California gets a bad rap for its many rules, regulations, and costs, many of which impact car enthusiasts. Sometimes, folks might be quick to crack a joke at California’s expense, but California is actually cooler than you might think.
David Tracy wrote about how California car culture ruled in the past, and it will continue to be awesome even after the failure of the so-called ‘Leno’s Law’ bill had failed to pass. LTDScott concurs:
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.
One thing to keep in mind is that while California might be strict on vehicle emissions, it works. Now people can enjoy both cleaner air and still drive cars that would have rusted away in the vast majority of the rest of America.
Mark Tucker wrote a Shitbox Showdown featuring a Jeep Patriot going up against another cheap car. Finally, it’s time for the Jeep Patriot to get some respect! Right? Sid Bridge
Jeep Patriot: Maybe this is my moment! I’ve finally been chosen for Shitbox Showdown! Maybe people will see that I’m a plucky underdog with an improbably fun transmission! I may finally have this!
Honda Fit: Hi there.
Jeep Patriot: Shit.
Aw, I feel bad for the Patriot now.
Meanwhile, Jason wrote a scathing take on the trend of the restomodded Land Rover Defender. The bizarre thing is that there are a million of these things and they’re all basically the same. I saw this comment, so you have to as well. Alexk98:
I am so sick of these garbage builds plastered over social media and the internet. “Oh it’s so luxurious” Yeah fuck that, it isn’t, they just wrapped the entire interior in the cheapest quilted leather they could find, nobody calls a gimp suit luxurious just because it’s leather, just less creaky than vinyl.
Thanks, I can’t un-see that, now. Have a great evening, everyone!
(Topshot: Mercedes Streeter)
I have known two Jeep Patriots in my life.
The first was my best friend’s, and is only noteworthy in terms of the friendships that went on drives in it. The tailgate speaker thing is a cool idea until the cheap plastic latch breaks and you have to carefully hold it up into the hatch door each time you close the hatch for the rest of its existence.
It finally died because the friend’s parent didn’t take it in for a TSB that expired before they got to it. I forget if it was a subframe or something similar.
Another friend got a manual Patriot they liked, but at some point the ECU shit itself and the car was basically dead at that point. No idea what happened there.
Anyway, I got better highway mpg in my van than a Patriot did city mpg, so I’d call that a win for vandom.
Just hanging out, here in COTD, enjoying the atmosphere.
Whats amazing about living here in terms of cars is that the environment keeps them pristine. Well- at least the metal. The sun will fade paint and plastic pieces in a few years. On the other hand its not unusual to see people daily driving late 80’s Camrys,Dodge minivans, and other things that would have turned into iron oxide elsewhere. Both my 1955 Mercury and 1949 Plymouth were outdoor cars their entire lives. The frames have ZERO rust.
I went to college in LA in the mid 80s. My friend and I cycled about 12 miles each way to go look at ’68 Camaro 396SS that was for sale. When we got back I took of my t-shirt and noticed I had a smog tan. My arms were darker than the rest from the smog. I could only image what was going into my lungs.
I’ve lived in and visited SoCal on and off since then. I have noticed the air becoming much cleaner, despite the increase in vehicle population. CARB does serve a purpose (this coming from someone who has to deal with them quite frequently).
People losing their mind on resto-Defenders, but failing to notice the money people pump into Jeep Wranglers for all kinds of questionable modifications.
Now I want a car with a gimp suit interior. Really shiny, squeaky patent leather everywhere, with random zippers on the seats. Maybe a ball gag on top of the shift lever. The KinkMobile
I am a poet, and abhorrent automotive adjacent analogies are my canvas
Everyone should be thanking the California legislature right now for turning all of its attention to countering the GOP mandated redistricting of Texas and other states. It is literally the only thing standing in the way of a dictatorship taking this country down. When this problem is fixed, they can go back to reviewing stalled bills. And you’ll still have your freedom.
But the problem is that it started an “arms race” where the red states will simply add more seats. trump and the GOP is going to absolutely pull some shit to attempt to steal the midterms. You know it, I know it. Because a win in the house from Democrats means trump will be done.
We have to remember what this actually is: Its a fat spray tanned orange guy doing all he can to remain out of federal prison. Because if the GOP ever loses control that is where he and a bunch of these pieces of shit who did this to us will go. So yeah… he is probably already begging more red states to add more seats to offset our state. California is huge. So we can add more seats. But we can’t fight them all off.
“One thing to keep in mind is that while California might be strict on vehicle emissions, it works”
This is a great reminder they are called smog laws for a reason. I’ve never been to California but I am old enough to remember newspaper pics of the LA skyline blanketed in reddish orange haze.
The first time I visited LA was 1995. I took a picture from the Griffith’s Observatory, and the city was still covered in brown foam, like a stirred cappuccino.
Years later, after living there for a while, the air was visibly cleaner.
I miss LA 🙁
When I first came here for school in 92, you could taste tailpipe exhaust in the air. And downtown was covered in a brown soup. It has improved vastly in the years since.
Going there when it was like that felt even worse (to me) than the photos indicated. The city is always full of lights, but that orange smog reflected it back so much (and dimmed the sun enough) that it really felt like it was right around sunset most of the day and night. And that’s not even considering the breathing aspect.
I always told folks who had moved to LA after the Great Sky Cleaning who complained to go down to Ensenada for a weekend to get a literal taste of mountain basin air without emissions controls.
I remember in the ’80s Car and Driver, based in NYC and later Ann Arbor, Mich would editorialize mightily and one-sidedly against “smog junk” while the LA-based Petersen titles were much more equivocal.
It’s one thing when your car struggles and wheezes, it’s quite another when your kid does.
Yup, I vividly remember the visible thick layer of mung as you started the descent into the valley from the Grapevine.
I just want to say that I just now discovered the Night Panel mode here and very much a yes please, thank you to whoever made this possible!
I saw it, tried it, and reverted to normal, but it still makes me happy. I don’t know if this is feasible though, but Night Panel mode should only display the article header and text, just the bare minimum, and display the rest when you mouse/finger over it.
I do really like Night Panel, though the notifications are a little messed up with it (since they use the white background but take the link color from the dark mode). Small issue and probably will be fixed soon.
OMG thank you, I hadn’t noticed it yet.
Zed: Bring out the gimp.
Maynard: Gimp’s sleeping in his luxurious quilted leather suit.
Zed: Ah. Don’t wake him up. That sounds fantastic.
Marcelus Wallace – I’m pretty fuckin’ far from OK.
California may have some tough regulations, but there’s no more frustrating regulation than the regulation of ice on road surfaces. I get super jealous of all the incredible survivors that you see on the west coast. Hardly anything makes it beyond 20 years around here (and that’s thanks to better rustproofing, it used to be worse).
Seriously, I’d be excited just to see an 00’s Mazda these days.
Maybe in a few decades that winter road ice won’t be a thing anymore.
Man, I’ve been on a comment blitz since Leno’s Law is a topic near and dear to me and I definitely do have a dog in the fight, but of all the comments I dropped today this was not the one I would have thought would be COTD. I’ll take it regardless!
I wanted to nominate one of your earlier ones, but I didn’t want to risk unintentionally shaming the commenter you were responding to!
We try to walk a fine line with COTD and sometimes that means missing some awesome comments that might have political, overly sexual, or other kinds of content in them.
Malaise Daze is a great name for a car show for that era.
It’s a fun show. Nobody takes themselves too seriously.
My car won the grand prize last year: the coveted Golden Smog Pump. Yes, it was a literal gold spray painted smog pump on a trophy.
The last Malaise Daze show I attended – the winner was this enormous brown 1975 Dodge Royal Monaco Brougham wagon.
https://newoldcars.com/1975-dodge-royal-monaco-wagon/
I loved that even the aftermarket trailer brake controller on it was woodgrain.
Seems everything in the mid-70’s was woodgrain – including Microwaves, TV sets and CB radios.
Cover mine in soft Corinthian leather.
Oh lord, that diamond quilted leather. Woof. It’s like the Chrysler 300c Bentley grille, only more pervasive. FB Marketplace abounds with seatcovers in that pattern, letting you know that the person moving that particular shitbox along had… ideas. Luxurious Temu ideas. Sprinkled with Dorito dust.
FWIW, SBSD wasn’t me today, it was Matt.
Good to see you on the site! Hope things are going well for you, given the hints that have been dropped in the last two SBSDs…
We all hope the borescoping was fun.
Mark, Matt, I was half right!
If your gimp suit isn’t luxurious clearly you need a new tailor, hehe!