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On Wed. May 6, 2008 about 30 classic cars from several car clubs were invited to park on the California State Capitol west steps for a classic car show of solidarity. Although there were several other events going on, our cars were listed in the capitol's daily news brief and many legislators and other stuffed shirts came out of their ivory tower to look down on us...actually they were pretty nice and very impressed with our cars. Vic Repstad and I didn't quite know who was who so we told everyone we saw that we were here trying to save our classic cars from certain death by over regulations, impoundment and crushing. We never saw Arnold.

We took Vic's beautiful red 1965 Vett and parked next to two other Vetts. I bought some funny political playing cards at the gift shop and Vic sneered at the capitol cops who threatened him with a body cavity search and a tax audit and a tazer . A good time was had by all.

The next two days we attended the ACCC conference,(www.acccdefender.org), at the Towe Automobile Museum out by Old Sacramento. They had presentations from the CHP, DMV, Bureau of Automotive Repair, California Air Resources Board, and various legislators and other speakers. As you (may) know California is in a state budget crisis. Taxes may not be raised but 'fees' are going to go up on all our cars. The government will be looking for any way to make more revenue. They are hiring more CHP for ticket revenue. They state an amount on your registration bill of the increase but don't always list all of the agencies that are supported by our increased fees. There were two senators in Sacramento who were sponsoring a confiscation bill based on vehicle modification and /or if your vehicle could be used for street racing. The bill would have allowed for a 60-day impound without a hearing before they would decide what to do.

The American Lung Association is constantly pushing for old car removal saying that old cars, including classics, because they say their pollution gives children and adults asthma. They want to have remote, unmanned, 'Roadside Sensing': to bring the exempted cars back into the smog check program in some parts of the state.

AB32, Calif. EPA and Air Resources Board are allowing metal scrap companies to get so called 'credits' and payments from the state and counties to crush as many cars as they can so we won't be able to find spare parts. Think about it; you may not need that old T-Bird part now but maybe you find a whole car for a good price that you want to rebuild later. If we can't find the parts to make our cars legal then the state might be able to crush them as junk. When the conference pressed them to explain completely about these 'credits' that allow their pollution, or forgives their pollution while getting compensated for destroying older cars, the speakers skirted around the subject and never answered the question. This led Vic, myself and others to believe that they don't really want us to know what they agreed to with the car dismantlers. Stationary polluting farm and business motors including hospital generators, were mentioned but they are not pursued because they are not as visible as our classic cars. CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said that, "CHP uses a broad brush to interpret the laws of Calif."

Assemblyman Martin Gerric of San Diego said, "It's just as important to stop bad legislation as it is to pass good legislation. Thousands of bills are put forth every year-some are bad."

ACCC Director Bob Stearns said; "We need to identify what is the economic benefit to the state of a bill as well as who is trying to get the bill passed". Try to get membership list by zip codes of car collectors and business that are supporting our cars to unite them for our cause. One third of the venders from SEMA were from Calif. We have to look at the 'unintended consequences' of a bill to see how it affects our cars.

Original old cars and replicas were discussed. There are 1969 Camaro, all replica cars. Speedway motors manufactures complete 1932 except engine. The attorney general says there are ways to skirt Calif. laws for registering vehicles and they are out to get those vehicles. The Dearborn Deuce is titled and registered in Montana. They have a one-time-fee for some of the vehicles. If a motor home or other vehicle is legally registered in Montana, it has to be accepted as register-able in Calif.

Senator John Brueggeman , SEMA Government Relations Director from Montana spoke. He attends the SEMA show in Las Vegas and also goes to Washington DC. There was more discussion about kit cars improperly titled in the past. We need to find new legislation to handle them in the future. They must meet current year admissions at this time. We car clubs, need to join up with MRF, Motorcycle Riders Federation because they are facing some of the same restrictive legislation that we are. Most MC will have to go to fuel injection and may have to be liquid cooled by 2010.

Assembly Republican Leader Michael Villines, 29th district is on the state budget committee. His idea of ways to cut the state budget were: 1.) Allow public schools to contract out for food services, 2.) Contract out for nurses in corrections and sell the lottery to a private company.

I spoke out. For every service that has been deregulated or contracted out, we as taxpayers have had to pay 10 times as much in fraud. The only reason legislators want to contract these jobs out is so they don't have to pay benefits to employees. (Most) Blue collar workers can't afford health insurance. Of course, state employees-legislators, make very good wages with benefits, health care and have expenses paid.

Bureau of Automotive Repair Allen Coppage said they partner with the Air Resources Board of Calif. and the Consumer Protection Bureau. There are 35,000 auto repair shops in Calif. There are 7,500 smog check stations. In 2010 there will be a new smog check program. In 2001, three million cars failed smog checks. Smog is based on where the car drives. There must be a physical address, no post office box. There is such a thing as 'transient admission pollution' that travels down valleys in Calif. effecting areas not causing the pollution. There is a free market on smog checks and there is some price fixing in some towns. Smog checks should be $29.00 and are negotiable. Go to www.smogcheck.csa.gov. Admission standards are on the web site. Your owner's manual is required to show how much emissions your car should emit.

For all of you with Yugos, there is a program if your car fails smog check, the government will buy it for $1000 to get off the road or give you $500 to get it fixed. In Jan 2010, Diesel trucks and autos will be required to get smog checks. This is not a tail pipe test but is a plug in check to the computer. There is also a functional and visual inspection..

There was a lot of heated debate about several bills detrimental to our classic cars. I'm going to look them all up and will get back to you on them or you can go to the web site. It is imperative that you be aware of the bills working against our cars and please, please contribute to the ACCC. There were some members there representing 80 southern Calif. car clubs. Everyone wants to enjoy their cars, but we must stay on top of the detrimental legislation or the government will take our rights away.

Thank you everyone for giving me this opportunity to be of service to the Roamin' Angels. Thank you Vic R. for going with me and introducing me to the many people I need to know. I bought him a gift for attending. Ask him about it. Thank you Ralph B..

Story & photos by Janene P.
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