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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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the principle behind the law is sound---that some automakers went through all the trouble and expense of getting EPA/DOT certification, and if you didn't want to bother, then tough luck for that model or make.
IMO the idea behind the law is bogus. Nobody is seeking to import tens of thousands of cars to compete with brand new cars, nobody is going to cross shop a new Cruze with a 1996 Fiat or a 1997 E73 with a new E63 - the only real customers in this market are hobbyists and enthusiasts. These private imports, statistically insignificant in the big picture, will have no real environmental or safety impact either. I can't see any proof of legitimate harm being done if we had regulations on par with Canada or Europe. We are the only ones on the planet who have such a strict criteria, and we do virtually nothing else right - it's a little hard for me to believe we are doing this one thing right. I wonder who lobbied for the laws, car dealers, or public sector unions. Seems grossly wasteful and illogical to me. I'd like to see if the tax dollars spent for such policies pencil out to benefits justifying the costs.
What makes me laugh or cringe the most is we police freakshow private import cars more than we inspect existing cars on the road for safety, or work to have useful drivers licensing standards.
Declaring yourself a hobbyist shouldn't entitle you to any special treatment.
I have to go through the hassle of smog every two years for $80 bucks, and damn it, so is the "hobbyist" if his car requires it! :mad:
You also live in a place which is far from based in common sense, itself - and is in a financial situation to prove it. Just buy a commercial vehicle or a motorcycle, their respective lobbyists have kept them away from emissions responsibilities. Who you know and who you bribe gives all the special treatment in the world. Brand and model devotees don't have quite the resources to buy such laws - which is what it comes down to, buying laws. There's no "trade" involved.
Canada and Europe have more lenient standards, we do it different, we do very little correct right in any respect right now now. I can't see why this is an exception.
Eh, just get the thing titled as a 1971 NSU or whatever, like they do with those Euro-spec Smarts! :P
re: non-smogged cars. One of those old beaters would produce about 60 times the pollution of one modern car, if not more. So 20 "oldies" on a tour is like having 1200 cars pass your house. :surprise:
As for jet-skis and such, where I used to live we solved that problem--we banned them.
Poorly maintained commercial vehicles (as they seem to be held to zero accountability in order to be "business friendly") do far more harm, not to mention lawnmowers, leaf blowers, and similar. I guess you get the justice you pay for.
Maybe I should move to CA and daily drive the fintail :shades:
I think that say 6 cars with no pollution devices on my *block* does matter. It's my air, too, after all.
Isn't a Porsche 959 old enough now to get registered as a historic car in most localities, anyway? Here in Maryland, you can now register anything 1992 and older as historic.
I thought the reason that the 959 was banned from the US originally was because Porsche refused to supply the US Dept of Transportation with four examples of the car to crash test? Supposedly emissions testing had nothing to do with it.
Are all of those 6 cars regularly driven? Would letting a trickle of old weirdo cars in put 6 on each block, when 99.99% of people just want an appliance?
I think low volume cars are exempt from crash tests - I don't see exotic performance cars or Rolls etc being tested.
NHTSA crash tests passenger vehicles which are sold in high volumes. Low volume vehicles are certified by manufacturers to be in compliance with U.S. regulations. I don't know if ANY Porsche has ever been crash tested by the feds. At least, not on purpose. :shades:
The Porsche 959 was built from 1986-89, right? So, 1986-87 models should be exempt now, '88 models in 2013, and the '89's in 2014?
If I could afford the $200K-$500K for a 959, I'm pretty sure I could figure out a way to drive it where I want and when I want.... (uh... yeah, that '88 911 in your salvage yard? Do you have a title for that?)
We still burn coal for electricity where I live... One stinking (lol) 959 is not going to hurt...
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edited to add: I wanted to see the list of Nonconforming Vehicles Eligible for Importation..but I can't open most of the pdf files I clicked on. :sick:
Porsche (after showing a long list of models) "All other passenger car
models except Model 959"
Even if the car is on the list, there are hoops to go through--letters from manufacturers or registered importers stating that a similar car exists in the USA already, or that the car in question could have safety equipment alterable to suit, etc.
But hey, it keeps a 1991 car out, so it must be good!
And there was a VIN question which raised the possibility of that 959 being one of the very last models put together from inventory parts. Talk about a museum piece! It's nice to drive what you like, cost-no-object. But it kinda makes me wince at the prospect of it being sacrificed to the SUV-nation traffic mix. Even if it's not one of the last, spare parts 959 examples...still, I mean, it's a 959!
Last summer the Dispatch reported another kind of VIN mystery created by a guy from Obetz who attempted to ebay a 1965 Z16 Chevelle clone with a fake VIN as the real deal! Last I heard the vehicle was impounded and the owner/seller was given probation.
Check out the quote from the exec director of the Antique Automobile Club of America near the bottom of the page. He stated that even though clones are common, "it's rare that someone would try to sell one as the real deal." :surprise:
Oh, and yesterday I saw an Audi A8, not sure of the year but didn't look *that* old, broken down in the chicken lane on Route 1 in College Park, MD. It was sitting there, abandoned, with the hood up.
Pretty looking car, but deadly to the bank account, I'm sure.
They ALL came with the stiff, sport suspension (a friend who worked in a Chev parts dept. actually thought it was the even-stiffer F40 over the F41, although I don't know if he was accurate or not). They were stiff-riding cars! I remember CR saying that about their '78 test model, and I know it as a fact from our '80!
The 205-70 tire size was made almost exclusively at that time for the Monte Carlo!
I'll say this though, considering the Monte was longer in the hood than the Malibu, you don't see Montes of that era looking like they need new front springs, and in three or four years you'd see Malibu V8's sitting nose-down.
This morning saw a lovely 68-69 Skylark 2 door HT, not a GS or anything (I think it had a "sport" badge), obviously restored, silver on black, Buick rally wheels, muted rumble, fairly clean and maybe even classy. Also saw a driver quality 59 Cadillac 2 door HT, incorrect whitewalls, shade of red that might not be stock.
The St. Regis was an upscale Newport with leather interior, two tone paint and real wire wheels.
The car drove extremely well considering it was a 2-speed automatic in those days. Easily cruised down the freeway at 65 mph. The 331 Hemi puts out decent power---I love that little dashboard lever for the transmission---the only year they did that. In '56 you got pushbuttons.
In those days, Chrysler and many others tacked on an additional name to denote the hardtop.
The cheaper Windsor Deluxe lineup had two hardtop coupes in '55...the cheaper Nassau and the nicer Newport. That's also the one that used the 301 CID poly-head V-8, which had a 2-bbl carb and 188 hp. The poly head can be identified by sort of a sawtooth edge to the outer part of the valve cover.
The pricier New Yorker Deluxe, which had the 331 Hemi and, I think, 250 hp from a 4-bbl carb, also offered two hardtop coupes...Newport and the pricier St. Regis.
You'd think with names like New Yorker Deluxe and Windsor Deluxe, there should be just a plain old New Yorker and Windsor that year, but that wasn't the case. In earlier years, they'd offer both, but for '55 I guess they figured by calling them all "Deluxe", the public would be fooled into thinking they were getting better cars. For '56, they simplified it to just Windsor and New Yorker.
They brought the Nassau, Newport, and St. Regis hardtop names back again for 1956, but dropped them in 1957.
**Edit: just re-read your post, where you mentioned the leather interior and wire wheels. Yeah, that was definitely a New Yorker, with the 331 Hemi. Windsors had somewhat cheap interiors by then. While you might have been able to order wire wheels on a Windsor, I seriously doubt any of them ever ended up with a leather interior!
'56 Buick Roadmaster 4D HT -- paint not bad, chrome a bit tatty, running full bore down the road, sign in window for $5000 bucks.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
So add up cost of a paint job + the chrome work, and $5000 doesn't look as good as it did; however, if you just want to drive it and never have a chance at one of those $10 plastic trophies you get at auto shows, well then .....!!
Assuming there is zero body work to be done, it is very easy to spend 4000.00 for a decent (not show quality) paint job.
Chrome? a guy I know has a 1953 Mercury Convertable in the restoration shop where it's been for at least three years. He sends the guy anywhere from 1000.00 to 4000.00 every month to pay as he go's.
The last time I talked to him he had nearly 100,000 invested and it's nowhere near done. I think the chrome work was in excess of 25,000.
I think I would drive that 56 Buick the way it is!
So if you want a cheap paint job, you'll have to skimp on one or both, and both those economies will come back to haunt you.
I examine "classic" cars with new paint jobs all the time. I rarely see a paint job that I'd even want on my MINI, much less a classic. Orange peel, overspray, wavy bodywork, misaligned doors and trunk lids, blisters, fish eyes, stress cracks, drips, curtains, dry-spray, file marks, etc.
The quality jobs involving removing all of the glass, bumpers, grill and anything else that can detach. Hours and hours of prep work and a painter who really knows what he is doing. I know for a fact that a lot of body shops
really don't find these jobs to be very desirable or profitable even when they charge 4-5000.00!
Back in 1990, my neighbor helped me repaint my '69 Dart GT, in its original cream color. He sent me to a local paint shop, and told me all the stuff to get...primer, the cream paint itself, some additives to go in it, etc. Just the paint and stuff was $120, and that was 22 years ago! So I shudder to think what kind of crap paintjob you'd get nowadays for $199!
I ended up pulling as much of the trim and stuff as I could off of the car. Grille, headlight trim, taillights, the "GT" trunk panel, the blackout strip that ran down the beltline, antenna, wheel well trim, etc. Didn't go so far as to pull out the window glass or bumpers, though.
I also did a lot of prep work on that car myself, with a lot of sanding and such. Being a poor college student though, I'll confess that I learned the fine art of Bondo.
All things considered, it turned out pretty good.
Also, another thing I remember, was my neighbor telling me, after it was painted, to put it in the garage and let it cure for about a week, before putting anything back on it, driving it, etc. I can't imagine any quikie paint shop doing something that took that much time!
I think that's the same color as my W126. MB called it 'Champagne'. I don't know; maybe German Champagne is actually that color.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
That champagne color is a little lighter than the 70s era car I saw. What I saw Was very much like this but maybe a little more gold to it (or it was just the light). Very period correct.
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