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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Liberals ONLY DESTROY GOOD THINGS!!~
Maryland makes it’s citizens (subjects smog test their cars every two years. 94% pass. An intelligent person would think
“Gee, it=f 94% of cars are passing, it’s not necessary to force 1% of drivers to waste time and money on this.”
But, since Maryland’s elected employees are leftist idiots, instead of eliminating this wasteful process, they decided to double the cost of the test instead.
Like I stated
Liberals have a high kill rate of good things.
Yes
Little by little they seem to be moving that way. I have a classic car insured by State Farm. This year they dropped towing from coverage on all classic cars.
Yaaaa and Hurrah!
You Go JAY!
You?
“So if you’re a rich guy with cars as toys, you can defy the emissions standards. Just a regular guy with a very used car—and you’re out of luck?”
Minnesota democrats want you to only run your car on the weekends and still limit your use.
I had a Honda CRX, and when I took it to a garage to be tested, it failed. So I took it to another garage and it passed. Those tests were unreliable and BS......
-PJ
No, actually.
What’s your problem?
You didn’t write that?
“So if you’re a rich guy with cars as toys, you can defy the emissions standards. Just a regular guy with a very used car—and you’re out of luck?”
14 posted on 4/13/2026, 6:52:57 AM by 9YearLurker
Yeah, you did write that! Maybe I’m not the one with the problem.
I have a pair of 1979 VW Beetle convertibles.
Here in Texas, if a vehicle is over 25 years old, it qualifies as an antique vehicle. Registration every 4 years and no safety inspections. I got one of these bugs from a family member in L A County. It wouldn’t pass the smog test and wasn’t legal to be on the roads there.
That’s not a problem—and I certainly didn’t deny it.
But I don’t have a relevant car, pal.
My first car was a 1971 VW Beetle - baby blue and white. I sold that car to a guy in CA when I lived there in the early 80’s. He wanted to make it into a dune buggy...don’t know if he ever did. I got twice what I paid for it, so you betcha I sold it!
Dad had owned 17 VWs through the years. I don’t remember us having any other type of car growing up, other than his Ford pick-up which he needed for moving pianos of all things. Nice little side-hustle for him. ;)
I learned to drive stick on a VW bug. I had no choice - that’s the only car we had. :)
There’s a disconnect here.
You wrote “So if you’re a rich guy with cars as toys, you can defy the emissions standards.“
Then I asked you “Does the article imply that he’s defying the law right now?” That’s because the emissions and the smog check process is part of California Health and Safety Code Section 44011 and Vehicle Code 4000.1. Failure to comply with the law or submit fraudulent inspections carry various financial penalties, possible inability to register your vehicle, and even jail time.
Then you responded “Who suggested he was defying the law?”
I know that from time to time there seems to be disagreements here about the proper use of the English language, but I don’t see how anyone can interpret what you wrote in any other way other than that you implied he was okay with defying the law. I don’t have a problem other than trying to understand your meaning and your reasoning for thinking as you do.
Maybe you meant something different. Maybe you meant Leno only cared about the cost and inconvenience that smog checks cause for rich people because only they can afford older cars. Maybe you didn’t understand that the smog check law carries criminal penalties. Maybe you meant exactly what you wrote.
I was just puzzled why you’d ask me “Who suggested he was defying the law?” after posting what you did.
I can’t be any more clear than that.
Baloney.
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