Smog test in California lowered to 1972

[usatrade]

Hi Cal older Alfa owners

I was at our our local DMV Wednesday to get a 60 day permit for my 79 Spider as it failed the smog test (lack of air pump).
The lady I delt with at the DMV said "such a nice automobile fix it quick and get it back on the road" She knew exactly what the Spider was.
But she also said " we are most probably going to make the smog tests mandatory for cars as of 1972 very soon";

Of course I have no way of checking this now but coming from the mouth of a car knowlegeable person at the DMV it could be true.

Might be worth checking at various DMV's for those owning 72, 73 or 74's Alfa's.

Claude

[PlaysWithCars]

After several years of interaction with the California and Oregon DMV, I have concluded that whatever an employee says requires secondary verification. More often than not, if I don't agree with the answer, I just go back again to a different employee or a different DMV office until I get an answer I can live with. And if I like the first answer, I will wait until the same employee is again available. Most of the time I have been successful with this strategy.

I've had them tell me I had to smog my 1967 Ford Mustang.
I've also been told my 1974 Jensen Healey was never imported into the US, nor my 1986 Bertone.

The best story involved smogging my 1977 Dodge motorhome, wearing Fiat Strada badges as a joke. The technician asked me "What year is your..uhm... Strada?" I replied "It's a 1977 Dodge motorhome." He replied with "Ok, what year is your Dodge Strada?" <sigh> "It's a 1977."

"Hmmm, I can't find a Dodge Strada in the computer. What year did you say it was?" At this point I just had to laugh...

Now I'm not trying to malign all the employees of the DMV, just reporting my experiences with some of them.

[Pat Braden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by usatrade Hi Cal older Alfa owners I was at our our local DMV Wednesday to get a 60 day permit for my 79 Spider as it failed the smog test (lack of air pump). The lady I delt with at the DMV said "such a nice automobile fix it quick and get it back on the road" She knew exactly what the Spider was. But she also said " we are most probably going to make the smog tests mandatory for cars as of 1972 very soon"; Of course I have no way of checking this now but coming from the mouth of a car knowlegeable person at the DMV it could be true. Might be worth checking at various DMV's for those owning 72, 73 or 74's Alfa's. Claude

[usatrade]

Hi again

As I said this lady knew Alfa's very well and said (as I said) "probably";

We usually say "there is no smoke without fire". I think it is worth checking further by all of us concerned in CA.

claude

[RossoGTV4Me]

That would not happen. It would cost CA so much money to provide owners with credits to make the cars not OE equipped with smog equipment. If anything I see them continuing with not moving the eligible car years ahead. (i.e. 75" will stand as the eternal cutoff).

[sfalfa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RossoGTV4Me That would not happen. It would cost CA so much money to provide owners with credits to make the cars not OE equipped with smog equipment. If anything I see them continuing with not moving the eligible car years ahead. (i.e. 75" will stand as the eternal cutoff).

[sh0rtlife]

up here in oregon its been 1975 and set there since around 95ish .....honestly with californication and there "everything causes cancer" BS i can see them rolling it all the way back to 1970 when emission controls became standard on most cars.......smogging ANYTHING made befor 1970 is pointless as there were no controls for smog

[BlueSpider]

The CA Department of Consumer Affairs publishes the below on their website:

"Beginning April 1, 2005, the 30-year rolling exemption has been repealed. Instead, vehicles 1975 model-year and older will be exempt. Therefore, 1976 model-year and newer vehicles will continue to be subject to biennial inspection indefinitely".

Also, I just learned by reading on the topic - effecive this month, a new test has been added : the Visible Smoke Test. Read about it here http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/ftp/pdfd...ter2008_R4.pdf

[Zunige]

Actually, the criteria using 1975 as the cut-off year makes perfect sense to me...

Best regards,

[PSB]

Also concerned in CA.
I am not saying what I think of this state and there BS ....Such a great place Only so bad because of the elected people ect etc etc etc .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ...........................

[jimcra]

In California, it wouldn't surpise me one bit if annual smog checks were made mandatory to make a few bucks.

As California real estate prices have slowed, so has the flipping, to a dead halt. Say a person buys a home for $400K and sells 9 months later for $800K, the property tax revenue collected in Calif has just doubled. This has ended and the wonderful elected officials (national, state and county) will be looking at anyway to dig into your pocket to balance their inflated budgets.

Look at Obamas ridiculous capital gain tax idea in a slowing economy. What do you think would happen to housing prices if capital gains were raised as he wants. To between 25% and 35%???? People with no equity have already bailed, the rest with huge equity, if it made sense, would bail also.

[Gary labate]

This might be a problem...

From: SEMA Action Network
Date sent 03/17/2008 03:03:01 pm
Subject: SEMA Legislative Alert: Old Car Emissions Exemption Threatened in 8 California Counties...

SEMA Legislative Alert: Old Car Emissions Exemption Threatened in 8 California Counties...

[Nicola]

I'm certain the Governator's multiple Hummers will remain exempt.

[Tifosi]

Huh?

I didn't know his wife did stuff like that, or at least wouldn't have imagined it based on her public persona.

Ya learn something new every day I guess.....

[Nicola]

One needs to be careful about what one posts on public forums....