Leno’s Law – as some referred to it – has failed. It never got much traction to begin with. This is not surprising given the official contempt for cars that drives laws related to them in the state of California – and how’s that for irony?
California, after all, is (was) the place where car culture was born. It is the home of the Beach Boys and Ronnie and the Daytonas. It is (was) one of the greatest places to drive a car, if you enjoyed driving. Bullitt – the Steve McQueen movie which sucked but which is worth watching because it has one of the best, non-CGI car chase scenes ever filmed (with McQueen doing much of the driving) was filmed in San Francisco.
Then the Clovers took over. Interestingly, this is anticipated in movies, too. Watch some old Dirt Harry flicks and see for yourself. These movies were also set in San Francisco. It would be absurd to set any movies like these in California today. Which brings us back to Leno’s Law. If it has been passed, it would have exempted 35-year-old (and older) vehicles on a rolling basis from the state’s obnoxious emissions testing requirements because (a) there are so few of them still in operation at this point and (b) by dint of that, whatever their “emissions” are, they are an irrelevance at this point. This latter assumes that the point of the emissions testing is to keep the air clear rather than punish owners of antique vehicles by making it difficult to legally drive them.
The current situation in California is that every vehicle made since 1976 – which is almost 50 years ago – must pass “smog check” every two years and every time the title changes hands in order to be legal to drive on the government’s roads. (It is important to use the right words; there are no “public” roads. If there were, then the government would not be in control of them.)
There is no rolling exemption from smog check. Not ever. A vehicle made in 1976 will still have to pass smog check when it is 75 years old – 100 years old – unless the law changes, which isn’t likely to given the whole point is to de facto illegalize old vehicles without actually illegalizing them. You can hold on to your old car; but you can’t use it (on the government’s roads) unless it passes “smog check” every two years. This gets more difficult to do as the years – as the decades – pass because it is often the case that key components of the factory emissions control system are no longer available. Replacements must be approved by the California Air Resources Board but that does not mean replacement parts are available. It may not be worth making them for a vehicle that is 35 – or 50 – years old.
If you do not have the correct/CARB approved parts, the vehicle will fail “smog check” even if it passes. That is to say, if it fails the visual inspection – a government-approved drone pops the hood to look at the engine to ascertain whether all of its factory-installed emissions control components are intact and operational – it will not pass inspection, even if the tailpipe test comes back well within the standard.
This is revelatory.
If California’s “air quality” bureaucracy was driven by that criteria – air quality – then it would not matter what parts were installed on the car or for that matter not installed on the car. The only thing that would matter would be whether what comes out of the tailpipe is within the standard for that year vehicle. The fact that it’s irrelevant says everything.
Also the fact that the emissions of vehicles 35 years old and older are an irrelevance as regards air quality even if an individual old car’s emissions are above the standard for the same reason that a handful of people peeing in the ocean isn’t going to turn it yellow, either. Less than 1 percent of vehicles in daily use in California are 35 years old or older. Almost every vehicle that is 50 years old or older is a treasured antique that is kept as a relic of the past and driven only occasionally. Most are driven less than 500 miles annually – if they are driven that far.
The California car-haters know this. They are not acting from ignorance or misdirected good intentions. They are acting out of spite and malice – because they despise old cars because they represent the old ways. Also the old times, when cars were emotionally arousing things rather than emotionally stunted things with all the appeal of taking your spinster aunt to the prom.
Leno’s Law – in its innocence – assumed that the intention of California’s law-givers was not to punish owners of antique vehicles. He assumed he was appealing to reasonable people who would relent once they understood the facts.
Leno has learned. That’s good. Leno has been a kind of go-along guy for a long time. But he does love cars. Maybe now he has gained some insight into the mindset of the people who not only hate them but also people like him.
Also, there are still some states that aren’t controlled by people who hate cars and the people who like them.
Maybe it’s time for Jay to move.
. . .
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“Maybe it’s time for Jay to move”, or register his cars in Montana.
It’s quite the cottage industry in Montana right now. Other states are trying to close the loopholes on that, but that will hopefully be difficult. You register your cars to an LLC since you don’t actually live there. Being an LLC rather than a person as the “owner” should make it harder to close it.
I Know a local collector (NW Indiana) that has many valuable cars (it looks like 5 million plus) registered and plated with Montana plates. Probably saves not only money but the having to do air tests (since many of his cars are newer than 1976). Our air tests in NW Indiana aren’t rolling either (1976 or newer.
Full time RV’ers will often register in Oregon or South Dakota because it is extremely simple and much cheaper than other states. Very much the same as you describe in Montana, set up an LLC or establish residency (SD requires you spend at least one night a year in the state) and there are mail forwarding services set up specifically for “remote residents.”
As Washington State follows California like a lost puppy, the one odd thing I still can’t fathom – WA did away with emissions testing some years ago. Even back in the day it only applied to urban and near urban zip codes. I never lived in one so never did the test.
If I recall it was exactly for the logical reason laid out in here, the majority of the cars still on the road are newer with 80k mile rated emissions systems. The urban smog was much improved so why burn up state money for all those test stations. I thought I was dreaming when they announced the testing was ending. So, comrades, drive/modify/tweak to your hearts desire! It literally is a Mad Max free for all here in Eastern WA, they don’t enforce anything. Loud exhaust, rollin’ coal modded diesels, limo tinted windshields, ride heights jacked like a jr. league monster truck rally.
Stay out of Bellevue WA in western WA, they still enforce those ancient state laws on all that stuff, can’t have Biff and Muffy get rattled on their way to Bellevue Square! Snobville is Bellevue, there the wife’s favorite cookbook is the Seattle restaurant guide.
Fuck Jay Leno. Its great that he’s a ‘car guy’ and all, but I never heard of him putting any of his considerable fortune into helping promote any form of liberty. To whom much is given, much is expected. Thats kind of a thing in the universe. None of this smog sticker nonsense in most of Az, but I should shut up about it. We’re full and don’t want Californians bringing their gross domestic product over here. River, ocean, and street shitter states and cities everywhere would welcome Californias Diverse contributions.
He did criticize obama, that why he was replaced from his show. I think he may be more pro liberty than you think, but clearly he mostly keeps it to himself
Fair enough. Guess I need to work on not allowing so much hate in my heart.
Commiefornia almost defaulted in the 2008 financial crisis. It was delaying payments to vendors, issuing scrip, and so forth. It could happen again.
Today’s employment report said only 22,000 jobs were added. And the unemployment rate ticked back up to 4.3%.
The economy is cracking under the assault of constantly changing, unpredictable policies. (Yeah, I’m talkin’ to you, Donnie.) Federal Reserve counterfeiters will cut their short-term interest rate half a percent at the next meeting. But as always, it will be too late.
For whom does the bell toll? GM, Ford, Stellantis, and other EeeVee victims such as Volkswagen. They wasted the last five years trying to copy Tesla. Now it’s two minutes to midnight; their shelves are bare of new ICE vehicles; and the floorboards are breaking under their feet.
* wipes away a crocodile tear while struggling not to laugh *
We haven’t had a “good” economy in about the last 25 years (longer than I’ve had a real job), it’s just cracking up a little more obviously than usual,
Just get it over with already.
“The California car-haters know this. They are not acting from ignorance or misdirected good intentions. They are acting out of spite and malice – because they despise old cars because they represent the old ways.”
One of the few benefits to humanity of the genocides going on in Gaza and Ukraine is that it has exposed the “green” movement as a complete pretense for Jewish Power. After the fall of the Comintern and the Berlin wall, for a while the communists were able to masquerade as greens concerned about “the environment”. These days are long gone.
Jewish Power had to pull out all the stops in order to keep their parallel genocides in Ukraine and Palestine on track. But by twisting the arms of the “environmentalists” across the Noahide empire into supporting these genocidal wars the hypocrisy has been exposed.
“Environmentalists” supported the environmental disaster of the destruction of Nordstream. They support the use of depleted uranium munitions in Ukraine. They have stood by and watched the Jews create an environmental abomination in Gaza and never mentioned what this has done to “the environment”, whether it is on the land or in the air and in the sea. Of course they also support the construction of bird chopping altars to the wind all across the planet.
It has become axiomatic that environmentalism is as fake and gay as Tel Aviv. Jews pushing everything too far has exposed the left for their charlatan attitude towards the truth and well being of the people they have fooled for centuries.
Macron, Starmer, Merz, Meloni, VD Leyen, Kallas, Rutte, Stubb and all the rest are despised by their respective peoples. Democracy has been exposed as a complete Jewish sham.
So all these greens and all these “democratic” leaders are just NPC stooges doing what they are told and mouthing the slogans and propaganda they are fed. One minute they love Elon Musk, the next they hate him. They have no agency, they have no sovereignty. They are NPC’s who simply say whatever the Jew in the media tell them to do.
Of course if people had read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and if people had studied history they would understand what is happening to them and why.
California is an anomaly.
Quite the varied landscape and climates, yet the concentration of ideas of the far left dominates to such a degree that the government is out of step with almost the entire geographical footprint of the rest of America.
Somehow it is still able to capture the minds of leftists and governments across the US.
I am at a loss to describe how this happens.
It influences immigration reactions, welfare benefits, firearms restrictions, environmentalism, cars, safety standards, and drugs. Usually all this is in the direction of less freedom. Maybe that is the key. Governments want less freedom and more power, but I don’t know that is the driving force behind the desires of California.
Maybe it is just their denomination in the religion of government, just like the proselytes who preach and recruit harder than other churches do.
It is really quite simple: California is a state of mind created by the Jews in Hollywood. When the Jews in Hollywood told the Californians that they led the US in music, art, media and technology the Californians believed them. It was always just an illusion that was magnified by clouds of marijuana smoke and cocaine dust.
When it comes to Hollywood, in just about every movie where automobiles are concerned, there is almost always one scene where a vehicle tail pipe is shown spewing pollutants on start up.
It is no secret that the Hollywood types HATE the idea of personal transportation–going where one wants when one wants. These “anointed” types love public transportation, showing glowing, romantic use of public transportation despite it being a smelly obnoxious way to travel.
Personal transportation is to be reserved for the elites a la the former Soviet Union.
It’s paradoxical that, at the same time that there is so much distain for cars among the elites in California, California probably has the most extensive system of freeways of any state in the US. Freeways are everywhere, connecting to each other in an incredible array. Californians drive huge distances over this array of freeways, both for commuting and for personal travel.
This was the standing joke in the old SNL series of skits “The Californians”. The esteemed residents of the golden state were always talking about how they were jumping from one freeway to another to get to wherever they were going. The residents of NYC are supposed to think that this is a big joke for which they can justifiably laugh at Californians. After all, they have their wonderful subway system to take them around NYC, so they don’t have to be like the stupid Californians who have to drive everywhere to get around.
Trains and subways are great for a country of uniform race and culture. It used to work in Europe, but thanks to Jews and their Kalergi plan public transport has been destroyed across Europe. No one wants to ride on public transport surrounded by violent and feral dark skinned diversity.
Every time I see a video of the clean and orderly Chinese or Japanese bullet trains I am reminded of what Jews have taken away from us. Instead we have no other choice but to use the automobile, and Jews are doing everything in their power to make the automobile so expensive and so burdened by other issues that public transport looks good in comparison.
Jews have backed western civilization into such a narrow corner that 15 minute cities will eventually look like a god send. Welcome to the Noahide empire.
In 2017 Daughter and I were stepping on a transit train in SE Brussels, I commented on this thing looks brand new! She said “yep, actually it is. It’s the replacement for the one that got terrorist bombed recently, remember that? This is the route where it happened.” Yikes. Ain’t diversity grand?
It’s easy to say “time to move” but in reality it’s not that simple. The problem with blue states like California and New York is that they are so big and so beautiful that they are genuinely nice places to live and also have high wages, so this allows the Karens, the queers, the bureaucrats, and the nutjobs to hold you hostage to their bullshit.
Do you want to live in San Diego where it’s 80 degrees and sunny year round and never rains or snows — or in a Milwaukee ghetto all winter, or East Bumfuck, Kentucky next to a trailer park?
San Francisco is like 65-70 degree year round. The Sierras are stunningly gorgeous, as are the Adirondacks, the Finger Lakes, etc. etc.
People are forced to either tolerate the bullshit or live in a less desirable place.
Amen, X –
That’s my dilemma also. SW Virginia is a beautiful part of the country. But Virginia is controlled (politically) by the hive up in Northern VA – which might as well be DC – plus the cancer that is Richmond and its surrounding counties. Jefferson was right about cities (density) and what they do to the mind (and to liberty).
100%. I live in Commiefornia. I hate the government, and it makes my life difficult in many daily activities, particularly with me being a weekend mechanic who likes to wrench on cars.
All that being said, my job is here, and I’ve lived here for 27 years, so most of my friends are here, most of my professional contacts. I live in a tiny little house in a nice area that I like, and I have a cabin in the sierras where I can go fishing in my back yard. It’s nice, just expensive, and full of busybodies sticking their nose into my business.
I’ll second that, whenever California passes some ridiculous “environmental laws” Massachusetts says me too! This state is run by communists who are jealous of successful people and are always looking for ways to steal their hard earned wealth, while paying for migrants hotel rooms, cellphones, and debit cards. Unfortunately all my friends and family are in this area, and I’m way too old to start over somewhere else.
Always with ‘the weather, the weather.’ Sheesh, if I picked my residence based primarily on weather I’d share time between three different places. Whenever we drive into California to check on our oldsters, its always the same. From Nevada or Arizona, the first thing you realize once you drop down into that basin is the air isn’t fit to breathe. You’d probably need to go to India or China to find worse, but hey, what about that weather, and how bout them Dodgers. I suppose the narrative overlay of the California dream feels calming while being herded, Temple Grandin like into a fabulous WEF gulag.
The best parts of Sierras are burnt down. The remainder is government lockdown. The whole place fka california is a depressing scam. Oregons smog scam only affects vehicles less than 21 years old west of cascades in the lib cesspits. Good place to have a great car from Erics sweet spot now.
The dilemma for us in WA as well. We’ve discussed with daughter and fam. pooling house resources for a family compound in ID, WY, MT. However, out of the frying pan into the fire gives us pause. I’ve spent enough time in each state you better be damn careful where you locate. Meth heads, general shunning of outsiders moving in (can’t say I blame them), Cletus on the 40 acre spread next to yours lights up his home made gun range at 6 AM Sunday morning. Guess I could bring a case of PBR and some long guns and join him for range day.
When someone as rich as Jay Leno isn’t safe from the fatwas of the regulatory ayatollahs in California…that says a lot.
Jay Leno has always been a go-along-to-get-along cuck. For the most part that served him well, allowing him to become very wealthy. But he’s still a cuck. In his old age I’d like to see him develop a backbone and use his notoriety to become very critical of his slave masters. I don’t see that happening though. He’s just too domesticated.
“Maybe it’s time for Jay to move.”
Please, Jay, don’t come here. We’ve already been inundated with too many carpetbaggers and foreigners. Say what you will about the mexicans, at least they don’t bitch about Confederate monuments that have been in place for over a hundred years.
Luckily I live in a place where I don’t need to do annual inspections for safety or emissions reasons because I’m pretty sure all my vehicles would fail for one or the other. The cars are all safe to drive and don’t belch blue or black smoke out the tail pipe but even a bad gas cap or wheel speed sensor would have you fail testing.
On the upside these parts are relatively easy to find but if your 1974 Chevelle needs the complete smog pump assembly and the correct one is unavailable and you bolt on one meant for a 1968 Corvette it will quite possibly fail inspection based on it not looking correct.
That’s the joy of GovCo inspections; it’s like going in for a NCRS level inspection on a regularly driven classic. There’s no way it would ever pass that level of inspection and that’s why they are doing it. It’s not about the emissions or to force you to buy a new car; it’s to f*ck you over because they can.
Sadly they fail to grasp the fact that many people decide that spending thousands of dollars a year on a car that goes through a couple of tanks of gas instead of spending the same money to go on vacation in Switzerland does more for the economy than the latter. And that’s why we can’t have nice things anymore.
That’s because most of your average bureaucrats aren’t interested in what they’re regulating. After 5:00pm they go home and forget about work until tomorrow. They aren’t interested in extracurricular activities that might be tangential to their job.
“If it is important, they will train me.”
This goes for the inspectors at the smog check facility too. They weren’t hired because they wrench on the weekends. In fact that would probably be an undesirable trait, because the boss doesn’t want anyone knowing more than they do, ‘lest they outshine the manager. “Oh, he’ll just be bored working here and quit in 6 months” will be the excuse for passing on this “overqualified” applicant.
Imagine if there was someone truly qualified to judge if the engine was operating within acceptable norms working at the smog center. Sure, your bolt-on CAT isn’t factory spec, but it works, so OK you pass.
When unleaded first was introduced Honda ran ads showing that their new 1975/6 CVCC could run on regular gas, unlike every other car that year. Because it was so efficient it passed CARB rules even without a catalytic converter. I’m sure many of the modern 4 cyl engines could probably pass emissions tests without a cat but why bother?