As we mentioned a couple of months ago, amended legislation (S.B. 1239) proposes that all vehicles prior to the 1981 model year be exempted from biennial emissions inspections. The stipulation is that these vehicles must be insured as a collector car. With many collector car insurance companies offering to insure special or classic vehicles, this could be great news for many vehicle owners.

While the bill is to extend the current coverage from pre-1976 through pre-1981 for emissions testing, please keep in mind that this is merely a two-year trial to exempt from testing, but does not render all vehicles up through 1980 as “smog exempt”.  What that means is that you are still required to retain you original, factory emissions equipment, but you will be exempt from the inspection.

This topic has always been a huge debate, and if you call the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) they will assure you that exempt from testing is not the same as smog exempt. However, with this bill being passed by Senate many classic car owners will not be required to get their car into smog inspection condition. For many enthusiasts in California, locating smog parts like TVSVs and other small parts have been hard to find, and are no longer manufactured, and that poses a dilemma come inspection time.

If you’re interested in helping to move this bill along, your help is still greatly appreciated. You can request support for this legislation by heading over to the SEMA Action Network site (SAN) and contact your local lawmakers and let them know how you feel. Let’s help push this through, your support has been an incredible effort thus far, but we need to stay on top of this to get full approval from the Senate.