The Arizona Republic

Old-car fanatics were cheering last week when Gov. Janet Napolitano signed legislation to exempt collector vehicles from emissions testing.

The bill allows vehicles 15 years or older to forgo the emissions tests in Maricopa and Pima counties, but only if they carry special collector-car insurance, which has stipulations on annual mileage and use,

The bill also exempts motorcycles from testing in Pima County.

House Bill 2357 was based on a recent study by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (AzDEQ) that concluded that such vehicles have "negligible impact" on air quality and would not affect clean-air efforts in the Phoenix and Tucson areas.

The bill was approved unanimously in the House and Senate.

The plan now goes to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) for final approval.

"Many people are thrilled by this news," said Automotive Research Services' Bill Gilmore, a longtime auto enthusiast and legislative lobbyist for collector-car groups. "For the hobbyists, it's an unnecessary burden that we've had to carry all these years."

All vehicles made before 1967 are exempt from testing, but collectors complained that their later vehicles were difficult to get through emissions and that the miles those vehicles are driven are too few to be significant.

"Most collectors, and I think I'm included among them, drive them less than 1,000 miles in a year," Gilmore said.

Motorcycle groups had joined old-car hobbyists in backing the legislation, hoping to get their vehicles exempted from what they call unfair and unnecessary emissions regulation.

But the AzDEQ study found that the 22,000 motorcycles registered in Maricopa County contributed a small but statistically significant amount of pollution to the Valley's air.

In Pima County, where only 6,200 motorcycles are registered, the study found no problem with exempting them.

McKeel Hagerty, president of Michigan-based Hagerty Insurance, which specializes in collector-car insurance, said the legislation did a good job in defining collector cars and their limited use.

"You can't use the vehicle for daily transportation, going to school or doing errands. You can't use it as backup transportation for your regular cars," Hagerty said. "These things have four wheels and look like cars, but in the way they're actually driven, they're not the same thing."

* Written by Bob Golfen for the "Valley & State" section of the Sunday Arizona Republic on 4-17-05 page B10.

** Link to this original article at;

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0417oldcars17.html

* * * *

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