On Thu, 30 Oct 1997 suchak@mediaone.net wrote:
> Darrell Leach wrote:
> >
> >
> > And a '73 motor in a '74 car would still have to meet '74 specs (and smog).
> > In fact a '74 motor in a '63 would have to meet '74 smog, and thus be
> > smogged every other year.
> >
>
> Hey Darrell,
>
> I'm not sure about every state, so there's a good chance I'm wrong, but
> I've always understood this to be the opposite.. A 74 motor in a 63
> would have to meet the specs (none) for 63, the year of the vehicle's
> manufacture. Just as a 63 motor in a 74 car would have to meet 74
> standards. It's the year the car was manufactured, not the motor.
>
> Then again, with some of the stuff you hear about California, I'd
> believe almost anything..
>
I'm almost positive that the laws in California are as stated by Darrell
Leach. I believe the purpose is to prevent circumventing the smog
policies here, which are pretty strict. One could get older blocks with
an "old" serial number and build up an "old" engine to completely get out
of smog testing altogether. I've got a few friends that have imported
"gray market" cars (not exactly the same thing) and gone through a pretty
painful smog certification process. On the other hand I brought in two
"49 state" cars when I moved here in '86 and prepared myself for a major
battle with the smog testers when I first got them licensed, but there was
never any problem. I was worried that they were going to test them to
California standards when they were built to non-CA standards, but they
typed the VIN numbers in the machine and tested them to the "as built"
standards.
Whether one agrees with the laws or not, my understanding is from natives
that the air quality now is SIGNIFICANTLY better than it was in the late
60's, early 70's. Its not great now, so it must have been pretty bad back
then.
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