Kalifornia at it again

[jello_jeep]

I had lunch with a friend of mine, is both a lawyer (don't hold it against me) and also an avid hot rod collector. He has some nice ones.

They were having some sort of meeting in which a guy who works for BAR (Bureau of Automotive Repair) was talking to them.

He said legislation has been passed to require ALL diesel engines conform to current standard. (emission testing)!!!!! This is crazy !!!

Also passed law aimed at guys who register replica cars as historic vehicles, but makes any vehicle which is comprised of both new and used parts subject to higher license fees, plus SMOG TESTING!

By the letter, it would make almost all vintage cars fall into that category, I don't know how you could have a car more than a few years old without any used parts? Plus I guess the proof is that you have to take it to a state approved inspector, and regardless of outcome you have to pay for the inspection, as there was no provision in the law for the state to do so!

There was to be a one year "amnesty" for those that had registered the replicas improperly, and after that... its a FELONY!

Sheesh...

This will be interesting!

I am trying to think how this couldn't be true, but you would think someone from BAR giving a talk, might know what was going on?

If anyone knows different, let us know..

[flyu2there]

Warren,

Been there done that...it is crazy! I have an old Porsche (77 Turbo-Carrera) that I did battle with on SMOG for years. To pass SMOG, I had to set or have timing/advance etc. set to 77 Porsche 911 California Car Specs and it would run just enough to get it to the SMOG Guy then another complete re-tune to make it run right; all that because it was a Cal Car although they imported so few that they did not have the correct data for that particular model. I held my breath waiting for 30 years to avoid the SMOG completely...they changed the law. To be licensed in Kalifornia it must be smogged every other year ni matter how old it is....screw it, took out a non-op and I will register the thing in Arizona!

John

[GDeen]

Bad part is the people who helped put California on the road to bankruptcy and absolutely ridiculous regs, are now trying to do the same thing to the entire country.

[garyde]

Hi Warren. You only have to use your imagination to think up the most ridiculous laws and regs. You'll find California has already thought of it.
Just imagine a world where whatever comes into your mind becomes a law, welcome to California.
There is no reality.

[rfoster]

Did anyone happen to see Fox News yesterday a.m. talking about the new Presidential appointments to the Car Czar position to manage Gov't Motors?

It was Bevis, Butthead, and Dumbnuts (I forgot their real names) each drives a Japanese one a Mazda, one a Honda, and the other an Acura.

Not an American car in any of their garages.

[phorner]

I hear ya, Roger.

We used to have pride in our auto industry. Nobody else in the world had anything even close to the GTO's, Hemi-Cudas, Shelby's, GSX's, and the list could go on and on...

But that aspect of Americana is gone. There will soon be no difference between the United States of America and any other mediocre country in the world.

And with respect to Kalifornia, New Jersey isn't far behind, which is exactly why we left the minute we could afford to. NJ is losing residents and bleeding cash so fast it's alarming. And it all started by being one of the most restrictive states in the country.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

We need a good debate here about our auto industry. Government Motors and the other guys brought this in themselves with their crappy attitudes and crappier products, opening the door for the competition that is now eating their lunch. They needed to get their asses kicked and deserved it.

However, they did learn and I think the cars produced by what was once the big three (maybe not Chrysler) are as good as any in the world. Their problem now is folks still think they make the garbage they used to so it is going to take a huge effort to get back the customers they rightfully lost. It may be too little, to late because as long as the government is involved I see them having the exact same attitudes and quality as the postal service, Medicare, and government in general.

As far as the old cars with Hemis, GTOs, and other light cars with huge displacement engines, that was proof of the lack of sophistication. The foreign manufacturers followed those cars with very small displacement engines and superb handling cars that not only would outrun the big block cars, but would outhandle them. We are only now catching up in that regard also with cars like the Cadillac CTS.

I hope our car industry survives and learns from this so they can restore themselves. This country really needs places our young highly educated kids can go when they get out of school. If we keep going the way we are going they will be selling hamburgers, insurance or work for the government.

[gmcbuffalo]

Jon they will be standing in line to get a Hamburger job. The last time I was a MacD's to whole staff spoke Spanish. Outside of selling Watermelons what do high schools kids do these day to make money?
GregM

[dalej]

Don't we just love our Canadian bus though.


ps, we have a Ford, Lincoln and Buick in our garage.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I should mention we have a Corvette, an H2 Hummer and a Dodge pickup in the garage. All excellent and very reliable. We also have an S430 Mercedes, a POS, but after 3 years of grief the last 4 have been trouble free. No more Mercedes for me.