RE: [ihc] About those parking brakes .....

[Tom Harais <THarais@xxxxxxxxx>]

Mac:

Mac:

Only vehicles produced for MY 1976 and later, except for vehicles less than
4 years old, are required to have a Smog check in California upon change of
ownership or biennially.  1975 and earlier vehicles are exempt ------------
for now.  ARB has made statements about wanting to pull those in too! They
noted:  "There are about 50,000 1976 and earlier vehicles registered in
California.  They pollute up to 122 times as much as a new car."  There
unstated goal is to get those off the road but not have to compensate
anyone.  Its government at it's worst.

Their failures are:

1) Even if there are 50,000 earlier model vehicles on the road (see next
item) and they do emit 122 times as many pollutants as a new car when
operating, there are over 36,000,000 registered vehicles in the state.  That
comes out to just over 1/10th of a percent 0.14% of all registered vehicles
in the state.  Not a significant number to pass special legislation for.

2) Even if they do pollute 122 times as much as a new car (what science they
base this on is subject to conjecture, just as their comment was in the
first place), in the overwhelming majority of cases they aren't being driven
anywhere near as frequently, time or distance wise, as a new car.  I'm sure
that many of the pre-76 vehicles registered are "trailer queen" show cars
and such.  Even my less-than-show-quality Scout which sees 1,000 miles/year
if it's lucky, adds less to the air pollution problem than my neighbor's
Prius that gets driven 30,000 miles annually.  They need to get some solid
facts and do some serious math before cooking up plans that cost John Q
millions of dollars with dubious public benefits.  

But believe me, you don't want to question ARB scientists.  I have. :-(  In
fact, one that I've worked with quite a bit likes to call herself "Doctor"
because she has a PhD.  But, her PhD is in something like food science and
not physics, chemistry, medicine or biology.  She is also a do-gooder, '60's
throwback who refuses to recognize that times have changed.  She hates
"profit" and "corporations".  She believes that "businesses" such as the
auto makers, are the sworn enemies of regulators such as her because they
are greedy and corrupt and could care less about the environment.  Don't
ever try to tell here that businesses, same as governmental agencies, are
just human organizations with all the good and bad that the sum of the
people that compromise them entail.  Nope.  For her it's government good,
business bad.  It's that black and white.

I do not believe Mac that you have to have a pre-76 vehicle Smog inspected
if brought in from out of state at this time.  That went away with the "out
of state smog fees" that was ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court a
few years back.

I'm surprised that you can keep your vehicles registered in California while
living in Texas.  Here, you have twenty days from entering the state to get
them registered in CA.  There is a non-resident military exemption, but even
it doesn't include everyone under every circumstance.

http://www.dmv.org/ca-california/motor-vehicles-vehicle-registration.php


Tom H., '76 Traveler