Our Hobby under direct assault. FIGHT inoperable vehicle law

[turbokcar]

I live here in Huntington Beach, they already took my Dodge 600. What they do is tow it away, and by the time you find out where it went, the tow yard fees are so much money you can't afford to get it out. Now there is one more fact you should know about this great city I live in, we are in a historic time period in our cities history, it looks like our current Mayor will not go to prison, yup hard to believe but it's true. the last two Mayors went to prison. I feel much better knowing that there are no old cars in our city. The other wonderful thing about my city is you can ride a wheelie on your dirt bike up and down the street and try to intimidate the senior citizens and the police don't think there is any problem with that.

[streetrodjdb]

This web site may help with zoning codes and ordinance http://www.municode.com/resources/online%20Library.asp please we all need to do our part.

[84Aries]

Sorry to hear of your troubles down there in the States. We've had up to 10 cars on our 3/4 acre property for a few years now and nobody has complained. Far as I can see in the Kawartha Lakes region of Central Ontario we have no problems, But near Belleville and Kingston they are trying to crush all the old classic junkyards. There are still about half left now though but its getting harder to find parts in Ontario for my AMC Matador.

[capev86]

the problem is they don't differentiate between non running vehicles and abandoned vehicles. technically my dad is not supposed to have a shed or trailer or anything on his property. i think its a stupid requirement, but nobody in the neighborhood complains...they do the same thing. if the vehicle is a work in progress (either a repair or pulling parts) and not just left to rot...then i say let the owner be.

on the other hand, there is an old caravan sitting on the edge of the dirt road i live on. one of these days someone is bound to slide down the hill and hit it. its an eye sore....the whole property is abandoned. i got contact info for the owner and plan to talk to them about hauling it off. i'd do it myself, as long as everything is legal. but i won't stand for the government hauling off my k wagon from my parents back yard. i would have junked it rather than just let it sit there. its my long term project.

in retrospect......i heard about a guy in new hampshire with an old pickup. it had been sitting up on blocks for awhile or something but he was finally getting back to finishing it. it was almost road ready when one day someone hauled it off without his knowledge. turned out it ended up at a local salvage yard for scrap. it wasn't the government, but instead some private (a-hole) citizen looking to make a quick buck. they not only steal metal, they steal nonoperational vehicles now too. it sucks. makes me want to buy a shot gun and live like a hill billy.

[89ARIES]

I guess part of our saving grace at the moment is that the government would be stretched thin trying to take every car they can find. However, an "expert" in smog told me something last weekend that had me worried. He said that in 2010, the government of Obama is going to reduce the smog parameters so severly that almost every car left between 1980 and 2000 will be immediately scrapped. New cars will have to go through an annual test with restrictions so tight that some of them will fail. The United Arab Emirates has officially refused to register any old car before 1988 in a new law that goes into affect this month. However, most people in the UAE don't really care anyway. Only certain models will be exempt on a case by case basis. Cars not considered classics or "beaters" will taken off the road permanently.

I can't believe it, but its true, there is a war between the government and the owner of his personal property, the automobile.

I fear the restrictions will so speed up that we will lose our classic car hobby for 80s cars. 80s cars in California are under a mandatory lifetime smog requirement thanks to Swartzanegger who made it a law in 2004 that only cars before 1976 were smog exempt. A ridiculous, and arbritary cut-off date.

Isn't funny how the 80s cars are disappearing, people don't care, and then they will when they are all gone! We will have K-cars if I can do anything about it.

[88 aries]

sorry to hear that, guy well if this happens the only thing out can do is park your k-car in a garage, and polish and detail it to the max then you can trailer it to shows. IM lucky up here in wisconsin we can enjoy our classic cars.

[89ARIES]

Well, its not that BAD yet. Some cities are more lenient than others. It just that people get what they pay for and when the elect bad politicians and do nothing, they should not be surprised if and when they get their cars taken.

[84Aries]

In Ontario, our cars are exempt from emissions tests after a car reaches 20 years old. So as of January 1st,2009 anything 1989 and down is exempt. I feel very sorry for your governments judgement or LACK OF IT!

[capev86]

you will have to convert your car to mpi and tune the heck out of it to pass emissions laws. if the engine and associated hardware is in good order, it should pass. it only has to pass standards for its year and model. SEMA will have a field day if the government tries to screw with hobbyists. there were a lot of 80's models that are now getting rare.....buick had the 87 grand national and gnx as well as the 87-89 lesabre t type and even a skyhawk t-type.

the import guys are in good luck. if you have an old honda, toyotoa, nissan or mitsubishi...you just swap in a late model engine complete with all the better hardware. you will get a bigger more powerful engine AND beat smog laws because the newer engines have to meet more stringent requirements. as they said on extreme 4x4 (powerblock tv) you can update even a late model vehicle provided the engine is from the same brand and it is newer than the vehicle it is going into and all smog and other equipment comes with the donor engine. thank god they did away stupid egr valves.

make sure the egr valve is in good shape on your k car and that the same goes for the air injection on the catalytic converter. tune up, tune up, tune up......enough said!

[Baron]

The city made me move my 68 Fury because I had it parked on the strip between my driveway and my neighbor's driveway. They said that was parking on the landscaping and made me move it. So I moved it back onto my driveway and parked one of my cars on the street. Met their requirements, but I didn't see it as an improvement. But, now that I have the car parked in my driveway, they don't care. I don't even have to license it if I don't want to, as long as it stays in the driveway.