Crush your car for free - AKA CA Smog Laws

"belching thick black plumes of pollution"... "smoky clunkers" ... "If caught, the owners of the most environmentally offensive cars and trucks would receive letters informing them that the government would pay to fix or scrap their vehicles." ... "Smog regulators lack the authority to order drivers to dump dirty cars, but they can offer incentives."

I don't know about you guys, but if my Pantera was belching black smoke and some nice government official offered to pay to fix it, I’d be glad. Especially if they “lacked the authority” to crush it. Man you Californial guys have it good. Great weather AND free car repairs...

I dont know what the Hell the Governments doing, But they need to stay away from my car.

I am prepared to help you poor Pantera owners who live in the peoples republic. I am offering to adopt your cars. A sort of Pantera rescue mission as it were. A Pantera puppy farm. Your Pantera will get regular excersise and feeding but I would appreciate some help with repair bills. It will be a burden but I am feeling generous. Also you can send me all of your assault weapons and I will help you "store" them free of charge. I know I will regret making this offer as it will be a lot of additional work for me, but I can not let you guys down. So send your cars and weapons to me, Detom, here in Tennessee. Aalso generous donations to help in the car and feeding of these vehicles would be greatly appreciated.

Now I know where to go for my next engine rebuild. Gotta love California.

>>If caught, the owners of the most environmentally offensive cars and trucks would receive letters informing them that the government would pay to fix or scrap their vehicles. The South Coast district estimates that 10,000 to 20,000 of the dirtiest vehicles would be detected. Smog regulators lack the authority to order drivers to dump dirty cars, but they can offer incentives.

hey and all of you guys out there in the sunny valley could always send those bad@$#% machines to ohio,ill take good care of them for ya!! don

Just in case DeTom ends up with too many cars to care for, I just want to offer my garage and driveway space. I can currently accommodate several more DeTomaso cars. Of course the older, and thus more polluting, Mangustas are more than welcome. No worries about pesky pollution laws up here in the great-white north. We have lots of fresh air and anything older than 1980 something is smog exempt anyway. Of course, most (winter-driven) cars here don’t last that long anyway due to salt & ice on the roads. Sadly, we do have to cover our own repairs, and our gas is running about $3.40 US per gallon.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Charlton:
Just in case DeTom ends up with too many cars to care for, I just want to offer my garage and driveway space. I can currently accommodate several more DeTomaso cars. Of course the older, and thus more polluting, Mangustas are more than welcome. No worries about pesky pollution laws up here in the great-white north. We have lots of fresh air and anything older than 1980 something is smog exempt anyway. Of course, most (winter-driven) cars here don’t last that long anyway due to salt & ice on the roads. Sadly, we do have to cover our own repairs, and our gas is running about $3.40 US per gallon.

That's thge spirit Mark. Between you and me and I am sure sevral other volunteers we can save these magnificent Panteras from the car crusher. We are such magnanimous folks, we ought to get a medal for our volunteer work.

Gawd I love California! they can crush my car, after they pry the steering wheel from my cold dead fingers.

Mark C & DeTom,

how big are those driveways? you do realize the majority of Panteras sold world wide were sold here in sunny southern California?

I have seen California smog laws come and go, and come and go, like the swinging of a pendulum. I have 4 bits of advice for any California owners; drink a beer, don't get excited, roll with the punches, drink another beer. Or come by my place for a buttery nipple & watch the 18 to 20 year old girls swimming in my pool! That should get your mind off smog laws.

Your friend on the PIBB, George

Well I have about three quarters of an acre but I own it all clear up to outer space and clear down to the earths core. You can stack a lot of panteras in that space since they ain't very tall at all.

Ha, nice reading the posts. I bet you wouldn’t find that comedy on a Ferrari chat room.

If anyone knows more official word on this business of on-the-road sniffers and what it really means if caught, that would be great. Although we are exempt from the formal testing in order to maintain our registration due to the year of our cars, I am not sure exactly what this means for us if caught with the on-the-road sniffer: (1) get it fixed, (2) crush it, or (3) have our registration revoked, in which we can keep our cars as trophies in our garage…I prefer to use it as a fancy picnic table.

This is all fine and dandy that the state will fix these cars for free. But many nice modified cars have several engine alterations, which may kick up the emissions somewhat. And who knows what happens once the government pops our deck lids. They may then require everything to be stock compliant in order to meet emissions. So keep your old rusty stock engines around, as you may need it someday.

And for all you non-CA boys, you know whatever starts in CA, spreads everywhere (maybe bikini thongs are an exception in the winter however).

Jan,

whoa with that shot gun dude! LOL

The program is referred to as remote sensing, it is implemented by parking a van containing infra-red smog equipment along a roadway, most likely at freeway on ramps. your car's exhaust emissions will be tested for carbon monoxide & hydrocarbons as you accelerate up the on ramp & a photo of the license plate taken. programs like this are already underway in other areas of the country, like Denver Colorado. If the remote sensing program finds you in violation, you will be referred by mail to take your car to a regular smog station for inspection. All cars 1966 and newer have some degree of smog equipment on board, and the government expects you to maintain that equipment regardless of what model year your car is, so obviously, if it is removed, you are in violation and would fail a visual inspection. At this time, no cars are exempted from these tests. I don't have much other info. If you suspect an on ramp is being monitored, don't use it, or motor by slowly until you are past the van. Nailing the accelerator pumps on a double pumper Holley as you pass the test point is a sure way to raise your hydrocarbon emissions!

For a bit more info, check out the link below:

http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/2004/gs040428.10.html

your friend on the PIBB, George

I've had some thoughts to add regarding the remote sensing program. Currently, all vehicles in California 1975 or older are exempt from the bi-annual smog inspections required to register automobiles in this state. That is the only thing they are exempt from. They have never been exempted from keeping the smog controls installed on them 100% functional, or from the "gross polluter" laws. Of course once they became exempt from the bi-annual smog inspections everyone sighed a breath of relief, because now they could hot rod their older cars without worry of having to pass smog. But hot rodders modifying the engine of any car built after 1965 understand that they are breaking the law when they do so.

The Federal Government has put pressure on California because the LA basin still has the worst air quality in the nation (in terms of hydrocarbons & carbon monoxide). Remote sensing is the current beaurocratic answer to better vehicle emission control. I see big problems with the program but I won't go there now.

No car is exempt from remote sensing, but from this point forward I'm only guessing how the program will be imnplemented. I assume it will have to be enforced like a fix it ticket. If your car is identified as a polluter, you will be instructed to report to a smog station for visual & tail pipe emission inspection within a certain number of days. If you fail the inspection, you will have a certain number of days to bring the vehicle into compliance, or face penalties.

I'll close with 2 observations. First, there have always been smog station operators who are sympathetic to the plight of the hot rodder, you just have to know how to find them. Second, enthusiast who hot rod sport compacts, Mustangs and other vehicles have found ways to make major amounts of horsepower while maintaining the ability to pass the visual inspection and emissions tests.

your friend on the PIBB, George

Thanks for your insight George. My powder coater should be done powder coating my fabricated gun rack soon for the rear window of my Pantera…PPG Dark Cranberry for color contrast.

Since most people with show cars only take their modified cars out on occasion, I don’t think we are heavy polluters overall, but da law is da law. I could just see all the gum shoe’s & flat foot’s out there setting up these sniffers at entrances to car shows, as well as the local Welfare Departments.

In regards to smog station operators, I suspect most of us would have to go to a state operated referee station to ensure fixes are done. Trust me, this is hell. I had a problem with my stock engine Maserati Biturbo because they didn’t like the way it looked under the hood. Although it was clean at the pipes, it almost got scraped due to the visual inspection, which only was funky because their books didn’t match the way my engine was set up, and nothing was ever altered on that stock engine. Everyone will see if they ever end up at a state referee station…be ready to take at least a week off from work to deal with it all.

LOL!

All grins here Jan

Is that a billet gun rack?

How the state intends to handle the inspections is unknown, the program is only in the "pilot" stage at this point. My guess is if it gets the thumbs up they will probably create too much traffic to route it all to a state referee station. This is an amazingly expensive program to implement for a state that had to elect an actor to get it out of a fiscal crisis.

I think most engines, even the engine in DOES 200, can be tuned to pass by the sniffer safely. Once the government announces at what levels the citations will be issued, a dyno guy can tune you to pass. Another "guess" on my part, I would think they will target the gross polluters first, but down the road they will tighten the allowable emission limits.

Your friend on the PIBB, George

You are right George, there are ways to make most any car pass if it is properly prepared. Kinda like a piss test for steriods, you give them what they want. I think it would only be only fair to have the sniffing van get within a foot from the back of DOES200's car while he is traveling at freeway speed. Then the sniffer could make sure that he is sniffing the right vehicle.( I can picture his sniffer getting smaller and smaller in the mirror..LOL) If they do it remote with a laser,, why not just spray some of that invisible license plate spray on it? If somone points a laser at me I will automaticly think that he is trying to blind the pilot, a terrorist act he must be willing to die for. Icould not restrain myself around your pool...all those buttery young nipples..

I am really more concerned with the visual inspection than at the tail pipe. Once they find you with the sniffer, then they pop the hood at the gates of hell station, and find you need all those smog gismos such as charcoal canister and whatever else BS stuff. Thank God for duct tape to glue all that stuff on.

Since I drive my cars only on occasion, I am not really that worried, but just don’t like the fact of the matter. And I used to lift with the Govna Arnie. What happened to you Arnie?

Guess I better get to tuning it up, but keep the gun rack just in case: