California Smog- and how to bypass it!
 

hey everyone. a couple years ago i opened up a thread regarding smog laws in California and how to get around them. i have a 76 corvette and i have in fact found a manageable way around the smog laws.

What did i do? i got historical plates for my vehicle. historical plates are meant for cars that are show cars, and are not daily drivers etc. however, i have been driving my car more or less as a daily driver with historical plates for 2 years now and have had no problems. i've been pulled over once and nothing was mentioned about the plates by either of the two officers.

Regarding insurance: earlier one of the possible problems someone brought up was related to insurance and whether or not insurance would go up, or if the car would be insured at all for a similar rate with historical plates. to answer this there was no problem. as a 19/20/21 year old driver, there was no change in my rate on insurance or any questioning about the plates on the vehicle.

here is a link with general info about the plates
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d03/vc5004.htm

any questions just feel free to ask: i thought this might be helpful to some of the people on this forum who might want to try something different to get around California smog laws

-alex

I think the success of this depends on which clerk you get on any given day. I've heard of guys being able to sweet talk their way into getting the smog exemption. I tried this myself on my '76 and the luck of the draw teamed me up with DMV clerk Bertha Noplateforu. Was told I still need a smog cert. It's not really that tough to get a stock '76 to pass. Mine has a 2003-LS6. I thought it was worth a try but there is too much gray area in these laws. BTW.....I'm in San Diego-North County.

yeah my 76 was on the east coast for a while, so everything was torn off of it. i didn't feel like going through all that effort to get it to pass.

Thanks tmoney. I ssume from your post that you have not been requested to undergo the biannual smog test yet, though you have had the historic plates for 2 years. Have you received anything from the DMV which expressly excludes you from testing? Did you have to undergo any DMV inspection to qualify- visual or otherwise? Is there any limitation on the number of miles you can drive per year, by the DMV or your insurance company? I know some insurance places a limit of 5000 miles on certain categories of historic or collector cars. Thanks for replying.

Thank for the info I have to smog my vett by next month. A:ack: lthought it always pass with easy If I can get by having to smog it I will. I only drive it about twice a month anyways.

the best way around this issue is to get a '75 or earlier car. That is what I did, I got a '68. Visually there is very little different between a 76 and a 75 or 74.

:rant:
I really really hate the CARB Nazi's. I will never own another vehicle built after 75. Even if I have to own a pinto or another PoS.
:rant:

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Your wright vettthunder1 I bought my vett thinking that when it turned 30 years old I would not have to smog it but to my surprise I have to smog it for good.:ack: I was told that I could not change any thing or it would not pass smog.:willy:

Smog info
 

The basic details about smog can be found under California VC 40011(a). Mine is a 76 from out of state (CO). The smog guy checked it under the "49 Federal". No smog pump here.passed with flying colors.

Boy does this thread bring back some memories. No EGR valve Edlebrock manifold, headers with no AIR tubes, etc. It was a hassle every time trying to pass smog. Got tired of the bribes and decide to do it right. After a whole lot of money to replace what I needed and get the right go fast parts to work with smog, my luck would have it that I got the certificate for the last time. My 73 became exempt :toetap:

Stuffs been working in excellent condition so I just left it alone. My contributions to the So. Cali

No I have not been requested to smog my vehicle. When I registered the vehicle I did not need to give them any form saying that the car passed smog test. There was no inspection to qualify, basically all you do is write a paragraph as to why your car is of historical value and they send it to the main DMV offices in Sacramento. I just put a whole bunch of numbers in my paragraph such as "of 49,000 corvettes made in 1976 I own one that has a T-top and a 4speed muncie..." etc. just load it with bull**** and you win :)
No word about mileage from the insurance company. The company we have is Farmers insurance


hope this helps

I just went to the DMV and they told me that if I do that with those plates I can only drive it in a parade. How do you get around that please let me know.:willy:

I would be worried about getting stuck without insurance when you have a wreck and the insurance company determines that you weren't on your way to a parade, etc.

Dude that pic is funny. Your wright , So I`ll just leave it alone and smog it.:iagree:

I couldn't get my 79 L48 to pass smog back in Nov 2005 (was running bad). I was faced with a decision to rebuild the engine and try to get all the antique smog parts back up and working, or put in an LS1.

I went the later way and just recently got my car smogged at a San Diego county ref station. They smogged me to a 99 vette (and put a sticker in the door sill so next smog time I just go to my local test only station) - had to pass visual and OBD2 codes, and get tailpipe sniffed to 99 vette.

Difficult, but doable. A lot depends upon what ref you get - a few months prior to my appt, I called the ref station scheduling phone number and asked to talk to a ref re the laws on # and location of cats - a ref called back a couple of days later and we discussed the conversion. I did all he suggested, that had not been done yet, and when I called for a schedule, requested the same guy. Worked for me;)

Didn't work for me. I got historical plates for my '76 and the next time plates came due, I got the smog notice. :smash: Registering in a non smog zip code worked though :flag:

You are right Paul....the only loophole is the one you fall into....:rofl:

Easier to tweak/tune the vette to pass....my 78 passes with 135,000 on original engine....I just take it to my carb buddy...:)

Bertha Noplateforu ???? :lolg::lolg::lolg:

Rich