there can't be any rusty/sharp exposed edged on the body. Nothing loose or about to fall off. High carriage or mud tires require mud flaps, probably to prevent rock throwing. Probably a few other requirements have been tightened as well. If the truck is operating substantially the same as when it was new, you'll probably have no problem. If anything, it'll probably last longer than anything new you can get due to heavier gauge metal. It'll take the rust longer to eat through it. I would definitely consider the ethanol free gas though.
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I wonder how well the POR 15 type paints stand up to Island rusting.
