bigjoepos

After a few years sitting in the garage my 76 will be back on the road for Memorial Day and plan to freshen her up over the summer.

Car started right up with fresh battery and gas and runs smoothly.

Even the brakes held without a leak!

Would like to know how members in NJ are registering their cars these days.... normal plates or going for QQ?

I would like to drive it occasionally during the week so how "restrictive" are the QQ plates. I read the rules... exhibition and education etc.... Is there a night driving restriction>?

Car is stock.

Any other hassles with getting the QQ plates and how long does it take to get them?

I just did not want the hassle of inspection with the standard registration.

Thanks, Joe

Steve~74

Joe.....

I am not sure if this law was ever passed, it was introduced in 2008...

New Jersey Introduces Bill to Expand Use of Historic Vehicles

Legislation (A.B. 1495) that would amend the state’s current law governing historic motor vehicles to permit their use for pleasure driving one day per week has been introduced in the New Jersey State Assembly by Assemblyman John Burzichelli (asmburzichelli@njleg.org).

Under current New Jersey law, use of historic vehicles is strictly limited to exhibitions and educational purposes by the owner.

We Urge You to Contact Members of the House Committee on Transportation, Public Work and Independent Authorities (List Below) in Support of A.B. 1495

A.B. 1495 will provide New Jersey historic vehicle owners the opportunity to enjoy recreational driving on weekdays in addition to the other sanctioned uses.

Derrick Reynolds

That change to the law was voted down. It is my understanding that NJ registered cars with QQ plates are to be used for "exhibition and educational purposes only". There is no night driving restriction that I am aware of, if the show ends late enough that you have to drive at night, you can, but if your headlights or other necessary lights aren't working, you can be ticketed for that. The law as presently written does not allow for ANY pleasure driving, so if you have QQ plates, a cop can pull you over at any time to ask you where you are going. If the cop does pull you over, it is a good idea to have a story about where you are heading.

Talking to the owners at local shows, most of the cops are reasonable and consider a cruise night to be an "exhibition" for the sake of the law so the owners just keep in their head where the local cruise night is in the area for that night (there is one virtually every night somewhere near me from May through Sept.) and say they are heading there and they don't get ticketed. A few towns around me are known for having cops who like to harrass the classic car owners and will pull you over repeatedly and hold you up for a while, but if you have a story, it is hard for them to ticket you.

All that said: I didn't feel like going through all of that hassle, so I chose the hassle of regular use registration. This means I had to do the regular inspection, including emissions. I got through it, and if your car is in decent shape, you can too. It kinda blows to have to do that for a 39 year old car that I doubt I will drive 2000 miles per year, but that is NJ for you. You can't get out of the hassle, best case is they let you pick which hassle you want.

Steve~74

Good point

gq82

I have QQ plates and in 10 years of use I've never been pulled over by the police......not having to go through inspection is a BIG plus in my opinion.

Wuttin

I agree...coming up on 4 years and no issues, and most of my driving is just bopping around the area (Hamilton and central Jersey). As stated, have a reasonable story in your back pocket if you feel you need to talk your way out of a ticket. Default for me is the "just did maintenance and I'm testing it before the next show" story. But again, no need so far.

The way I see it, the ease of the QQ is totally worth the risk of a Sunday drive. You register once, no inspection ever. My car is modified and would not pass inspection so I'm limited to "collector car" status, which it doesn't quite fit into, or "historic" which it does. QQ it is.

I think of it this way. Please correct me if I have it wrong, but getting a ticket while being a good driver in a QQ car that is simply being taken out for a fun ride (ie no moving violation, just not following the rules to the letter) will not add any points to your license and will not trigger an insurance surcharge. From a cost standpoint, even if this happened every other year you'd still be ahead the additional expense of annual registration and specific maintenance to pass inspection. Just my 0.02

best o' luck, Steve

Steve~74

Joe.....

I applied for personalized QQ plates about 2 weeks ago, I will let you know mine arrive or I get a letter telling me my 3 choices are taken already.

Steve

I say, go the QQ way....

Derrick Reynolds

Well, I have heard repeatedly from other owners that the cops in a certain town that is right next door to my town are notorious for pulling over and harassing classic car owners. In the 9 months that I have owned this car (I lived in a different part of the state when I had my '69), only once has a cop eye-balled my car like he was trying to find a reason to pull me over, and it happened to be in the town I speak of, so my miniscule experience supports the rumors I have heard. I won't tell you the name of the town, as that would be impolite to the LEOs there, but I will give you a few hints: It is in Union county, and starts with a "West" and ends with a "field".

Steve~74

There are few towns in Ocean County, one for sure, that I have heard that harass QQ drivers. I wont mention any names, but its spelled like this

B-A-R-N-E-G-A-T

Derrick Reynolds

I am just the type who doesn't want to worry about having to have a story ready every time I drive my car. I also doubt I am smart enough/a good enough liar to come up with a believable story at the moment of truth. If I had already driven 10 years without being pulled over, I am sure I would continue with that, but worrying about the cops just takes too much fun out of driving the car.

NJ Inspection and modified cars: If your car is in decent shape, everything in NJ inspection other than emissions is a "low hurdle" (to steal Capevettes' terminology). Emissions is easier if you have a pre-1975 car as no cats are required and the car was delivered with true duals so pretty much anything you do on the exhaust side is fine from a visual inspection standpoint. The levels of CO, NOx and hydrocarbons only have to be below original spec at the time of manufacture. If your engine is in good shape (like not burning tons of oil), and reasonably well-tuned, this shouldn't be a problem with today's cleaner-burning fuels. Actually, I should probably not post this for fear that the regulators will figure out that we all get a little advantage, we get to pass original spec emissions, but don't use original spec fuel. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

dennis

And the registrations good for 3 years I believe and renewal is FREE. Never been pulled over either

Mister'76

I think mine would come out something like this.

"Is there a problem officer?"
"Where am I going?.... oh... well.. you see I'm going.... to... The Moon! no wait! I'm going ... to... Home! is that right?"

ARCH

I have had QQ plates for several years now, have never been concerned with cops pulling me over. I always figured cop would have to be a **** to mess with a 68.

Anyway I often times touch a part of Westfield on my way to the parkway, now i will probably be worried.

I dont even have a front plate!!!

Jeffsvettes

I have had QQ plates for over 10 years and drive my vettes ony chance I get usually within about 25 mile radious of Morristown. I have driven on all days of the week and at night. I have never been stopped and harrased for no reason. I have been pulled over twice. Once for driving 25 mph in Jocky hollow in a 15 mph zone with my daughter about 12 years old at the time cop just said to slow down and let me go. I was also stopped in my 66 vert. in Jocky Hollow at a road side check for seat belts and the cop walked up to the car and said "oh its too old for seat belts right?" and I showed him we were wearing lap belts and he sent us on our way. No mention about QQ plates either time. I have never been to West F though.
Also just sent for another set of QQ's about 6 weeks ago and they came in less than 1 week.
Jeff

blk79nj

I have QQ tags on my car for the last 2 years. I have had no problems, and drive it as much as want.

Somebody mentioned that there is a cruise somewhere everynight of the week. That is true, and I go to some also.

In my town, they set up an inspection check, where they check everycar going by. If your car has an invalid inspection sticker, they inspect your car, then write you a $150 dollar ticket. It happened to me in my other car. I took the vette through, and they looked down at the QQ, and just waived me through.

wer2xu

While I am not in NJ, My plates expired in 1970, and I have no front tag, drive frequently, and have yet to be pulled over...I have the current tags in the car, but the old ones are much cooler.

Gordonm

I have had mine for well over 10 years and never been hassled. Driven at all times of day or night and weekends and weekdays. I would just tell them I am out for a maintanence run. These cars require a lot of this. They have to be real D bags to pull you over for this. As long as they don't see the car being used as a daily driver, meaning see it a lot on the road you should be OK.

bigjoepos

Thanks for all the great info.

I will give the standard plates a try and see what happens.

Actually the car runs great and should pass the emissions. The only thing that doesnt work well is the parking brake.

Nice to see some CF members right up here in Morris County.

Gordonm

Your going to need a working parking brake for inspection.

Derrick Reynolds

Yes, and they check. However, mine BARELY works and it passed. Again, low hurdle. I would like to fix mine to work better, and am sure I will get around to it, for safety reasons, not that I am worried about inspection.