Hello everyone,

Im having a hard time here with the California DMV with my 82 I purchased in Florida.

During the inspection the guy at the DMV, handed me a form and said I need to go to the local CHP office to get it inspected. He wrote "No Federal Label" of the reason for referral.

Could someone with a 1982 Corvette get me some pictures of their "Federal Label". Supposed to be located in the driver side door jam.
I really need some help with this, they will not issue me plates until it passes inspection.

Thank you!
Ron

 

The 82 had two labels on the driver's door, above the latch mechanism. One was a Federal Certification label and the second was a tire information label. I assume California is looking for the Certification label since it included the VIN number, and I think may have listed whether the car was equipped with US Federal emission equipment or California emissions. I think Jim Osborne Reproductions reproduces a copy of the 76-92 Federal Certification label used by GM, and probably the tire label too. These labels are printed blank and require all of the information be typed onto them. The reproductions are close to what GM used but not identical. The GM ones were clear in the area the information was typed so the paint color showed through, while the repro's are printed gray in the space for the typed information.

There is a company called ECS Automotive Concepts that reproduces some Certification labels, plus a lot of other labels and stickers. I don't remember seeing the 82 Certification label on their website, but it might be worth calling them since I think they also make a lot of replacement labels for auto repair and body shops, that aren't on their website.

Below are the pages from the 1982 Assembly Manual showing the placement of the two labels, and the key showing exactly what info was to be typed on the labels. To correctly fill out the labels, besides the VIN you need to know the original tire size, build date, vehicle's gross weight and individual front and rear weights in both pounds and kilograms, the vehicle max load capacity, cold pressures for the front and rear tires and the spare, and additional information I forget at the moment but that I might be able to get off the labels on my 81 later (the 81 label is the same). The tough thing about accurately filling out the labels is knowing the GVW and the individual front and rear weights, as well as the max load. You may be able to get some if not all the info needed for the label by ordering a copy of your car's build sheet from the National Corvette Museum.

Before replacing the labels, it might be wise to talk to the Highway Patrol about it. There are an assortment of laws involving plates, tags and labels containing the VIN, that seem to differ by state and can cause problems if they're not followed. California already knows the car is missing the Certification label, and if you show up at CHP with the car and it now has the labels, it might not cause any problems, but it might set off all kinds of red flags. It may be better to reach out to them in general terms, saying something like "I'm looking at a car that's missing the door 1982 Certification labels, will this cause any problems titling it?".

This is the placement for the two door labels.



These are the two labels. The Certification label is the top one.



This is the key describing what goes into some of the positions.

 

The link to the dealer invoice is in my signature, if that helps.

 

Delete

 

Thank you so much for all this great information.

I will have to contact the CHP office first before I put any labels on there since like you said its noted that they are missing.

I got myself into a big mess with this car. It failed smog miserably and is missing the labels.

Now its broken down in front of my house with a stuck throttle.

Very disappointed.

 

Certainly this would be a very common issue with older cars.
So many cars of this age have been repaired or repainted.
In most states and country's no one ever looks for these old stickers. California is indeed a strange place to own a Automobile.
Can't remember exactly when my door stickers went missing. The very first repaint I think. Would have been early to mid 80's by memory.
I have moved to the other side of the planet. Completely different hemispheres! No one has ever questioned a missing sticker on the inside of the door.
Certainly once inspected by your state police vehicle inspector all should be fine.
Stickers just fall off with age!
Now, the problem of passing emissions is a entirely different kettle of fish. Best of luck with that.

 

Yeah, I don't think they fall into the same category as the mattress label warning: "do not remove under penalty of law"!

 

God Forbid you ever get caught with a mattress with the tag torn off!
I heard a rumour once that the mattress police came busting into someone's home in the middle of the night.
The apartment was up for rent the next week and the people were never heard from again.
Scary stuff.

 

CA is a strange place period... Until the other day they had a law saying you needed to do a background check to buy bullets... Did that Leno law pass or did they bastardize it?

BTW; I live in Jersey which is bad enough but no where near CA's level of nonsense...
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60

 

Here is a picture of the labels from my 82CE. Don't get discouraged. Tackle one problem at time.

 

CHP needs to confirm the VIN when purchased from out of state. May not be a big deal.

Failing SMOG is a different issue. Can you post the numbers? Is the car stock or modified?

There are a few 82 experts here. Message Buccaneer and see what he has to say.