Posted on 04/13/2026 6:04:05 AM PDT by MtnClimber
California’s war on cars knows no bounds, which is far out of step for the state that launched America’s car culture. While policymakers haven’t yet outlawed the classics, their failure to act responsibly has added to the burden of owning them. Famous classic collector Jay Leno aims to change this.
There are almost 36 million vehicles registered in California, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. While the number of classic cars is difficult to determine, Sen. Shannon Grove says there are 320,000 automobiles made from 1976 to 1991 in the state.
That’s an almost imperceptibly thin slice, less than 1%, of the total. Yet they are treated as if they are new when it comes to smog rules. Comedian and long-time late-night TV host Leno believes that’s the wrong way to treat vintage car enthusiasts.
Standing in his garage before his 1982 Ford Mustang, once “used by the Highway Patrol to catch speeders,” Leno says in a recent video, “It’s kind of a California-only classic car.”
It can be driven in every other state, he says, yet it can’t be legally driven in California, because “it no longer meets California emissions” standards.
Current law exempts from smog testing only cars made before 1976. A proposal in the Legislature would change that. Senate Bill 712 would, starting Jan. 1, 2027, “fully exempt from the smog check requirements” any car that was “manufactured prior to the 1981 model year.”
Beginning on Jan. 1, 2028, SB 712 “would expand this exemption by one model year, every year, for 5 years.” It “would be known, and may be cited as, Leno’s Law.”
Or maybe “Leno’s Law 2.0” because similar legislation was stalled in committee last year.
For most car owners, the smog test is a hassle, though it’s not the tightest hoop that California makes drivers jump through. Especially for those who own older cars, it can be an enormous headache. Vintage vehicles have to be checked with older equipment, and many smog testing stations “don’t have that anymore,” says Leno, “because there aren’t enough old cars to keep it going.”
“So when you have an older car like this, you sometimes have to drive literally hundreds of miles just to find a gas station or smog station” that can do the job. “It’s a lot of work to try to do the right thing.”
As a retired entertainer, Leno is acutely aware that “we drove the movie industry out of Hollywood” and pleads with Sacramento to not “do the same thing with car culture.”
“Let’s keep car culture right here where the whole thing originated.” Yep, California, now getting rid of many of the things that, well, made California California.
It’s another symptom of California’s tragic decline.
The former Golden State’s kill-joy leftists who now control the levers of government and the courts are destroying all the home-spun joys of California one by one, and replacing them with their mirthless, woke culture and radical climate control policies.
So it really isn’t just about cars.
Sadly, lawmakers are as likely to reject the legislation again as they are to pass it. Even worse, they might find out that far-left Minnesota is considering a law that could “limit the use of ‘collector class’ vehicles to the weekends” unless they are traveling to a show or similar event. They might rush to pass their own version first, which would cause a traffic jam of classic cars fleeing to other states where their carburetors can breathe freely.
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Because poor schlubs’ old cars don’t tend to be 50yo antiques.
MY VW Golf is 25 years old this year. She is just a hair over 60K miles. Aside from a few road dings, she still runs like a top.
It was my Step-Mom’s ‘ride’ to church each week (about 4 blocks) and then a stop at the liquor store on the way home, LOL!
Surprised he hasn’t headed to Florida.
Democrats aren’t happy until you are unhappy.
Americana is THE enemy to democrat filth.
Americana is THE enemy to democrat filth.
CARB is one pf the many things that drove me to escape that socialist hellhole.
Crappy gas and draconian smog regulations are insane.
Then deal with mandated smog inspections where some idiot scours your car for the most minor part or modification to fail you.
The goal of the law is to restrict freedom of movement and nominally reduce emissions. Why should any car be exempt? Let Jay fight for all cars and he will have my support. Until then he sounds like just another lefty politician mugged by the reality of lefty policies.
Spare me
Oh my...
They will NEVER pass this law...NEVER. The Gaia worshipers run the state and they ain’t having it...
Does the article imply that he’s defying the law right now? The point is to change the law, so that these vehicles don’t have to be smogged. By definition, that’s not defying the law.
you can’t fly any of the planes or space vehicles housed in the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. California probably really wants to turn every classic car into an immobile museum piece.
Who suggested he was defying the law?
You misspelled “buggerers”.
His classic cars should identify as carbon neutral, zero emissions, wheelchairs. That or undocumented.
EC
Jay is trying to put some weight on the bill that should have passed last year but the eco fanatics on the finance committee put poison pills in it which made it unacceptable to the car community. This is round two. For those outside of Cali, the current rules were fixed in the 80s. Cars from 68 to 74 do not have a smog test but must be equipped with all the smog equipment for that model year. Don’t try bringing in a 70 Dodge without the smog gear otherwise it will not be registered. 74 and after must have the biannual check and all smog equipment must be CARB approved. No deviations. No catalytic convertors without the CARB stamp. CARB also made tests harder as the years progressed. Both of my Jag XJ6s had to be sold out of state by ever increasing NOX requirements that had not existed when the cars were new. You do not see 80s or 90s cars on the road anymore. Grey market cars that are allowed in other states under the Federal 25 year rules cannot be registered in California hence the large number of Montana Plates at the Cars and Coffees. Yes, there are few that may be skirting the taxes but the majority are due to the smog rules.
“I know, the weather is good, they may have family ties,” +1
I often wonder myself. That being said. I have many friends over the years from Detroit that moved out there and as long as they are getting paid the going rate to live out there, they will stay.
If they do move it aint going to be back to Detroit! LOL!
Too Damned Cold.
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