Recently by Eric Peters: How The Corn Lobby Will Kill Your OlderCar
I take comfort in the fact that I can still drive old cars instead of new ones. I dont have to have six air bags, stability control, back-up cameras or OnStar. If I like, I can use an old F100 pick-up as my daily driver. Or enjoy the computer-free rowdiness of my ancient muscle car. I do not want all the Stuff that todays (and surely, tomorrows) vehicles are fitted with, by order of DC. I dont feel the need. Its expensive, often absurdly complex and a lot of it is simply overbearing. I dont like being assaulted by a belt minder buzzer if I choose not to wear my seat belt. I dont have any use for a back-up camera (never having run over a child). And most of all, I like being able to squeal the tires without being countermanded by an electronic Mrs. Doubtfire. I definitely do not want a vehicle fitted with any sort of data recording device or GPS transponder which pretty much all new cars now have.
If Im signing the check, Ill do what I like with the damn thing.
But I fear this window is closing. At some point, probably within the next five years if not sooner older, pre-computer vehicles will be forcibly decommissioned. It will become a crime to use them for anything other than parade or cruise events strictly monitored and enforced. It will be done in the name of the environment or safety.
Maybe both.
Several states have passed laws making it much harder to register and drive an older vehicle on public roads. In my home state of Virginia, for instance, the police have the authority to conduct roadside inspections of any vehicle wearing antique plates. If, in the opinion of the cop who is a cop and not a mechanic the vehicle does not meet either safety or emissions requirements, he may physically seize the cars plates and registration on the spot and have the vehicle impounded. Its then up to you to prove your car has not been unlawfully modified (just as its up to you to disprove whatever charges are filed against you by the IRS).
Other states have repealed laws that once exempted antique vehicles more than 25 or 30 years old from the emissions inspections required of modern cars even though the number of cars over 30 years old in regular use is so low that their impact on air quality is nil.