They're at it again. California legislators not ready to give up the fight to restrict collector cars with ridiculous emissions requirements after the defeated SB42, now has more oppressive legislation pending. Why again? California has failed miserably in meeting air quality goals and is looking for a quick fix. SB708 proposes to repeal the current pro-collector car legislation and replace it with an exemption for vehicles 45 years old or older. What this means is that if your car was not made before 1960 if this bill passes, you will most likely have to take it off the road until after it's 45th birthday. This effectively will eliminate Mavericks and Comets from the streets of California to say nothing of Mustangs, Camaros, you name it. Now, why should any of us outside of California care? Where do you think many of our "clean air" laws on a Federal level originate from? ALL of you, right now especially Californians, must realize that the liberal environmental lobby in this country doesn't give a damn about your investments, your love of the hobby, or anything else other than their single minded agenda. If we do not ALL stay vigilant and active, we stand to lose the cars we love so much because of the stroke of a beaurocratic pen.

Californians...contact your state senators IMMEDIATELY. Express your outrage and demand defeat of SB708. If you don't know who your senator is, contact SEMA at 916-445-4311 or online info is available on legislators at www.enjoythedrive.com/legislative/contactlegislator.asp. You can also contact SEMA's Washington office at 202-783-6007-ext.39.

It's time to get hot, people. This threat is REAL and it's today! It's not going to go away unless WE do something about it.

(Info ontained from Special Interest Autos magazine, June '03 edition.)

No offense to the 'good' people of California, but that state is a PITA !

Maybe one day an earthquake will cause it to drop off the map - leaving only the Republicans and a few Demos who are closet Repubs.


:shake head:

No offense to the people who are writing and responding to the post who do not live in California but as someone who does, they are constantly trying to get rid of emissions exemptions for our old cars, I have called and complained and all that I hear is that there are more pressing issues for our senators and reps to deal with, such as budget cuts for this state's schools (which directly affects me since I am a college student), cutting public health care, and so on. We are more worried about our electricity being turned off because of shortages. This is not ment as a slam but rather as a note saying that "they" threaten these laws all the time we are used to it.
Jerilyn

I'm not worried about it. It probably won't pass. they always have crap like that here. I live in the same town as jerilyn. but anyways. I don't see it passing.

we had a similar issue here in Arkansas this past session. The democrats introduced a bill that would allow all cars 40 yrs old or older to be emissions exempt. Anything newer had to have the required equipment, and had to be tested. Of course it was stupid because no one here has the facility to test emissions, so the bill was shot down almost immediately.

You Californians have good points, but you still need to be vigilant and vocal to help defeat bills like this one. One big problem is that several environmental laws that got passed in California in the past were used as models for National laws. One worrisome point is the one you make Jerilyn, no offense intended for sure, about being used to these bills being introduced. Complacency always allows the self serving in our society, like the environmentalists, to get things past the rest of us. Let's hope that SB708 has the same fate as it's predecesor. God bless you guys under Gov. Grey. We have the next 4 years of worry here with Rendell.

Yes, they try something like this almost every year. No, it hasn't been passed yet. But there is a very good chance that it could pass this time simply because everyone is more worried about other things.

Please, if you live in CA, contact your representatives about this and let them know you are adamently opposed. This is just the sort of bill that slips under the radar when no one is looking.

I promise to do my part. Honestly, I don't think that this bill will pass for three reasons, 1. There is a huge classic car lobby in california, 2. Californians are adamant about their cars and being able to drive them anyway they want, and 3. There is a lot of money that drives the reps in this state to vote one way or another and that car lobby mentioned earlier has a lot of dough. But, I could be wrong! I will pray and be vigilant. Although I do have to give the enviornmentalist (sp) a point, the smog is killer in L.A. and the SFV. However they need to get most of the cars that should be legally gross polluters off the road, cause their cars are polluting way more than my well maintained classic. California should also have a safety inspection that is more thorough. There are some real hazards on the roads. And one last thing, the comment about the earthquake (don't remember who posted it) not funny.
Jeri

Idiots. The majority of ALL air pollution comes from commercial vehicles and factories. Targeting the small group of collector-car enthusiasts isn't going to clean up the air one bit. I swear, this country is becoming more & more like the Soviet Union all the time...

Welcome to the Socialist State of California. Lets hope the Recall Grey Davis actually gets enough signatures to go on the ballot. A crazed weasel couldnet do more damage to our state than he and his "pay to play" associates in Sacramento have done.

Now if we could just get rid of the idea of "Pollution Credits", the people and companies responsible for creating smog would be made responsible for cleaning it up. What a concept.

Environmentalists.....don't get me started on environmentalists.

:mad:

Having just finally passed emissions in Pheonix I sympathaize. I failed twice and then had to have the carb rebuilt. The carb guy said that "these Mavericks were just not built to run that lean" to meet such strict requirements. Here you are not exempt (unless you live outside the county) unless you have a 1968 year car or older.

Hell! We could all move to TEXAS! I hear there's room there,and they don't give a damn about smog,and if You vote there it's counted in Florida also (ten times over)

Up here in Canada all the feds care about is making sure our cars dont have rust holes in them so the exhaust doenst get in .


I feel for you guys

right on wes, there still trying to piggyback bills like this through in California? i know there's a lot of emission testing buzz in the news around here lately too and that scares me.. a lot of people got screwed when they started that stuff here. and yeah,We do have the next 4 years of worry here with Rendell.

Rick Book-What kind of statement is that??? So you & your state are pretty squared away, huh??? How's the U.S. economy doing these days???
California does have some serious issues at this time. You would think that our state government has much bigger fish to fry. We were told for years that diesel trucks did not polute the air significantly. As it turns out, they were blowing smoke up our a$$ & these vehicles are serious polluters. But legislating emissions standards to that industry would have serious effects on shipping thoughout the U.S. Therefore, that industry is continiously left alone to poluute our environment. Similar legislation has not passed previously due to the high volume of collectors here in this state that are very wealthy, especially in the entertainment business. Jay Leno has spear headed many of these anti emission bills that effect the collector car hobby. I for one, will do what it takes to help ensure that this bill does not pass. Remember, several of our state senators are in fact collector car hobbiests.
Sure glad I put a 5.0 EFI motor in my Mav. I just gotta figure out what to do with all my other collector cars if this thing passes.

I'm glad to see the feedback increasing on this topic. We only have emission testing in a couple of the heaviest populated counties with the threat of it spreading. So far, we've kept it a bay to a large degree as we are afraid of things turning like California or Arizona. The last thing we needed here was allowing another Democrat into the Governor's seat, but the sheep allowed it to happen. We cannot allow ourselves to be sheep on this. I wrote about this when the last bills tried to be passed in "Hot Rod News" here and will revisit it later this summer. Being informed is a very important thing to do. I read various automotive magazines devoted to classics and collector cars. This is how I get the info. I feel obligated to pass this along to all of my bretheren so I post when I hear something like this come along. Pass the word to all you know in the hobby, Maverick owners and others. No state is immune and the Feds undoubtedly will try again.

Spoken like a true Republican. I myself am a conservative Democrate and although Davis is a Dem. he is not really a rep. of myself. California has so many problems and unfortuantely the car issue is somewhat more insignificant. As many have said before apathy and acceptance towards an eminant threat is disgraceful we must also take the time to turn our attention to more pressing concerns. I am sure that any self-respecting classic car owner will see that this is an important issue, but I also ask that those people see that it is only one of many, many others that need immediate attention.

Maybe they keep introducing this type of bill so that they can keep getting paid off by the lobbyists. First they collect from the enviromentalists to introduce the bill, then they collect from tthe hobbyists to vote it down. I think I'm in the wrong line of work! :rolleyes: