Leno’s Law was supposed to allow smog-era cars some relief from emissions inspections. As someone with a carbureted 1985 Jeep J10 that will never pass SMOG and that I now have little choice but to sell, I am feeling the effects of California’s overly-strict SMOG rules, and I should be upset having to give up my beloved truck. But I’m just not. California car culture rules.
Back in May, I wrote this article about my Jeep J10: California’s Smog Rules Are Pushing Me To Sell My Beloved 1985 Jeep J10, And The Improbable ‘Leno’s Law’ Is My Only Hope. Since then, Leno’s Law has died, and my only options to keep my J10 on the road are to 1. Try to scrounge together all the annoying emissions equipment so my engine can run more poorly or 2. Do an engine swap on my 78,000 mile motor.
I have no time or interest in doing either, and so I am going to sell my J10 after 10 years of ownership. This sucks, but I also knew it was going to happen. As I said in my previous story:
Right now, cars before the catalytic converter era are legal to drive in California without any SMOG checks. The idea that California will say “your car actually came with emissions equipment but we no longer care if it works” seems tough to me. But I’m still a proponent of the bill, because I think car culture matters. And also, come on: Who wouldn’t want to see this truck out on the road? Joy, folks — it’s the only emission that matters:
Over the past few months, I’ve come to terms with the fact that my J10 fits into that unfortunate gap between 1975 and fuel injection, and that this ultimately dooms it. But here’s the thing: That doesn’t mean I can’t own another awesome 1980s-era truck! When I went to have my Throttle Body-injected 1989 Chevy K1500 emissions tested, it passed with flying colors.
Ditto with my 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ:
I’ve never had any issue getting any of my fuel injected cars through emissions, and if I do, I’ll swap some O2 sensors and throw in a new catalytic converter. There are far fewer dials to turn (so to speak) than an older carbureted car. So my pre-1975 cars (my 1966 Mustang, 1958 Willy CJ-3B that’s now sold) and my 1980s and 1990s cars (K1500, Wrangler YJ) have had no issues; it’s just the in-between period just before fuel injection that gets boned.
That’s not to downplay how many great cars there are that fit in that era! There are, and I wish they could catch a break; my J10 would love one. But there are also great updated versions of those very cars/alternatives that came a little later with fuel injection, and between all those and the pre-1975 vehicles, as well as the option that many take to register cars in Montana, the car culture in this state remains excellent. I write this because of headlines like “Jay Leno Tried to Save Car Culture – California Shut Him Down.” I don’t think he tried to “save” car culture, but he definitely tried to help it. Still, even with late 70s and early 80s vehicles on the proverbial sidelines, California Car Culture doesn’t need saving; it’s Arguably the best in the world — right up there with Detroit’s.
I’ve never seen someone convert an old engine to throttle body injection for the sake of emissions, but would something like a holley sniper kit work? I know nothing about them as I haven’t touched a carburated car in over 25 years, but maybe there’s alternative or DIY options less pricey?
“Who wouldn’t want to see this truck out on the road?”
Ask people stuck in traffic behind you.
“Joy, folks — it’s the only emission that matters”
The climate is fine folks, really! Smog? That’s just the sweet breath of freedom!
I’m with you on this – There are plenty of older cars at Cars and Coffees in Malibu, Rolling Hills, Irvine, etc.
There are even Malaise Daze events in LA next month specifically for cars of the 70s and early 80s – as there have been for years.
https://mmi.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=4091&club_id=863628&item_id=2678072
Nobody is taking anyone’s classic/vintage cars away.
Seems like you should just put the word California in all the article titles to trigger engagement based on the comments.
I totally agree. I won’t deny it’s definitely tough to be a gearhead in CA but not impossible. But to me the payoff is worth it. I’m surrounded by tons of amazing driving roads that I can drive nearly year round, and I regularly see awesome cars at any random cars and coffee events or canyon road meetups which many people will never see in person. I remember going to Cars and Coffee Irvine (RIP) years back and the founder of Vector would regularly drive his prototypes there.
I still see plenty of cars from the “dark ages” between 1976-1996 too. Heck, next month I’m going to 3 car shows in the L.A. area (Radwood, Malaise Daze, Japanese Classic Car Show) 3 weekends in a row which are heavily biased towards cars from that era. My heavily modified 1985 Ford LTD will be in two of those shows.
I do take issue at you being cavalier about just throwing a new cat on a car to get it smogged. Have you actually done that on a CA car? CA requires CARB approved cats and they are stupid expensive. The only CARB legal 4-cat H-pipe assembly that’s legal for my LTD is made by Magnaflow and retails for $2200. I bought a 2004 Toyota Sequoia a couple of years ago for $4500 which started throwing P0420/0430 catalyst codes and legal weld-in cats are $600 each. So if the cats were bad it’d cost $1200 + labor at minimum. That’s about 1/3 the purchase price of my $4500 vehicle! Thankfully I replaced the downstream O2 sensors and the issue never came back.
Just for fun, the CA legal Magnaflow cats for David’s ’91 Wrangler are $480 for a weld-in version or $1166 for bolt-in. I know David is frugal like I am and $500 is more than I’m willing to spend on the parts cannon which may not fix the issue.
You know who can save it? Out-of-state people that want clean California cars. They’ll be happy to take them off you so you don’t have to worry about smug check 😉
Do you have any family back in Michigan that wants your truck? Or anyone out of state?
If you don’t have a buyer in mind in a state that doesn’t do emissions, sell it here:
https://opposite-lock.com/category/19/swappo
California should just bring back the rolling exemption as well as some other exemptions that may or may not have been removed, such as engines under 819 cc
Supposedly, there is a process for collector cars to get a referee exemption, but in practice it’s almost impossible to actually get. One person contacted a senator or something, but even then it took 6 months to actually get the appointment.
Did CRC lobby to shut down the Leno’s Law? They can sell more Guaranteed 2 Pass that way LOL
CRC G2P or Cataclean before the smug check 😛
But none of the these are clean California cars, they just came from Detroit the birthplace of rust.
That reminds me of an old wrenching nightmare that was the ’89 and ’90 Suburban. Your 89 has the new generation body and engine. My 1990 GMC Suburban was still on the old body style, but with the new TBI engine. Some parts were old style, some were new. Online and in-store parts lookup systems were not trustworthy.
I believe that Leno’s Law should have passed, but as a non-Californian I’m not exactly sad that the fourth largest economy economy in the world has been locked out of the market for classic cars. Cheaper for me!
There are so many little edge cases that were left unfulfilled with Leno’s Law – especially as additional restrictive changes were made to it.
For example, if you want to put a modern engine in a car you also need to swap in that engine’s mated transmission. My ’89 MR2 Supercharged engine was on its last legs, and replacements were prohibitive plus finding parts was near impossible. Swapped in a 2GR and ensured it was cleaner running that what we put in – catalytic converters, everything. Also made sure it was quiet, kinda like if Toyota built it with this engine in the first place. Now I have a faster, cleaner, quieter car that I can actually get parts for!
There are no transmission substitutes that work, though. Which means I can’t get my cleaner running car smogged. Leno’s Law, as originally designed, would have allowed this (iirc) and was kinda the catalyst to go this direction. Now, I need to look into registering out of state – probably Washington as my parents live there.
Just don’t ask what the culture will be like after Jan 1, 2035!
By then we’ll all be dead anyway
It’s not like all of the ICE vehicles already on the road would all of a sudden disappear, but you do have a point.
They would if the CA government had its way.
I am part of a group that has actively been championing and monitoring efforts to create classic car smog check exemptions in CA, and while we know the state made the EV sales mandate for NEW cars, there is no evidence I’m aware of that the state is doing anything to change the ability to have an old car on the road. In fact the only upcoming change that I am aware of for older cars is the state trying to DISCONTINUE dyno smog checks on 1996-1999 OBDII cars and go to just a plug in monitor check like all 2000+ cars do.
So you can speculate on California sky is falling doom as much as you want, whereas I will follow the actual facts presented. Maybe you’re right, but as a person who has my finger of the pulse of this topic I see no concrete evidence supporting your narrative at this time.
I don’t necessarily believe that the powers that be will stop at new car sales either, but even if I grant your point, there are still problems.
I buy new cars, and while I don’t live in CA, its politics and policies set the tone for much of the nation, not to mention the automakers product offerings.
If my car is wrecked on January 2, 2035, I don’t have recourse to buy a new one as a replacement. That is a problem, and one that I don’t think is compatible with the idea of having a good car culture.
Fortunately God has a plan for California. JK
California car culture might rock, but the state sure makes it difficult to own anything old (within the CARB limits), expensive (many folks opt to put MT plates on there due to the taxes and registration costs), or fun (many 25-year imports still cannot be registered in CA).
AZ has a pretty great car culture in comparison. There are some pretty epic collections, car shows, and local drives to go on. Anything over 25 years old with collector car insurance is exempt from emissions. Oh, and no rust! Yeah, the heat is oppressive part of the year, but the cost of living makes up for that.
This bill failed because the Democrats refuse to endorse anything from across the aisle. Pretty lame. I guess CA gets what they voted for after all.
TBH California puts deranged sky high fees on taxes and makes everything difficult for everything in every day life. It’s not like they are singling out old cars. Hell even the new cars are over taxed and set upon with fees and regulations. California is singularly responsible for requiring shit on new cars in every state to solve problems the state created and actively makes worse.