Seldom see "smoke belchers" anymore * Why not?

Wha..!? They consciously thought that out? It's so wise, I can't
follow the logic to the end of the sentence.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Hah! Maybe that qualifies me for a gov't job!

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Read Federalist #51

http://www.thisnation.com/library/books/federalist/51.html

Basically he is saying that government needs to be created with an
inherent inability to organize around some single goal. He talks
about 'defect of better motives'

Ted

 

Many can. Maybe even most can, but not all can. You live in a dream
world. At least you are enjoying the feeling of superiority that your
dream gives you.

Matt

 

It's not superiority I'm enjoying, it's the lack of pollution from choosing
to
maintain my car.

Ted

 

Yeah I'm sure the government gets right on that too. Around here the response
to calling the tax hotline for vehicles garaged locally but registered out of
state is ..... (nothing). And the response for calling the hotline for rampant
welfare fraud is . . . (nothing.)

 

The real reason for the dearth of smoke belchers except in places like
the Ozarks and Appalachians is the current credit policy, where anyone
capable of walking in the door of a car dealership can get financed on
a new car, combined with the absurdly high labor rates shops charge
today. Unless you are a homeowner it's about impossible to carry out
any major DIY vehicle work, and it's cheaper to make payments on a new
Kia than pay someone else to keep an old car running on a continuous
basis.

I have all my cars but one registered out of state and the people
across the street are cops. I have a BONA FIDE PLACE OF BUSINESS out of
state. Since I have one car registered in state and it's a '61 (but it
has full, not antique, tags) I'm covered. The car I drive most is an
'85. It had EFI, a smog pump, EGR and a catalyst when it left the
factory. Somewhere along the line it lost all those things and acquired
a four barrel Holley. "It was like that when I bought it"....

I figure it costs another $100 in gas a year from the decreased fuel
mileage. However, what would one good EFI repair cost? I have two spare
rebuildable carbs, two spare distributors, and two spare
good-when-pulled alternators on the shelf for it, so parts are unlikely
to be a problem for another decade or so.

 

Generally it is unlawful to garage a car in another state than it is
registered for more than x days per year, where x varies by state. The
insurance company would have something to say too, if the car is not
garaged where it is listed as insured, or if the insurance garaged address
is different than the registration garaged address.

Having a business in another state does not permit a legal registration out
of state unless the vehicle is garaged in that state. Businesses are
expected and required to register vehicles where the vehicle is principally
garaged, although some (few) exceptions do exist, e.g. car rental
companies. Check your DMV/RMV for details.

Where do you live?

 

My cars have never been garaged for the last 20 years or so. Where
does that leave me??

 

Probably in Canada. For registration and/or insurance purposes the term garaged
does not necessarily imply that the vehicle is "inside a garage."

 

If you live in a no smog inspection state you can get some great deals
on the "junkyard bound" cars described earlier. I'm looking for one
right now, I'll probably find one in Denver. There are a fair number
there that meet that exact criteria.

Trucks are impossible to find like that because the Mexicans buy them,
de-electronify them and take them back to Mexico. Anything with a V-8
and a hole for a distributor is game.

 

Since I have one car registered in state and it's a '61 (but it

I feel anyone driving regularly a vehicle pre computer controlled fuel
injection and cat converter (pre mid 80s) should have to breath the
exhaust.
I can smell such vehicles a block ahead of me.
Consider the air we all breathe and junk your junk cars.

 

Eat me. Make a new car that's better than my old cars - as in more
attractive and more involving to drive - and then maybe I'll consider
it. As for smelling them a block ahead - that just means they haven't
been well maintained. On a hot day you might get a little whiff of
gasoline from the tank and carb but other than that you really
shouldn't smell anything.

nate

 

N8N wrote

I'd rather smell old cars running rich than the catalytic converter
stink the '75-95 cars with one stage cats running on high sulfur
gasoline put out. I used to deconverterize them just to keep the smell
down. That, and plug the EGR, bypass all the ignition advance plumbing,
gut the AIR pump and plug the lines, and rebuild the carb with a marine
kit with internal venting and rejet, and recurve the distributor. I'd
take the car to inspection-punched cat, plugged EGR and all-and get a
pass or a waiver, and a lecture about "all those idiots that think you
can bypass the carefully engineered emissions systems". GOD they were
dumb.

I wouldn't have a points distributor or a road draft tube stuck up my
ass though. Electronic ignition and PCV were big advances. As is the
Facet electric fuel pump, all my old cars have a block off plate where
the mechanical pump used to live.

 

Lookit there...Altavoz is back.

 

As I said before, I'll be driving a 60s or 70s Mopar until gasoline is
no longer available. And one of my "junk" cars is worth more than a
brand-new 300C, in case you didn't know that. My cars are
well-maintained and meet my local emission laws. Don't like the fact
that they have carburetors and no catcons? Tough.

 

I agree. I will keep driving my 1940 Chrysler Royal Coupe, fully
restored, and it does not smell!

 

You nose is used to it or you've never followed it.
If the exhaust pollution were measured that 1940 Chrysler would put out
as much pollution as several hundred recent cars in total.

If you only use it to the occasional show OK, for regular use you have
no consideration for the air we all breathe.

 

While it's easy and convenient for you to point the finger at cars older
than whatever year or lacking whatever technology you arbitrarily pick,
facts do not back up your assertion. The US EPA (and many state EPAs) were
once very keen on what they called "accelerated retirement" of older
vehicles. No longer. Why? Because they've repeatedly and robustly found
that the bulk of vehicle-sourced air pollution comes from cars between 4
and 14 years old. This age group comprises the largest percentage of the
on-road fleet. High-polluting vehicles closer to the 4-year-old end of the
scale are beginning to experience emissions-related failures and
deterioration but are still, while high-polluting vehicles closer to the
14-year-old end of the scale are being driven by those who cannot or will
not pay to keep them in proper repair.

The percentage of the on-road fleet represented by vehicles older than 20
years is so trivial that if ALL of them were immediately removed from
service, there would be no measurable improvement in air quality.

So, in a sense, the many newer cars on the road "subsidize" the higher
emissions of the few older cars on the road. That may chap your personal
sense of fairness, but the refusal of even the strictest vehicle-in-use
emissions regulations to prohibit old cars in proper repair means your
view has been thoroughly rejected.

This isn't from me, it's from the findings of the Federal EPA. Synopses
are easily findable on the web, while whole reports can be purchased from
EPA directly if you're inclined to educate yourself.

But, I'm guessing you're not. You'd rather bitch and moan ignorantly and
melodramatically about *one* 1940 Chrysler or *one* 1968 Dodge or *one*
1977 Chevrolet.

DS

 

Daniel J. Stern wrote:

While this is true, its not even the whole story. By continuing to drive
(and maintain) an older vehicle in top condition, we older-vehicle
drivers prevent a whole "logistics tail" of hidden environmental damage
that comes with the construction of a new car. Everything from the
mining of raw materials (and the emissions of the mining equipment) to
the blast furnaces (or recycling furnaces), to paint fumes, to refining
petroleum for plastics, to hazardous chemicals for the battery packs in
hybrids, to the emissions of the trains and trucks that haul a new car
to its final destination are eliminated, just by NOT buying a stinking
new car.