California vehicle registration questions

[chetwesley]

I am new to California and trying to understand some things about the registration system here. Here's a question for anyone in California who knows how this works.

I am possibly doing some work in trade for this guy's volvo, but it has been registered as non-operational for a few years. This is completely foreign to me, as where I come from you just don't register your car if you don't plan on driving it for a few years, and smog tests don't exist, period (nor do safety inspections).

If the title is handed over to me and I want to register it normally for driving, will I have to smog the car before I can even register it? Is there anything else I have to watch out for when switching from non-op to regular registration?

Thanks
CW