California has a special registration program for "vehicles of historical interest."

The basic requirements for qualification are, per VC Section 5004:

Built after 1922.
At least 25 years old.
"Of historical interest." Which is defined as: "a vehicle is of historic interest if it is collected, restored, maintained, and operated by a collector or hobbyist principally for purposes of exhibition and historic vehicle club activities."

The downside is, per the DMV code, a vehicle with these type plates must be driven "primarily for the purpose of historical exhibition or other similar purpose." & I'd have to part with my cherished yellow-on-blue plates.

The upside is, exempt from smog certification. And $25 initial registration.

My SA is 29 model years old (as 2009's are current).

Strikes me that 'primarily' and 'prinicipally' contains a lot of leeway... like trips for fuel, & maintenance, including tuning and battery maintenance. Which likely require a lot of occasional stops along the way. And car club runs are specifically mentioned.



This is how Jay Leno managed to get his "Tank Car" street-legal.



Anyone else ever considered this, or am I having a senior episode? Would be kind of cool to roll to SevenStock or other shows with Historical Vehicle plates.

 

I don't think we are talking about the same thing here but in MN they have what is called collectors plates. You buy them once and you never have to renew them (no more tabs, etc). You can get them for any car thats over 20 years old. They say you should only drive them in parades and **** but nobody cares and it doesn't really matter. Me and My dad DD our cars with them, its not like they enforce it.

 

I'm probably going to get some next year. Here (VA) they are called Antique Plates. They are good for cars older that 25 model years ('84 is available in January). They are pretty cool white on black plates (or blue on yellow). $50 initial fee...no annual safety inspection, no emissions (my area doesn't have emissions anyway), no tags.

The catch is it is for occasional use (pleasure drives, going to meets, etc.). Just cannot be a daily driver.

http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/c...es/antique.asp

 

I've considered getting antique plates for some of my cars here as there is no inspection at all, but they limit it like you guys said to car shows, meets etc. I don't know how strongly its enforced, but I would rather not get pulled over commuting to work like I do all the time in my FB and get a ticket because I'm obviously not goin to a car show haha. If you don't drive your car on a daily basis you would probably be fine, I'm sure CA is strict about it like all your other crazy laws out there....

 

Hmmmm.... All good info. Might be worth investigating further, as my SA is definitely not a DD. Used to be, but it's been strictly a hobby car for several years.

Wonder what it does to salable value, for the future?

 

I have collector plates on my car. I just got them. Cost me $130 for the next 5 years. No emistion testing and renew every 5 years.

 

Wow. Surprised I haven't seen any threads mentioning this. Might be ideal for my needs.

 

If its not a daily driver I'd go for it, cause you seem to be having a hell of a time getting that thing smog compliant. As for resale value, I don't see why it would make much difference, at least here in NJ it wouldn't change it much...

 

In Colorado it says that I don't have any emission testing and long as I own the car. If I was ever to sell the car (not happening), the next owner would be screwed. It also says that all emission equipment on the car must remain there but how is anyone going to know if I don't have to be tested. Where I am now there is no emisson testing but who knows what the future brings.

 

In Colorado it doesn't effect value but I don't know in NJ or CA. Our cars are not worth much as is so what could it do. From what I was just reading in colorado there is no restriction on miles. Also it allows me to have a parts car as long as it isn't a health hazard.

 

Agreed, these cars aren't worth much at all (only to us rotards lol) I'm not sure if there are any state mandated mileage restrictions, but most of the insurance companies limit you to a few thousand... Rumors are floating around about the inspection on older cars (pre OBD2) is going to get a bit easier in NJ so I'll just hang on for that... As it is all my cars pass without any trickery so no worries....

 

I've almost finished my refurb, so I'll wait and see how the smog test goes - - some of the bad parts I've found & fixed almost certainly accounted for the fail; the keg's only got a couple thousand miles on it from a VERY meticulous rebuild (which included new housings & all seals).

Might be a great way to avoid worries in the future. Cali-spec smog parts for SA's are almost all gone.

 

I have Historic plates here in MD on my SA. 20 years or older and exempt from inspection and emissions. The only restrictions on it here is it is not to be your daily transportation but I do anyway. Much cheaper and I don't have to fight with MD state inspection(which is a joke) or emissions(which the SA sure as hell wouldn't pass).

 

Yeah, I saw that section on the DMV website and had the same idea. The only thing is, i don't know what the cops are like where you live, but I know the ones around here are bored out of their minds so they'd probably bust me for using it as a DD.

I mean, if my buddy in Palo Alto got a ticket when he was 14 for riding his bike on the wrong side of the road, who knows what them coppers'll do... I would be curious to see if the plates look any different...

found this:



Yeah, methinks the cops'll notice me driving around every day...

 

Not that many cops around my neighborhood (SB county sheriff covers us under contract) and I wouldn't be using it daily at any rate.

I think I can have generally a legit reason at hand for driving it, should I be stopped: example; taking it to work as I need to get the oil changed at lunchtime, taking it out for a photo shoot at the park onthe way home, needed to log some road time to keep the gas from going stale/testing repairs recently completed, etc.