Here in Michigan, we had a smog check up until the first of the year.
The program had to be renewed to continue into 1996, but the Governor
fought for re-blended fuels instead (No, I haven't experienced any of
the problems mentioned so far). Our program was quite loose - the
exhaust had to be intact with CAT if originally fitted, if the vehicle
failed, the owner had to pony up to $400 for repairs, after which, if
the vehicle still failed the test you got a permanant waiver. Exempted
were cars over 10 years old, so LBC's weren't affected anyway (Also
exempt were diesels, trucks of all types, and cars owned by welfare
recipients. Hmmm- seems that the these are probably the worst
offenders!).
My question (to California, N.J. and others) is: Is there a grandfather
clause to protect people who owned cars prior to the legislation? It
would seem to me that many of the laws would include such a provision.
You couldn't sell your car to somone in the state, but it wouldn't
prevent you from using it.
Experience shows that whatever gets adopted by California, usualy ends
up affecting more and more of us as time goes by. It's important that
all of us are aware of the attempts to regulate the hobby, cause sure as
hell it will come back to bite us all in the ass sooner or later.
Regards,
Chris Delling
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