A friend of mine is moving to Santa Cruise Califoria and has an older 66 Chev truck with a mild small block. Can anybody tell me what he can expect as far as getting the thing inspected in California. Do they offer any kind of "Antique" registration for older vehicles. Thanks Walter
I own a '66 Ford truck here in California. Your friend will have no issues to contend with. It is exempt (as of today!).
Misconception there... It's NOT exempt from having all it's factory smog equipment on it, PCV etc. It's just not going to be tested to register it or on a biannual basis like '76 -on cars are. IF you get stopped for something else, obvious engine smoke, street racing, ***hole cop who just wants a bust, they CAN inspect it for the equipment. ANYONE with a '66-'75 car here, if you modify you're engine , keep ALL the stock stuff in a box so you can put it back on if the smog NAZIs ever reverse the current law. In California, they only usta test back to '66 because the FEDs didn't establish any figures to test them too earlier than that. They usta require a "NOX kit" be put on the older cars but the one guy who made the only approved kits, and got it approved, (how's that for a legal forced monopoly, fair?) decided he wanted to go out of business so he got the govt. to no longer require it. It was only ever checked when the car exchanged owners.
Tell me how many cops know what is required on a early car? not to many! where is there training? they don't have any! modern car they can see if a cat is missing or whatnot but on the early cars i don't think so. yeah the NOX kit was a joke, just kept it from advancing the timing before it was warmed up.
I was thinking that this was an inspection decal like the ones in Penna. Did Cali ever have inspections or was this war related?
Did Cali ever initiate the SMOG DOG program? If so, the Dogs will get your pic and then investigate your smog problem.
California DID have CHP Random Equipment inspections up into the '70's, Kinda like how they now have Drunk Driver road blocks... But those are LONG gone. You only have to worry about Equipment checks if your car is Modified & the Cop in question wants to be an *** HOLE. Your friend However WILL have to have a VEHICLE VIN SEARCH done when he trys to register the car in California from out of state. Make sure he has ALL his paper work in line before he even tries.
The 66 will not be required to have a smog inspection. It will need a VIN verification which can be done by either the CHP or a bonded inspector. Being a pickup truck it will also have to have a certified weight certificate which can be done at a truck scale or other certified scale, I use a s**** metal place.
In California, there is no SMOG requirement for vehicles that are 1975 or older. There are, however, emission control requirements that need to be met.The following vehicles are considered uncontrolled (emissions, that is) vehicles: 1965 and Older : U.S. Manufactured California Certified Vehicles 1967 and Older: U.S. Manufactured Federally Certified Vehicles 1967 and Older: Foreign Manufactured Vehicles So, safe to say if it is 1966 of before, you're good to go. But, you still need to hold onto the original PCV devices, they're still required. As to police officers knowing what's allowed and what's not, it really isn't that hard to learn - anything that is in the emission control system - adjustable fuel rack, adjustable cam gears, air intakes, PCV breathers, etc. I haven't known officers to stop somebody with an old hot rod for an inspection, it's usually for the import racers.
Total non issue here Iv been driving hot rods for nearly 35 years in this state. Iv been pulled over countless times and never had my equipment looked at in a legal way, most cops kinda dig it.
Some of the CHP go way out of there way to know all this stuff. I was stopped in my 1961 VW (back in the 1980s when I was into VWs) with no decklid and duel carbs, written a smog ticked for not having a tube from the oil breather to the air cleaner (the only smog equipment in 1961) I was shocked because I thought my car was smog exempt but I was wrong. luckily all I had to do was put the tube on and get it checked off at the CHP office rather then p*** a smog check. Back then I would sometimes get 3 to low tickets in one day but thank god for some reason the CHP has really back off on fix it tickets
The 1944 Cert. shown by TOMMY is the License for 1944. That was a peak year for shortages of metal for the war. The cert. was put in the window of the car. 1945 was metal shortages also so only 1 metal plate was issued for a car.
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