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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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That's a good point Andre raises too, about the modified cars. Seems a lot of engines have came over from Japan, not to mention the odd engine mods. Probably legal so long as you don't get caught.
I think you'r right about that LTD. Not a $4500 car...I think it would have to be really mint for that...but a $2000 car sure.
Now in some areas, you can get historic tags for a car. In Maryland, it has to be 25 years old or older. It never has to be inspected, never has to be smogged, etc. So I could take my '79 NYer, trash all the emissions stuff, force a 426 Hemi or some other monster of a motor under the hood, etc, and it wouldn't be a problem. But bringing in a 1980 2CV would be?! That just don't make sense! :confuse:
We were going to go to a local car show yesterday, but at 38 degrees and wind/rain, we decided to pass.. I'm thinking they may have canceled it, anyway..
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BTW, here's the giveway car for the Mopar Nationals, which is July 8-10. http://www.carsatcarlisle.com/schedule/chrysler/giveaway.asp
I can absolutely GUARANTEE that I'm going to stick around for that one!
Naturally, by the time we got back to Grbeck's car, the rain had just about stopped entirely.
On Sunday, we got about an inch or two of snow. Nothing like the 21" we got two weeks ago, just stuck to the grass this time.
"After all, you can get a 1950 Plymouth to pass 1980 emissions standards. In fact, you can get plenty of older cars to do it."
No way, Andre...I'm not buying that one unless you put a catalytic system on it. You'd have to reduce emissions enormously. One 1950 Plymouth probably pollutes about the same as 50-100 modern cars I would guess, roughly.
RE: Modded cars----they are often illegal. There's a lot of corruption. I could get any car I wanted on the road, but I wouldn't support corruption.
EPA/DOT/CUSTOMS: They can be monsters, and they sometimes manhandle cars coming into the country. I remember one case of them inspecting a 70s Ferrari being shipped in. The Ferrari had all proper papers, posted a bond, had appointment for modifications, etc. but they couldn't find the hood latch so they pried the engine compartment open with a crowbar.
For example, in hydrocarbons, when my Newport was tested, the state standard was 470 ppm. My 230,000 mile+ Newport scored 162. So in this case, a car could have been about 3 times worse and still passed. IIRC, my '79 NYer, back in 2002, scored around 260 on this particular test.
In CO, my Newport scored 0.03%. The state standard at the time was 5.00%. So here, a car could have scored a whopping 167 times worse in CO and still passed!
Now, the treadmill test is more representative of "real world" driving, because it puts the car in gear, under load, and simulates driving. Just to show how cars have cleaned up in recent years, my grandma's '85 LeSabre scored 1.7541 gpm in CO on that test. My 2000 Intrepid scored something like 0.03 gpm. So in this case, the Buick polluted as much as 58.47 2000 Intrepids! But wait, the state standard for 1985 is 30.00 gpm! I forget what the state standard was for 2000 cars in 2002 when my Trep was treadmilled, but I think it was around 20 gpm.
This is where statistics come into play, and shows you how they can be re-worded to serve various purposes. You could say that an '85 Buick pollutes as much as 58 or 59 2000 Intrepids, and get people in an uproar. Or, twisted the other way, you could say that the pollution levels of both cars are so tiny that the difference is negligible!
Think of emissions regulations has having vastly improved the breed. A 2005 Corvette getting 26 mpg?!!!! That never would have happened with sloppy enforcement of EPA rules. You'd be driving a gas-sucking version of the '63 Vette.
However, I would exempt all Alfa Romeos :P
My little beater truck, full of Alfa bits - including those boxes in the cab:
-Jason
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http://photobucket.com/albums/v247/jgandrew/Bowie%20Cruise%20In%20042405/
Well, I checked it out, and it turns out it didn't make its reserve, so I emailed the owner and asked him about it. Then, before I knew it, I bought it! I drove out with a friend to Cincinnati on Sunday the 17th and picked it up, and we met Kyfdx out there, since he's close by. Hung out for a bit, got something to eat at a local Steak and Shake, and then came back home, with my friend driving my Intrepid back.
Anyway, it's a '76 Grand LeMans coupe with about 76,000 miles on it. 350-2bbl, non-factory dual exhaust, Pontiac Rally 2 wheels, power bench seat, power windows, kind of a burgundy/purple repaint (I think the original color was called "Firethorn"), with a red interior (also called "Firethorn")
Here's a couple pics of it that the seller had sent me...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/jgandrew/HEADONVU.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/jgandrew/RTFRTVU.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/jgandrew/LTRRDETAIL.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/jgandrew/RTINTVU2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/jgandrew/BACKSEATVU.jpg
It has a few problems, but nothing too major. The a/c doesn't work, and it has tear in the driver's seat. The clock doesn't work either (how long do those old electric clocks usually last in these old cars anyway...15 minutes?! :lemon: ) It also has a little rust showing on the C-pillar at the base of the landau trim, and a few minor door dings and stone chips here and there. And, somewhere along the line, it ended up getting grille inserts from a '77 instead of a '76! But, overall I'm happy with it!
So now all I need to do is buy a few more, and I can make my yard look like this!
:shades:
Re: EPA silliness...maybe they should pay more attention to all the strange modded JDM and domestic engines out there. But far from it be expected of a taxpayer to have any say in how the money is spent. These people obviously have impeccable credentials and are very responsible and trustworthy. It's a worthy fight to keep what would likely be a few dozen old hobby cars out of the country. More space for trucks that are not held to the same standards as cars.
The worst new truck is better than the best old car regarding pollution.
The EPA leaves all the existing old cars alone anyway, so I don't see the complaint.
Besides, the argument is irrelevant, since the weak dollar means that most old cars are now going the other way, back to Europe.
But hey, if we really want, I guess we could ban cars altogether, and go back to the horse and buggy. No emissions there! :P
Oh yeah, I guess you've never mucked out a stable!
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Every state and municipality in the United States is still covered by federal anti-pollution laws.
PG County has a population density of 1651 people per square mile. AA (I always loved that abbreviation...I thought it was funny to have "AA" printed on my driver's license :shades: ) is somewhat less, at 1177 per square mile. And St Mary's? A whopping 76 people per square mile! Putting up an emissions station down there would probably CAUSE more pollution than it would prevent, what with having to clear cut several acres, pave it, put up a building, provide utilities, not to mention long lines of cars sitting, idling, waiting for the test, and then gunning their engines while the readings are taken.
So Ghulet, Illinois doesn't have ANY kind of safety inspection at all?! In Maryland, you only have to get a used car inspected when you first buy it, unless it's old enough and you get historic tags for it. We don't have a yearly inspection, though. From what I hear though, our 1-time inspection is much stricter than neighboring states such as PA, VA, or WVA. I bought my '79 NYer in WVA from a small car lot. The seller guaranteed to pass it in any of those states, but in Maryland, I was on my own! FWIW though, it didn't need much. Rear brakes (they were cracked, length-wise), turning the rotors, adjusting the steering box, and there was something wrong with one of the tires, but I forget what now. And the obligatory aiming of the headlights. It wouldn't pass now though, because it needs a new exhaust system, and the windshield wipers quit on me. And I don't think they'd consider Rain-X a viable substitute!
Also, no inspections in WA state as far as I know unless it is a car coming in from elsewhere. This means you see some interesting vehicles on the road...cars lacking things like brakes, tire tread, chassis soundness, uncracked glass, insurance, etc.
No safety inspections. Very limited emission inspections. The state will send you a notice if you need to have your car checked. My personal rides have never been tested. About 20% of my fleet has been over the past three years.
I never liked the safety inspections as they were very inconsistent. In the St. Louis area (several years ago), the WalMart stores had the highest fail rates while some of the independent garages passed almost everything. I resented having to spend $250 to replace a small crack in my headlamp while I had friends who had the bumpers falling off after a wreck and they passed
Virginia did a pretty good job.
If one old beater puts out the same amount of pollutants as 50 newer cars, then that is where the focus ought to be... Not on my '03, which I have to take in for tailpipe testing soon...
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Also, in the end these programs did nothing to reduce pollution. Factories that bought these cars were given "pollution credits", and buying these cars up gave factories the right to keep on polluting, instead of actually cleaning up their own act. Many of these cars that were scrapped were also cars that were on their last legs and just about dead anyway, or cars that were wrecked, not running, yard ornaments, etc.
Plus, for awhile they were actually taking some antique cars that had plenty of good parts on them and could have been great donors to help fix up other cars, and they'd just crush everything, making it useless. I think later on they made it so that the engine had to be scrapped so it could never be run again, but the body/interior etc could be salvaged and used for parts.
ANYWAY---we are drifting off topic here and should probably start this discussion elsewhere....
Personally, I think it isn't such an issue, and mainly plain old 80s junk would be scrapped. Were any bonafide collectible vehicles scrapped? A good scheme for the agencies handling all the old wrecks would be to weed out the special interest cars, sell them for parts only, and make additional money while getting the real bad ones off the road.
Some of these car guys are like attendees at a business conference. Nobody wants the greasy meatballs until they see them being taken away
Perhaps if the car crushing entity would make a list of cars set to be scrapped, and would offer them up for sale at more than the government paid on the grounds that the cars are either parted or brought back to showroom condition, both sides would be happy.
The few 80s cars that might be of interest, such as Buick GNs, Corvettes or maybe a few open cars, those are not going to show up in these buyback programs.
Karmann Ghia convert. also in nice shape.
Nice Nova SS. Sharp.
1st gen RX-7. Good shape.
The fun stuff is coming out of the garages in the "Land O' Oxidation".
Should be at a vintage car race at Gingerman Raceway this weekend!
The kicker is where on TV. There is a local small auto auction place (outside Phila, in Pennsauken NJ): US auto auction. They run commercials on one of the odd ball cable stations (basically infomercials), and feature the great deals and the semi-literate people that buy cars there.
Anyhow, they had one guy that had just gotten his fabulous deal on this RR (in the medium/light blue they had for a while). Probably in his 20s, didn't give the impression of being a lawyer or anything close to affording this car (down the road).
Will probably look impressive parked outside his row house somewhere in Phila. though.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Amazing that an exposed piece of metal on a humble AMC could withstand the years like that without rusting, while much more expensive, prestigious cars crumble and return to the earth that they came from.
Actually rusting is more about design than the metal itself. Some cars were constructed in such a way as to trap road salts, water etc. and some didn't have these "traps".