Cali question

[71SATELITE]

Hey I am moving to Cali in Feb of 2004 and was wondering what are the emission laws for a 1970 car? I know that there was talk of making it harder on older cars but did it ever go through? Question #2 are there any good drag strips down in SOCAL near SD?

[Dartcustom]

1973 and older are exempt! Im in Nor Cal so I can't answer your #2 question

[don340-4]

1973 & older cars are exempt from emission laws. I don't know about San Diego for drag strips, but i have heard that on friday & sat nites they close off some big store parking lot & allow street legal cars to race. There is a strip at Irwindale & i believe Fontana. Welcome to wacky california. the best place to get your car registered is So California AAA no hassle & they take care of everything except drivers licenses.

[darren509]

Better bring a fatty wallet with you. You wont believe the price diffrence between NC and here Better bring some asprin for the headache your going to get in the traffic Isnt there a strip @ Pamona ? Hey when you get here dont forget to vote for the , " Governator"

[darren509]

Dart are you coming to our show in Petaluma on the 24th ?

[drag-n-cuda]

Carlsbad has an "Outlaw" track, but I wouldn't call it a good one. It's been years though, so it might be better now. I believe it was the paved section of the old "superbike" series they held in the '80's. Lived in Encinitas for a year plus and dad lives in San Marcos, northern San Diago county. Maybe diego will chime in.

drag-n

[Dartcustom]

Darren509, I hope to make it to the show. Although the Dart should be on the road again by then It's far from show condition

[jasontlit]

If you are bringing any of the 74 and newer cars on your list, you might want to get ahold of the CA DMV and ask them about what you will need to do to get them registered.

This may not be true anymore but, about 10 years ago I heard about a $300/car surcharge to bring in out of state vehicles when registering them in CA. Plus possibly retro-ing them for smog.

I don't think this applied to smog exempt cars.

I think it was a dual effort to keep sales tax dollars flowing and non-smog equipped cars out. That way you couldn't go to Oregon, for instance, buy a car w/out having to pay sales tax and drive back to CA. Which is what I wanted to do!

Again, I'm not 100% sure about this info.

Welcome to the Left Coast!

[jasontlit]

I'll be at the Petaluma show. I meet up with a Mopar friend/fiend from Fort Bragg there every year.

I'll probably put my car in Daily Driver, or the parking lot!LOL!

Look for a black 73 Challenger and that'll be me.

Mr friend is bringing his 70 VP replica Challenger this year.

See ya

[Frank R]

71 Satelite, You will just have time to settle in before the "Spring Fling" in Ventura at Woodley park. Its an All Mopar show that happens twice a year out here. Being in the San Diego area puts you about a 2 hours drive from the Pomona Strip where the Winternationals and the Finals are run. In SD, You will be very close to the Qualcom Stadium (formerly Jack Murphy Stadium) where they do 1/8th mile stuff if your in to that. Pomona also sponsors full 1/4 mile "Run what ya brung" every other month or so. The cost is pretty cheap, its like 20 bones for the day. There is a tech station you have to get through, how complete they are depends on what times you will be turning. Once a year in Temecula (an easy hours drive from Diego) is the Temecula Rod Run which is a three day event. Route 66 happens in San Bernardino (app 2 hours from SD) once a year and is a 4 day event where they block a section of the city off for cruising and stuff, you can register your car for all 4 days and get a parking spot inside the blocked off area, bring a sleeping bag and stay with your car; very kewl! Also at Pomona, the Good Guys sponsor a very good race with Nitro cars down to 14 second stuff, its a very good race and happens in early summer so bring a pair of dark glasses because there is plenty of eye candy running around.... again welcome to the land of Sun and Surf.....Dude.

[flipper35]

I don't know if they still do, but they used to have the street legal drags at the baseball staduim.

I think the website is http://www.racelegal.com

There is no $300 fee anymore, but the registration fees may be going up after Oct 10th to three times what they are now. My registrations will be more than the full coverage insurance on all my cars now.

[ehostler]

Stupid question but, why on earth would you want to move to California??? The cost of living is outrageious, especially Southern California.

To maintain your current lifestyle you will need to make at least 4 time your current income.

The Air Force moved me out of California 14 years ago (I was raised in Northern CA and my first term was in Northern CA). Even though all of my family is in Northern CA, I will NEVER live there again.

[flipper35]

Where I live it isn't so bad. Insurance on our four cars is cheap. Gas is higher, housing is average, produce is real cheap. That being said, we are looking to move back to Wisconsin.

[71SATELITE]

Well its good to know some fellow Moparians will be out there. Anything Mopar here is few and far between. My car is bone stock now except for the duels so getting registered shouldn't be a problem. I wanted to put on a TQ and intake before I drive it cross country! How good is the parts hunting out there? It sucks here to politicaly correct.

[darren509]

Ehostler is right on the nose, Ive been trying to save the $ for my 408 for over a year. Two kids though but you better have a degree or a good friend and no rent !! Im trying to move to Oregon soon to buy a house. Here in sonoma county the average bidding price is $ 450,000.oo

[darren509]

Ill keep an eye for you there. Ill be with my car in the swap section....

[71SATELITE]

Well Ed, moving isn't by choice realy Uncle Sams Missguided Childern (USMC) said I am going so I am going. All I can say is make the best of it. I just left the desert and I am not ready to see another one any time soon, oh well at least there will be no one shooting at me this time! I hope the parts hunting is good, does sheet metal last pretty long out there?

[ehostler]

Southern CA is a desert. People not shooting at you... we're talking about Southern CA (the place where the majority of the COPS episodes are filmed)...

Well, at least being in the military, they are going to help with housing by either setting you up with a place to live or giving you a housing allowance, so that will be a big help. don't expect to buy anything on what your allowance is...

California sheetmetal is about the same as Texas sheetmetal. There is very little humidity and very little rain to help with oxidation. On the other hand, the air quality tends to be toxic and when they do get rain, it tends to be acid rain. The CA Summer sun is murder on the paint and vinyl.

[darren509]

Camp lujune to 29 Palms Im assuming ? See you @ fall fling @ woodley park...

[pishta]

ehostler, as a Virginian, you are complaining about CA? I can imagine the bone chilling winters there where you cant drive anything worth money on the salted highways and the hot humid summers that glue you to your vinyl. Yeah, the the price of homes here is high, but you are on the top of the heap here, If you can afford a house here, you can afford to live anywhere you want to, you know? I own , but I feel bad for the renters out here just spinning their wheels as the elevator we call the housing market just keeps getting farther out of their reach. Anyway, the weather out here is great, the sheetmetal is clean, the emmision laws are moot for older cars and the cruising season is 12 months long. We got Pomona, Spring Fling, snow skiing, sand dunes and surf all within an hour of each other. So much for the travel brochure.
71SATELITE , people still shoot at you out here but for other reasons! Are you going to the Stumps or Pendelton? (stay alert on libo, a couple LeatherNecks got shanked by 8 of our "friends" from south of the border a few nights ago, and they were just back from IRAQ, it makes me sick to my stomach thinking about those vets) Or are you in the air force (oops, sorry..the air WING?) North Island or Miramar are down San Diego way and the Murph (Qualcomm) has a large swap meet there too for rods. And all the stuff Frank R said. Heck I've lived here all my life and I didnt know a few of those car gigs!

[71SATELITE]

They are sticking me in queeramar I mean Miramar. What a change of pace coming from a grunt battalion, not to mention the one that took the brunt of it in Iraq. Our boys didn't stop fighting until they were so dead they couldn't even use their dental records to ID them! Makes you proud and tears your heart out all at the same time. But back to Mopars... are there any good junk yards around there? I would kill for some small block and some B body parts. Last time I called a place in NC I asked for a 71 and they said OK, then I said it was a Plymouth and they hung up the phone.

[creative1]

yeah... i would guess that insurance would be pretty reasonable... kinda hard to crash something that doesnt move... lol

[ehostler]

Hey Pishta - if you read my earlier post you will see that I am a Californian that was glad to leave that state.

As far as the Virgina winters go, they are so mild it's funny. I lived up at lake Tahoe for 4 years. An entire Winter in VA doesn't compare to a single snow storm in Tahoe.

I'll also take our so called hot (90* on the hottest days) humid Summers over the nasty 110+ Summer days of CA anytime.

I like the fact that during the Winter I have a good excuse to park the classic to work on it.

Nope, I am very happy that I don't live in that state any longer. Moving me out of that state was the best thing that the military ever did for me.

[diego-ted]

Having lived here in diego-town for over 25 years I must say there is no other place I would like to live, yes we have our problems but the 80 deg. mean temp makes it bearable. You will have your choice of running at Carlsbad 1\4 mile that was just re-done very nice. or you can run the 1\8th at the Q. No wait for classic grudge racing. The Indians at Barrona just built a state of the art 1\8 "for now" 1\4 to come, and like the earlier post you are just a couple of hours from all the L.A. tracks. Here in diego you will have your choice of 5 different cruise nights to go to. The Mopar club meets every Saturday night at the slab for a general B.S. Session. We don't have to wait for no stinken off-season to race, work or show our Mopars. The bone yards are getting thin, but we have more chrome platers, Painters, and interior people than you can shake a stick at. When you are tired of the Mopars and you need a brake you can , deep-sea fish, surf, water or snow ski, go to the mountains or desert. All within 1 hour of each other. We have Spring Fling and were a hop skip and a jump from Mopars at the Strip I could go on and on and on. but I don't like bragggen. So when you get into town drop me a line and I'll show you the ropes.
Diego

[flipper35]

San Diego is a much cleaner, more conservative city than LA. Total opposites of each other. You couldn't pay me enough to live near LA, but SD is really nice.

[pishta]

ehostler, where were you from? Northern CA? I read 'em. 110+ summer days? I havent seen a 110 day here in years. Of course I live 6 miles from the beach too ;-) How Humid does it get there? I like it here. I wont leave. <p>
Oh yes, street racing in SD is NOT cool. We are talking losing your ride if you get caught, even watching is a crime. Stick with the legal stuff or the cruises. Im done selling CA, 40 million have already bought in for some reason!

[flipper35]

Here in the Imperial Valley (2 hours east of San Diego) it is in the 120's in august.

[John Kunkel]

I'll second everything Pishta said.

Just to clarify a point, '73 and earlier cars are not "exempt from emissions laws" in Kalifornia; while they are not subject to the biennial Smog Check program, by law, all the factory emissions equipment must be in place and functioning.
This might seem like a nitpick, but way too many folks are tossing their smog equipment thinking they don't have to have it and won't be checked. There are plans for a roadside check program (it's already done on an experimental basis) and cars will be visually and tailpipe tested regardless of year.

[jasontlit]

Gawd damn John K., you are sharp! And yeah I mean that sincerely, and no I'm not kissing anyone's ass! LOL!

As for 110 degrees in NorCal, there are plenty of places that hit 100 on a regular bsis in the summer and that is close enough for me.
But I live in SF and it usually doesn't get hot enough! Although, right now it is freakin' byooteefull.

[gthomas]

Your insurace bill will be astronomical and our Govenor GrayOut Davis has raised the price of car registration 300% to pay for bailing out the state, mainly because the left coast lefties have been spending money than we have coming in and making inside deals with energy companies. I believe the extra registration fee for out of state cars is no longer in effect, but.... the state needs the money so who knows what the Democrats have passed lately.

For the first time in history, more people have left california than have moved here this year..... Lets keep up the trend!