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Colorado restricts collector license plates


Caballero2

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We're going to see more and more of it as outlets like NPR get hold of current state laws regarding antique cars, then broadcast it to get their audience enraged. I wish it were possible to convince this audience that collector-owned old cars are not driven enough to produce the pollution they're accused of.

One weapon you as an old car owner have is to make sure any legislator who introduces or co-patrons such legislation knows that you vote and will work to unseat them. I think all state legislatures have a bill-tracking feature on the legislature website. You can learn a lot about what your lawmakers are up to by spending a few minutes there every day.

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  • 1 month later...

That is a shame. Many states have restrictions. I love to drive my old cars, so I actually register my antique cars with contempory plates. That way no restrictions at all. I have driven my old car to work for the past three weeks becuase every time I drive it it is a pleasure to do so. Well worth the annual registration fee in my state over the perminant historic car plate fee which does not have to be renewed.

NPR is hardly the problem, it is usually local law enforcement that want to bust hobbyists for driving daily on historic or collector plates. They watch us close around here.

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  • 7 months later...
NPR is hardly the problem, it is usually local law enforcement that want to bust hobbyists for driving daily on historic or collector plates. They watch us close around here.

Is it illegal to be doing so (driving daily on historic plates)? If so, it sounds like law enforcement is doing their job.

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Guest De Soto Frank
Is it illegal to be doing so (driving daily on historic plates)? If so, it sounds like law enforcement is doing their job.

Check your local DMV regs...

"Daily driving" on an "Antique" plate is not legal here in PA.

Some guys take their chances... all depends on how aggressive / motivated your local Barney Fife, is whether or not you get busted.

Your results may vary.

If you're going to drive the vehicle in excess of your state's historic vehicle allowance, then you'd better put a regular plate on it.

Edited by De Soto Frank (see edit history)
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I'm sure enforcement varies from locale to locale, just like any other infraction. The cops focus on what they are told to focus on, plus some guys are just more lenient than others, especially on non-dangerous violations.

Honestly, why bother a guy who just happens to take his collector car to work on a nice day when you can bust some idiot for reckless operation.

These days however, with budgets tight......a lot of departments are issuing tickets for things they never would have before.

I drive my cars more than I should, but I also drive them a lot as "tests". changed the oil, rotated the tires, to and from the car wash or parts store, etc....plus there's always a car show or cruise in somewhere! (I keep my Show and Shine calendar close by) :)

I even put collector plates on my '68 travel trailer. The lady at the DMV looked at me like I was crazy......"you know you can only use those to show the vehicle, right?" I said "yes, I'm going to tow it to a trailer park, park it, then SHOW it!"

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I even put collector plates on my '68 travel trailer. The lady at the DMV looked at me like I was crazy......"you know you can only use those to show the vehicle, right?" I said "yes, I'm going to tow it to a trailer park, park it, then SHOW it!"

That's just asking for trouble, and for more people to demand a ban on collector plates because of abuse.

I know someone in PA who paid a $500 fine 20 years ago for hauling his picnic table in a '65 Ford pickup with antique plates, because an antique isn't allowed to haul anything. Using an antique plate for a car in normal use is usually considered exactly the same violation as having no plates at all.

God only knows what the fines are up to in any of the 50 states for abusing antique plates, but the people who make others pay those fines are protecting those of us that use the plates legitimately.:)

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  • 5 months later...

While the article has been deleted, Here in Ca. the restrictions are about the same as in most parts. The part that bothers me is a state giving a historical-antique licence plate to a modified car. Once it's modified it is no longer historical,antique or classic. So by letting the hot rodders get them you will ruin it for the rest of us. Last Saturday at my local dougnut-car gathering I saw a MG (very sano) with a SBC stuffed in it and it had historical plates on it. All you need is some envronmental wacko who sees one of these plates on a hot rod and knows someone in the legislature to get the ball rolling.

Don

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Guest billybird

When I tried to pull up the arcticle it said- no longer available. Could you give the general gist of the arcticle? Was there a cut off year?

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huh?

Didn't you get the memo? Everything every government does everywhere is oppressive and parasitic now. "F--- tha Police" by N.W.A. is the new This Land is Your Land!:rolleyes::D

====================

Seriously, we're talking about illegally unlicensed vehicles here, and it's being turned into a political discussion as if that's some measure of liberty. Amazing. This isn't a problem, it's a disease.

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Didn't you get the memo? Everything every government does everywhere is oppressive and parasitic now. "F--- tha Police" by N.W.A. is the new This Land is Your Land!:rolleyes::D

====================

Seriously, we're talking about illegally unlicensed vehicles here, and it's being turned into a political discussion as if that's some measure of liberty. Amazing. This isn't a problem, it's a disease.

F the police? This is offensive.

The problem is the legislators writing laws, most of whom seem not to understand the Law of Unintended Consequences.

I like this quote from Glenn

Our plant Operations group took a course called "A Systematic Approach to Industrial Operations" several years back, and one thing I remember clearly from it was that you can eventually put enough boundaries and controls in place that you will paralyze yourself and not be able to accomplish anything. Government has not learned that yet.

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Guest Jim_Edwards
While the article has been deleted, Here in Ca. the restrictions are about the same as in most parts. The part that bothers me is a state giving a historical-antique licence plate to a modified car. Once it's modified it is no longer historical,antique or classic. So by letting the hot rodders get them you will ruin it for the rest of us. Last Saturday at my local dougnut-car gathering I saw a MG (very sano) with a SBC stuffed in it and it had historical plates on it. All you need is some envronmental wacko who sees one of these plates on a hot rod and knows someone in the legislature to get the ball rolling.

Don

I believe you will find many states, if not all, have some sort of special registrations available solely based only upon the year of the production for the body. I can assure anyone that no state is going to even remotely attempt to "judge" vehicles beyond the year of body manufacture.

Some states have gone a step further when it comes to repli-car bodies and various other kit cars in considering the first year of registration the year of manufacture, which unto itself opens a pandora's box of a stack of regulations most slapped together kit cars won't even come remotely close to meeting.

As for emissions testing of any vintage vehicle, I have ran a couple of them with proper tune-ups through tail pipe/dyno emissions inspections just for grins and they both passed.......which makes one wonder why in the hell are we paying for all the emissions crap placed on an automobile when a fifty year old car with the engine in good operational order with no emissions control devices on it will pass strengent emissions testing?

Makes no difference what one puts on the streets, if the sucker is smoking like a bar-b-que pit or the exhaust smells like a burning sack of crap, the engine needs a major rebuild. There is no excuse for anyone to be hiding behind the age of a vehicle to avoid proper maintenance.

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While the article has been deleted, Here in Ca. the restrictions are about the same as in most parts. The part that bothers me is a state giving a historical-antique licence plate to a modified car. Once it's modified it is no longer historical,antique or classic. So by letting the hot rodders get them you will ruin it for the rest of us. Last Saturday at my local dougnut-car gathering I saw a MG (very sano) with a SBC stuffed in it and it had historical plates on it. All you need is some envronmental wacko who sees one of these plates on a hot rod and knows someone in the legislature to get the ball rolling.

Don

Here in Minnesota we have 4 different classifications of plates.

Pioneer. For cars built before 1936.

Classic. For cars deemed as Classics by the CCCA.

Collector. Any car 20 years and older.

Street Rod. You qualify for these plates if your vehicle was manufactured before 1949 or was recreated to resemble a vehicle manufactured before 1949.

All have restrictions such as not being used to drive to work, go to the store, etc.

But the police rarely if ever enforce it.

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[quote=Jim_Edwards;As for emissions testing of any vintage vehicle, I have ran a couple of them with proper tune-ups through tail pipe/dyno emissions inspections just for grins and they both passed.......which makes one wonder why in the hell are we paying for all the emissions crap placed on an automobile when a fifty year old car with the engine in good operational order with no emissions control devices on it will pass strengent emissions testing?

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Jim, I don't understand what you mean here. If there were a standard for emissions on 1960 cars and you passed I would say OK. But a 1960 car will never pass standards for a 61 (CA. standard)-62(fed.) car with PCV. Or a 1966 car which is the first year for exhaust controls. Or a 1968 car with closed crankcase. Or a 1975 car with catalyst, or a car with OBD1 or a car with OBD2.

I will tell you some states want to test those because of revenue. We in Ca. have on the balot next week a measure to raise registration fees ($18.00) to pay for state parks. Tell me why registration of cars has anything to do with state parks?? That is revenue driven.

Don

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Tell me why registration of cars has anything to do with state parks??

What? Are you going to walk there? :D

If we had not just endured 30+ years of unprecedented tax cuts (yes, you read that right!:)), maybe the state and Federal government wouldn't have to look like beggars scraping every dime off the street that they can.

What, you don't believe that?:D

Read these tables: The Tax Foundation - State and Local Tax Burdens: All States, One Year, 1977-2008. Try to find a place that's paying MORE in taxes as a percentage of income than it was in 1977, including the Federal taxes. You won't.

Some people on TV and the radio make a good living ignoring these facts. Are the consequences "unintended"? I doubt it.

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What? Are you going to walk there? :D

If we had not just endured 30+ years of unprecedented tax cuts (yes, you read that right!:)), maybe the state and Federal government wouldn't have to look like beggars scraping every dime off the street that they can.

What, you don't believe that?:D

Read these tables: The Tax Foundation - State and Local Tax Burdens: All States, One Year, 1977-2008. Try to find a place that's paying MORE in taxes as a percentage of income than it was in 1977, including the Federal taxes. You won't.

Some people on TV and the radio make a good living ignoring these facts. Are the consequences "unintended"? I doubt it.

So the guy that dosen't have a car dosen't pay his fair share, or the collector who has five restored cars pays five plus his two daily drivers and that is fair???If you understand what has happened in Ca. you would know the state started (bonds) buying a incredible amount of land and no cash to keep it up and now they are strapped , besides lic. fees and gas tax are supposed to maintain roads and run their administrations that's all.

Don

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Guest Jim_Edwards
[quote name='Jim_Edwards;As for emissions testing of any vintage vehicle' date=' I have ran a couple of them with proper tune-ups through tail pipe/dyno emissions inspections just for grins and they both passed.......which makes one wonder why in the hell are we paying for all the emissions crap placed on an automobile when a fifty year old car with the engine in good operational order with no emissions control devices on it will pass strengent emissions testing?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim, I don't understand what you mean here. If there were a standard for emissions on 1960 cars and you passed I would say OK. But a 1960 car will never pass standards for a 61 (CA. standard)-62(fed.) car with PCV. Or a 1966 car which is the first year for exhaust controls. Or a 1968 car with closed crankcase. Or a 1975 car with catalyst, or a car with OBD1 or a car with OBD2.

I will tell you some states want to test those because of revenue. We in Ca. have on the balot next week a measure to raise registration fees ($18.00) to pay for state parks. Tell me why registration of cars has anything to do with state parks?? That is revenue driven.

Don

I guess I didn't make it clear that the cars involved were subjected to the exact same inspection criteria as any car over 1 year old would be subject to in areas in Texas requiring a tailpipe probe and dyno. One car came with positive crankcase ventilation the other not. I personally do not live in an area requiring vehicles to have that level of emissions testing, but ran the vehicles through that inspection simply to confirm something I have believed for years. That belief being that forty years ago when all the concerns over emissions began our fuels contained a lot of stuff it shouldn't have and thus created the problem. Fuels have been cleaned up not just a little bit but a bunch and my experiment at $39.00 per vehicle served to prove that in my mind. I don't expect anyone to buy what I believe or the results of my experiment; but if you have a well maintained vehicle that's not an oil burner from the pre EGR/Smog pump days you might just find the results of spending a few bucks to test it eye opening.

Jim

Edited by Jim_Edwards (see edit history)
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[quote name=Jim_Edwards;As for emissions testing of any vintage vehicle' date=' I have ran a couple of them with proper tune-ups through tail pipe/dyno emissions inspections just for grins and they both passed.......which makes one wonder why in the hell are we paying for all the emissions crap placed on an automobile when a fifty year old car with the engine in good operational order with no emissions control devices on it will pass strengent emissions testing?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I guess I didn't make it clear that the cars involved were subjected to the exact same inspection criteria as any car over 1 year old would be subject to in areas in Texas requiring a tailpipe probe and dyno. One car came with positive crankcase ventilation the other not. I personally do not live in an area requiring vehicles to have that level of emissions testing, but ran the vehicles through that inspection simply to confirm something I have believed for years. That belief being that forty years ago when all the concerns over emissions began our fuels contained a lot of stuff it shouldn't have and thus created the problem. Fuels have been cleaned up not just a little bit but a bunch and my experiment at $39.00 per vehicle served to prove that in my mind. I don't expect anyone to buy what I believe or the results of my experiment; but if you have a well maintained vehicle that's not an oil burner from the pre EGR/Smog pump days you might just find the results of spending a few bucks to test it eye opening.

Jim

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim here is the maximum allowable emissions for my 69 Pontiac for just the idle portion of the test, Co% 5.5% HC 500 ppm--the car was actually measured at C0 1.5% HC 148ppm.

Here is the standard for my 2001 Nissan Xterra for Idle; C0 1% HC @100ppm. The car actually measured at idle C0 0.00% and HC @ 0.01 ppm

The 69 Pontiac would NEVER be able to match those kind of numbers that are the standard for my 01 Xterra as per the emission standards.

Don

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all sounds pretty clean to me! :D what was the age requirement in colorado?? in arizona it's 25... but in my warped thinking the age of these modern 'historical' vehicles should progress to 35... maybe even to 40.... every two years slide the required age by one year... eventually 'historical' or 'collector' or "classic" would have more meaning. maybe.

Edited by mrspeedyt
two years (see edit history)
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all sounds pretty clean to me!

I think so too, but here is Ca. some people don't think it's enough so now it's C02. Gee, just think if you blew on the probe in your tailpipe you might contaminate the cars sample with your own C02 and make it fail!

Don

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Guest Silverghost

There is quite a bit of Classic Collector plate & Collector insurance abuse here in Pa.

Everyday drivers , Streetrods & hotrods etc.

Cheap insurance & NO safety & emission inspection has fueled this problem .

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