State wants to close smog-check loophole for older cars

Saturday, Nov. 29, 1997 | 7:45 a.m.

The Division of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Air Quality will hold a workshop Tuesday at Truckee Meadows Community College on how to limit eligibility for the exemption.

The law passed by the 1997 Legislature was supposed to exempt only 20,000 classic cars from smog tests, but it also makes cars built between 1968 and 1978 technically eligible for the exemption, state and county officials said.

"If we limit this to serious collectors who have to get a special plate and take care of their cars, we don't have a problem," Brian Jennison, director of the Washoe District Health Department's Air Quality Division, told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

"My problem is, every year we'll be adding to the population of vehicles that don't need to be smog-checked ... One dirty car creates 100 times more smog than a clear car."

Jennison said he's concerned the new law may create an incentive for the owners of older cars to disconnect the few smog control devices they do have.

Under the new law, annual smog tests will be eliminated for restored cars with special license plates reserved for "classic vehicles," "street rods" and "classic rods."

When the bill was first introduced, only classic vehicles were exempt. But the bill was later expanded to cover street rods and classic rods.

A classic vehicle is described as one built in 1972 or before. A classic rod is a passenger car or light truck that was made at least 20 years ago. And street rods must have been made before 1948.

Environmental regulators on Tuesday will seek suggestions from the public on how to define a restored vehicle and what standards must be adopted to allow them to escape the smog test.

Laura Lea Evans, director of the Silver State Region Cadillac LaSalle Club, said defining a restored vehicle would prove difficult.

"It's another of those beauty-in-the-eyes-of-the-beholder kind of things," she said. "Some people say a car is restored if you put a new top on it and new tires.

"Some people say it's restored if you take the body off the frame and do everything. Somewhere between those two points is the truth."

James Sohns of Las Vegas, president of the Nevada Car Owners Association, said he'll urge regulators to limit eligibility so that "junk cars" still undergo yearly emissions tests.

He wants to require smog tests for the street rods and classic rods.

Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, agreed the law was intended only for classic cars.

Nevada law has required that cars made after 1968 and registered in the Las Vegas and Reno areas undergo annual testing to make sure they aren't emitting dirty air.