Vintage car laws

cool!

Nice to read about classic car hobbyists getting a break from their government.

-G

I re-read things, and I think the latest bill says 30-year-old cars...

Thats interesting because Washington State is trying to pass a bill removing the vintage tags which you only pay once and throwing us into the yearly renewal group now. I wrote my legislators, may have to vote them all out here again next election. I had what must have been the lone republican on the transportation board respond back to me, the others added me to their campaign spam lists. Pissed me off.

In So. Calif. some local car clubs have joined together along with a local Assemblyman to write a similar bill the that of Utah's. This bill would exempt classic cars form smog check 1975 and older. There is still some discussion as to the details such as: Will mileage be limited? Is the additonal fee a one time fee? or is it yearly. We are currently proposing that the state use the funds to convert busses to natural gas or some other form of clean energy. Unfortunately, this state is so full of tree huggers that hate our cars we have to give and give plenty in order to get. I for one will keep my fingers crossed.

When I know more I can start a new thread to encourage all Calif. gear heads on this forum to support the AB.

In California, 1975 and older cars are currently exempt from smog checks. The law used to be rolling in that cars 30 years old are smog check exempt. They changed the law sometime around 2005 and froze it for 1975 and older. Here is the link to DMV website:

http://dmv.ca.gov/vr/smogfaq.htm

Here is some text from the website:

Does my vehicle qualify for a smog exemption?
Smog inspections are required unless your vehicle is:

Hybrid
Gasoline powered 1975 year model or older
Diesel ...

For a collector plate in Wisconsin, you pay a one time fee of $200 for the first collector plate. The vehicle needs to only be 20 years old as well. If you have more than one collector car, you can apply for more than one collector plate for $150 per additional car. Smog rules are varied by county in Wisconsin. Pretty much if you live in a huge metropolitan area (i.e. Madison or Milwaukee) you may have to get your car smogged every so often. Where I live, there is no smog testing requirement; so that is pretty much the only good things about where I live. No smog laws, one time collector plates, and really cool empty roads to drive on. The only problem is, there is really no where very good to eat once you get there, and my cars have to hibernate all winter long; and it has been a LONG winter here........

quote:

Originally posted by SteveBuchanan:
In California, 1975 and older cars are currently exempt from smog checks. The law used to be rolling in that cars 30 years old are smog check exempt. They changed the law sometime around 2005 and froze it for 1975 and older. Here is the link to DMV website:


http://dmv.ca.gov/vr/smogfaq.htm

Here is some text from the website:

Does my vehicle qualify for a smog exemption?
Smog inspections are required unless your vehicle is:

Hybrid
Gasoline powered 1975 year model or older
Diesel ...

Yup, thats why I also have an MBZ desiel POS that smokes to high heaven to avoid the smog cops. I love CA.

quote:

Originally posted by Hustler:
Thats interesting because Washington State is trying to pass a bill removing the vintage tags which you only pay once and throwing us into the yearly renewal group now.

For the most part politicians fall into two categories. The Prius driving left that feel all the non-emission, unsafe at any speed classics should be banned from public roads to save the planet and us from ourselves. And on the right we have the driven by money club where the number of digits involved is in proportion to how much protection, care, interest (or lack thereof) a person, topic, right, or law receives.

Now I am not saying we should roll over and accept ridiculous fee's and rules, but if revenue generating fee's are not high enough or often enough (so you gave me $45 twenty years ago, what have you done for me lately) to be an asset to one group, in short order we will find ourselves on the "to do" list of the other (out of need to look good and justify election). Or we had better be ready to retro fit to current emissions and crash standards or else this hobby will be killed.

The enemy of our enemy is our friend.

ParaPantera,

Another solution would be to move with your feet if you've had enough. A lot of people have done just that from Michigan, New York, Illinois, to a place called Texas and Florida........

I, for one, refuse to accept increase after increase as "justified" for everything. And at some point, their is the straw that broke the camel's back...... We live in different times now.

Mark

Steve, In Calif. 1975 and older vehicles are "exept from bi-annual smog inspection". This does not mean that they do not need to comply. IE remain stock. What we are trying to do is get them exempted period. Look at what CARB (california air recources board) is trying to do the the diesel trucks. All it takes is for CARB to change their minds and our cars are back into the smog program. We are much more vulnerable than most of us know.

ItalFord or anyone else out in CA,

If one has any out of state license plate on a car being driven in California, does said car have to pass an emission test at any time when in CA? I mean, the car is not licensed or registered in any way in CA, just driven there, does the local Gestapo have any authority for getting the car smogged?

Just curious?

Thanks,

Mark

DeMopuar, So far no. Not that I am aware of. I have however seen two types of roadside inspections. One is a drive thru sniffer system with cameras. If you do not pass they send you a letter and ask you to fix your car. etc. etc. The second is an actual roadside dyno. They randomly choose cars to be tested. I do not know if this one is mandatory or not.

Like I said earlier we are exempt from Bi-Annual inspection for now as long as CARB will allow it. That is why we are trying to change the law to allow collector cars to be completely exempt.

Regarding out of state registered vehicles, California law states that "Vehicle registration fees are due immediately upon accepting employment or establishing residency in the State of California", and you have "only 20 days to complete the process of registering your vehicle without paying a penalty".

There are State employees that look for vehicles with out of state license plates, and there is even an online form (to report out of state license plates) that can be filled out by anyone and sent to the DMV.

John

Mark,

As a fellow Wisconsonite, I discovered an alternative registration option-- "Hobbyist". At first it sounded like this new classification was tailor-made for my car, and would be a good alternative to "Collector". My car is a Pantera "sleeper", in that the exterior is little changed but sporting a Ford Racing BigBlock engine and a stock-appearing interior, recreated in leather. Hobbyist is for vehicles that are 20 years or older and have been modified from the manufacturer's specifications. Then I read the fine print:

"If the vehicle qualifies as a reconstructed...vehicle, you will receive a notice from WisDOT to have the vehicle inspected. Take the notice with the vehicle for inspection by a Wisconsin State Patrol officer."

I have a strong sense that bringing my car in to the State Patrol will be like diving down the rabbit hole. A painfull past experience registering a "Hardly-Davidson" I built tells me that these rules tend to be arbitrary and capricious. Since there are no rules as to what passes and what does not, it is open to the interpretation of the officer that happens to be evaluating your car.

And to top it all off, since the last Collector car I registered less than a year ago, they have now added the requirement that you send in pictures of the car's exterior, interior and engine bay to document that your car has not been modified in any way As if those bureaucrats in Madison don't have enough to concern themselves with! Collector and Hobbyist cars are such a small percentage of the vehicles on the road, and an even smaller percentage of cars causing accidents and other problems for the public. Do these politicians feel they have to control everything? Now I'm ranting.

Matt

@italford-huh WHAT?! Prior to '73 there is no smog equipment to make a requirement therefore a car is in compliance. '74 an '75 are the only issues....Secondly you only need to comply AFTER the law changes. As it stands now you can run what ever you want on a pre '75. When, if, the law changes you will need to change back to the stock smog polluting setup.....Exempt DOES mean you don't have to comply when there is nothing to comply TO.

I've driven most of the central Cali area (San Francisco to San Diego) on a regular basis over the last 8 years and have NEVER seen a roadside smog inspection area. Is there an area where these are predominatley located?

Hi Miles, hope all is well

Technically you're wrong on the emissions equipment issue.

All automobiles sold in the US as of 1966 have some sort of emissions equipment. FEDERAL law says it is illegal to remove or modify that equipment in any way ... period. That law has never changed. Of course, the Federal government never inspects our cars, they leave that up to the states. Compliance with the Federal law has been left to the states to determine.

California law cannot over-ride Federal law and permit anyone to remove or tamper with the installed emissions controls. No agency has ever given any individual the right to remove or tamper with those controls, across the 50 states. The term EXEMPT means to be exempt from inspection only, it has never meant that a vehicle is exempt from the Federal requirement to have those controls in the first place. However if no agency visually inspects your car, nobody is going to know if you have removed or tampered with its emissions controls. That's the catch 22 that works in our favor.

take care

-G

Hi Matt,

Thank GOD I received the collector plates before the photo thing -- that may have been ugly. No proof, no foul..... I live in a place in Wisconsin that is far from the Madison foolishness. I really do not think that I will have trouble. All I have to think about is keep saying, stock, stock, stock...... No one around these parts even knows what the car is, let alone a stock one......

Best of luck on your car. Keep us all informed on anything you get done on it. Pictures are always good too.

Mark

FWIW, I believe the smog devices associated with the various Panteras are:
'71-72= a PCV valve in place of a road draft tube for crankcse venting.
'73-74= a PCV + the cam was retarded 4 degrees and the ignition timing advanced 4 degrees. A thermal switch & solenoid advanced engine speed when engine temp approaches 200F (this might not have been smog mandated but was simply to make the preceding two mods actually driveable).
'81-up= PCV, smog pump plus dual catalytic converters.
I could have some details scrambled. If its vital to someone, KRE of Amerisport in OH was intimately involved in this nonsense as the U.S "manufacturer" of the Pantera GT-5 and GT5-S, so he would be the one with all the correct info.

'71-72 also had the dual diaphragm (distributor) IMCO system.

John