The thing I find really amusing is that the evil "socialist" Canada seems to have far far less regulation and government intrusion in the daily lives of it's citizens than the bastion of freedom United States does. I recently did my taxes, and it was two pages of "can you do a few simple sums, and occasionally multiply things".

I can grow, harvest, and cure my own tobacco and smoke it if I so desire.

California smog laws have me wondering about rental cars. How are they treated? Do they have to be registered in Cali? Maybe someone should start a rental service for classic vehicles based in a neighboring state. I'm sure a creative guy could work out a legal mechanism whereby you own your car, license it to someone out of state for a fee, then rent it back so ultimately it can be registered elsewhere.

EPA has recently cracked down on newer diesel vehicles in the US, especially the truck crowd that loves to remove pollution devices and crank up the black smoke at the exhaust pipe. Whatever has happened it's enough to scare some of the companies selling DIY software and controllers which allow modification of the OEM control parameters. Not all of these companies are based in the US so the threat had to be substantial. And it's happened in a very short amount of time, too.

I watched the local DIY biodiesel "industry" implode, and that happened quickly, too. Fuel prices started to rise and suddenly articles appeared everywhere about making BD. After a couple of months of reporting on free, cheap, or DIY BD, there was a "shortage" on methanol and the price rose. After that BD was much closer to the same cost as dino diesel. The cost of methanol never dropped. That was followed by a local company starting up that paid out for WVO instead of charging for it. They clean it and ship it out by rail car. They also use it to produce synthetic diesel which is sold at their facility or shipped out by rail car. Can I buy the clean VO? Yes, but the price is very prohibitive. I'm seeing their barrels and containers in more and more locations and sources of free or cheap WVO are quickly drying up. I rarely meet anyone these days using WVO or DIY BD which is a shame.

There are frequent attempts to take old and classic cars off the road in the US for various reasons, both at state and federal levels. The best chance to save the diesels is to stay in touch with classic / hot rod groups and ensure diesels don't get separated out. Those groups have the loudest voice and they seem to be working hard to save all cars. Hate to say it, but on your own you're just a strange guy that drives an old, slow, unsafe, stinking vehicle.

Well, before there's a mass migration of disgruntled American diesel owners across the border -
I seem to recall a few years ago, someone in Canada (perhaps from one of the more densely-populated/more polluted provinces) posted here on the Vintage forum about his '50s Mercedes Ponton 219 needing a carburetor because it flunked the local smog-inspection!

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Or Tennessee in a county away from a Metro area. one county over they pay $20 USD a year in wheel tax and no SMOG check or inspection

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1983 300SD (daily driver)
1991 420SEL (work in progress)
1979 300SD (future replacement for 83 SD)

RIP:
1983 300SD (totalled)
1986 420SEL

I've thought of moving abroad to an English speaking country many a time (especially when I was learning Dutch!) but to be honest I need my roots - for this Englishman he really needs to stay in his own country even if the weather is utterly dreadful (and the taxes aren't as favourable as they might be elsewhere)!

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I suspect that would have been British Columbia as I have seen online ads for vintage cars from there that mention AirCare, their provincial tests.

Apart from BC, which is very much the Canadian equivalent of Cali, the only smog testing I am aware of is in Ontario, and vintage cars are exempt (and the testing regs for newer vehicles are only onerous in certain reading areas).

Here in Quebec there is no smog testing, though a gas vehicle will fail an overall safety inspection if it has significant visible exhaust smoke when warmed up.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

In the Washington DC metro area, all local juruisdictions are required to smog-test vehicles every two years. Here in Fairfax-County the emissions inspection covers all gas vehicles newer than 25 years-old, and below a certain weight (7500 pounds I think), but only diesels, '96 and newer, with the OBD-II engine computer.
So far, older diesel cars and light trucks in the US haven't been a big target because, unlike Europe, they make up a relatively small percentage of the vehicles on the road.
For now I guess, that's been one advantage to diesels being relatively unpopular, for so long here.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

I'm retired from the US EPA vehicle emissions lab in Ann Arbor, MI. The US EPA has little or no control over CA or their policies as long as they are equal to or more stringent than the Federal requirements - this was a (to my mind) flaw in the original Clean Air Act.

Anyhow - don't assume that the Agency (the EPA) is out to "get" older or special interest cars. No - it's worse than that. To these folks we simply don't exist. They are looking to control the huge majority of vehicles as that's the source of the VAST majority of vehicle emissions. We just get bulldozed as they drive over us, not even knowing we're there.

As my S-10 is off-road only and runs less than 50 miles a year (at most) I have no heartburn over what I'm doing. I keep my DD's as clean as I can and my '88 Mustang 5.8 liter is even fully emissions compliant. But on a miles-per-year basis our old Diesels are not causing substantial harm to the environment.

Our best bet is SANE, a sub-organization of SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association). They are, if not the only, certainly the most active group to lobby on Capitol Hill on our behalf. SUPPORT THEM!!!!! They need money, letter writing campaigns, etc.

I'll be happy to answer any question - this IS my field (although my knowledge is somewhat out of date) and I won't respond with "Seems to me" type answers.

Dan

Bump this thread

It is getting worse over in Europe for diesels

https://home.bt.com/lifestyle/motoring/motoring-news/end-of-the-road-for-diesel-cars-owners-face-additional-charges-and-big-depreciation-11363978817654

Utrecht in Holland has banned most of them

Utrecht ban on old diesel cars readied - NL Times

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Yeah...I haven't had a single bout of home-sickness for The Netherlands or Europe since I immigrated to the United States a few years ago.
Do I miss my family and friends? Sure. Do I miss the rules, rules, rules and the you-cannot's and can't-haves?

Not a single second. The freedom experienced on this side of the ocean (and Alaska in particular) feels very, very...freeing. And freezing as well, during the winter months...

@Stretch
Who wants to go to Utrecht anyway? Ugly city that it is, it doesn't deserve to be prettied up by having a stately old Benz drive through its streets!

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"The MB W123 is so bulletproof, you can drive them forever. Which is a good thing as it takes that long to get anywhere."
Betsie: 1984 W123 300D (hobby, 280k miles)
Myrla: 2001 Mazda Protege 2.0 ES 5spd (daily driver, 130k miles)
The Turd: 2007 Toyota Camry (wife's car, 118k miles)

I've got houses in 2 counties. One has smog the other doesn't but the annual fees are within a few dollars.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

California still doesn't smog check or ever inspect pre 98 diesels in any way. I'll keep driving them until that changes.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

no smog checks here in Virginia.....yet. I was posting on a diesel pick forum and the only way the California can get their old vehicles (6.5 GMC) thru smog inspection is run B100, after that they go back to pump diesel

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1993 MB 300D 245K died.

Virginia smog-checks vehicles newer than 25 years, and diesels later than 1996, only in those counties around Washington DC. There's been talk about expanding the program to the Richmond area and Hampton Roads, but so far not yet.
With all the electronic safety systems being mandated for new cars, plus the self-driving technology now being developed, could it be only a matter if time before any old vehicles, that people can still operate, will be banned!

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

License plate scanners and face recognition software are also working their way into society. Add cameras everywhere and nothing will be private and choices will be limited to whatever the horribly corrupt, inefficient gubment says it is. Perhaps it will be time to take some US dollars down south with an old Benz or Cummins.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.