Re: Help requested

[TJCallahan@domain.elided]

A good request, one that we all (in the USA) should help with as it *will* 
hit home eventually. Here are some thoughts I had:

> - -the number of cars currently on the road older than 30 years from date
> of manufacturer is statistically small.

Get this from the CA DMV. You can request just numbers, probably for a 
specific date (as of 'today,' for instance). I'd ask for the breakdown of: 1. 
Total # of cars registered in CA; and 2. Totals for specific age categories 
(make up your categories but keep them to a reasonable number so that a state 
worker won't have reason to poo-poo your request. You may need to enlist the 
help of a friendly attorney or other individual licensed with the state - the 
gov't people are more responsive to handing out stats to people they can find 
easily, should something unfortunate ever happen because of the data 
requested (this is one way you trace the previous ownership of your historic 
vehicle, ask you attorney to request the info for "historic and info purposes 
only").

My thoughts on categories: 1968 (35 years ago) was the first year emissions 
requirements were on the books, so make your first category '36 years old and 
older'. 1974 was the first year cars were required to run on unleaded fuel 
from the factory, so your second category could be '1968-1973' or '29-35' 
years old. From there, it's sort of arbitrary until EFI came in strong across 
the spectrum in the late 80's. Maybe one for 1974-1988 (14-28 years old) and 
one for 1989-present (0-13 years old) would cover it - a total of four 
categories.

> - -those that are on the road tend to be "well-kept", restored "pleasure"
> cars that are kept in excellent mechanical order and are not driven
> frequently.  They are not "daily-drivers". 
Ummm, not sure I'd make this argument. Fresno and the central valley have a 
LOT of older vehicles used by migrant farm workers. Those aren't usually 
concourse examples.

> - -most cars built prior to 1974 had little in the way of smog-equipment
when they were manufactured.  There is no economically feasible manner
in which to reduce the emissions of a car for which low emissions
(relative to modern standards) were not a design objective.  

See the categories, above. 1968 was the first year for emissions and each 
year thereafter has its own standards vehicles had to meet.

Additionally, you may like to consider the age-old Democratic argument 
(depending on what your numbers from above tell you) -- IF the numbers of 30+ 
year old cars is statistically insignificant (as you are suspecting), putting 
the monkey of emissions on those owners is to single out a specific group of 
people and balance the budget on their backs. It may work to your advantage 
to consider talking with farm-workers groups to see if any coalition can be 
arranged (see the comment about the Fresno-area vehicles, above).

Hope some of this makes sense to you.

Tom
Seattle
6310123 (no emissions or safety standards to speak of)
7711615 (almost the worst year for both)
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