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The Arizona Republic

Emissions-Test Exemption For AZ Collector Cars Gets OK

By Bob Golfen
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 22, 2006

    The federal Environmental Protection Agency has approved Arizona legislation that will exempt collectible cars and trucks from emissions testing in Maricopa and Pima counties.

    The action will allow vehicles 15 years or older to skip emissions for registration but only if they are bona fide show cars or hobbyist items that carry collector-car insurance, which limits annual mileage and restricts use.

    In reaching approval, the EPA agreed with findings from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality that such vehicles have a "negligible impact" on air quality in the Phoenix and Tucson areas. The EPA action also approved exempting motorcycles in the Tucson area from emissions testing.

"We've been saying all along that we're not part of the problem, that collector cars produce insignificant emissions," said Bill Gilmore, a longtime auto hobbyist and legislative lobbyist for collector-car groups. "If we're not part of the problem, we shouldn't be part of the solution."

The state study counts about 7,000 vehicles statewide that meet the stipulations for exemption and about 6,200 motorcycles in Pima County. Motorcycles in Maricopa County had been part of the original legislation, but the DEQ determined that exempting the 22,000 motorcycles registered in Maricopa County would have a negative impact on air pollution.

"I think it's a good thing for the car collectors and motorcycle riders in the Tucson area because they really don't contribute in any meaningful way to the air-quality problems we have here," said Steve Owens, director of the DEQ. "This is something the hobbyists themselves proposed, and we think this is a good way to address the question."

The exemptions bill (HB2357) was unanimously passed by the Az State Legislature and signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano in April 2005, then submitted to the EPA for hearings and study. The Western regional administrator for the federal environmental agency signed the action on Dec. 13th 2006.

   Gilmore was one of the leading proponents for the exemptions, which he said he has been working on since the fall of 2001.

   "We've been waiting a long time for this to happen," he said.

    He owns a 1969 Lincoln Mark III show car that is rarely driven and will be affected directly by the action. No longer will he have to struggle, Gilmore said, to get his high-performance engine to pass emissions standards that it was never designed to pass.

    According to current Az law, all registered motor vehicles of 1967 and newer vintage must go through emissions to drive on the streets. Older vehicles, which are few in number and have no standard pollution-control devices, are currently exempt.

    The EPA approval comes in the form of a proposed rule and was submitted to the Federal Register for 30 days of public comment, said Wienke Tax, spokeswoman for the EPA's regional Air Planning Office in Tucson.

    "Collector cars are a fairly small niche and the law has specific recommendation," Tax said.

    "It has to be a certain age and stay under a certain mileage, and you have to have another vehicle to drive to work. It can't be your primary vehicle."

    John Horton, who collects Triumph sports cars from Great Britain, said his collector-car insurance has firm restrictions about how much he drives his cars and how he uses them.

    "That restricts my driving to 2,000 miles a year, and they're not to be used as daily drivers or used during rush hour," said Horton, a Phoenix resident who also lobbied for the exemptions. "Which is something I would never do anyway. I don't want to tear them up."