My Suburban passed California Smog Test

[dirtyoldman]

Gramps,

Glad it passed ok.

When they started the smog checks here in my area...back in the early '80's...
I had a 1980 Cadillac with true duals and "NO" catalytic converters...but I knew an inspector.

When it was time for the inspection...he would hook up a car that had already passed...but put MY VIN in the machine.
After running all the tests again on the GOOD car...I got my sticker.

It costs me a few dollars extra each year, of course, but it was worth it...at that time... to not put all the junk back on my car.

Yep,that's done to this day here.There are so many illegal cars out there it ain't funny.The going rate to do it illegally is about $150.I know of a shop where the owner's son would smog cars illegally for extra $,well he got busted and the shop got fined BIG and was closed down.Ole dad wasn't too happy.Ever get behind one where you can smell the nausious exhaust? and has a recent license tag? You know that had to have been done illegally

 

[Nick The Great]

Sometimes I complain about the pinko commies in this state, but we're lucky not to have any of that shit.

 

[Darkanion]

Yep,that's done to this day here.There are so many illegal cars out there it ain't funny.The going rate to do it illegally is about $150.I know of a shop where the owner's son would smog cars illegally for extra $,well he got busted and the shop got fined BIG and was closed down.Ole dad wasn't too happy.Ever get behind one where you can smell the nausious exhaust? and has a recent license tag? You know that had to have been done illegally

They must've done a lot of cracking down on that around here. These days, it is pretty rare to get behind a car where the exhaust reeks of unburnt fuel & other fumes...

Back in the early 90's, I had a car that didn't have cats, smog pump, etc.. I had move away from the area where I knew guys (or knew guys who knew guys) who could pass the car. But, I still had to get the car inspected. I had "heard" that the new area didn't require "all of that extra crap from the big cities," but I wasn't sure about it... That is until I went to the inspection shop..

I pulled in and told the guy "I need to get this thing inspected." He says, "Ok, flip on the lights..... Ok.. Now, tap the horn.. ok.. And pop the hood." He raised the hood, kind of glanced around for about 5 seconds (if that), and said "Yep! Looks like a motor to me!" He slammed the hood shut and started writing up the sticker.

 

[Bowtie2Sierra]

thank god we dont have that crap down here.

Amen! Here in Louisiana, all they do for a yearly inspection sticker is check your horn, wipers headlights, brake lights and turn signals. If all that is good and you have no other obvious problems (such as a cracked windshield) then you just pay 10 bucks and they put a new sticker on the windshield.

Same here in MO.

 

[Alljackedup408]

half my friends cars and trucks would fail... cammed out camaro and stangs... misfiring like crazy at idle cause of the huge LSA and lift in the cams.... hahahha.. needs like 2000 rpm to be efficent lol.

my shit would fail too prolly. AND F The inspection sticker... wouldnt go on my window.

 

[Darkanion]

half my friends cars and trucks would fail... cammed out camaro and stangs... misfiring like crazy at idle cause of the huge LSA and lift in the cams.... hahahha.. needs like 2000 rpm to be efficent lol.

my shit would fail too prolly. AND F The inspection sticker... wouldnt go on my window.

I was wondering when we'd find someone that serious about debadging...

 

[dirtyoldman]

Yep,that's done to this day here.There are so many illegal cars out there it ain't funny.The going rate to do it illegally is about $150.I know of a shop where the owner's son would smog cars illegally for extra $,well he got busted and the shop got fined BIG and was closed down.Ole dad wasn't too happy.Ever get behind one where you can smell the nausious exhaust? and has a recent license tag? You know that had to have been done illegally

They must've done a lot of cracking down on that around here. These days, it is pretty rare to get behind a car where the exhaust reeks of unburnt fuel & other fumes...

Back in the early 90's, I had a car that didn't have cats, smog pump, etc.. I had move away from the area where I knew guys (or knew guys who knew guys) who could pass the car. But, I still had to get the car inspected. I had "heard" that the new area didn't require "all of that extra crap from the big cities," but I wasn't sure about it... That is until I went to the inspection shop..

I pulled in and told the guy "I need to get this thing inspected." He says, "Ok, flip on the lights..... Ok.. Now, tap the horn.. ok.. And pop the hood." He raised the hood, kind of glanced around for about 5 seconds (if that), and said "Yep! Looks like a motor to me!" He slammed the hood shut and started writing up the sticker.

That,I think,is true here too...to a degree.Some of the less inhabited counties have less restrictions here.FWIW,vehicles '74 and older don't have to be smogged in Ca.,one reason I wish my son's '69 pickup was mine

 

[ScottyBoy]

Yep,that's done to this day here.There are so many illegal cars out there it ain't funny.The going rate to do it illegally is about $150.I know of a shop where the owner's son would smog cars illegally for extra $,well he got busted and the shop got fined BIG and was closed down.Ole dad wasn't too happy.Ever get behind one where you can smell the nausious exhaust? and has a recent license tag? You know that had to have been done illegally

They must've done a lot of cracking down on that around here. These days, it is pretty rare to get behind a car where the exhaust reeks of unburnt fuel & other fumes...

Back in the early 90's, I had a car that didn't have cats, smog pump, etc.. I had move away from the area where I knew guys (or knew guys who knew guys) who could pass the car. But, I still had to get the car inspected. I had "heard" that the new area didn't require "all of that extra crap from the big cities," but I wasn't sure about it... That is until I went to the inspection shop..

I pulled in and told the guy "I need to get this thing inspected." He says, "Ok, flip on the lights..... Ok.. Now, tap the horn.. ok.. And pop the hood." He raised the hood, kind of glanced around for about 5 seconds (if that), and said "Yep! Looks like a motor to me!" He slammed the hood shut and started writing up the sticker.

Yep, that sounds like what they do here Michael. Only Baton Rouge has somewhat stricter inspections.
New Orleans used to be almost as bad as California, but they actually stopped that around 2004. About that time, they cracked down on all the corruption and illegal passing of inspection, etc. (just like gramps said) and they started doing like the rest of the state and just about any mechanic shop can do inspection now and all they do is check wiper, lights, etc. Not to mention it was a severe pain in the ass because you had to wait ALL DAY because there were only 2 inspection stations in the whole dam city.
I remember when I had a car back around 1998 or so (when my car was registered in NewOrleans), I needed an inspection sticker (but I knew I wouldnt pass inspection) so I asked a friend who knew "some guy" who sold inspection stickers for 75 bucks.(compared to $15 if bought legally) You just went to him with the money and he had a stack of the stickers in his pocket. He was selling the "last months" extra stickers. The New Orleans inspection stickers looked completely different from all other surrounding parishes. And depending on what month you got your car inspected, the sticker was a different color. Other stickers (the state stickers) had a universal sticker that they put the expiration date on. But NewOrleans had "pre printed" expration dates on their stickers. They supposedly did that so cops could see from a distance what color your sticker was, and depending on the color they could kinda tell if it was expired or not. So on say april first, the inspectors were supposed to "dispose" of all leftover March stickers, when in reality they would be sold on the black market. It was commonly known by dam near anyone about this practice (you just had to know the right people) and The shit eventually hit the fan in around 04 when The mayor decided to do a "sting" and internal investigation.

 

[Darkanion]

That,I think,is true here too...to a degree.Some of the less inhabited counties have less restrictions here.FWIW,vehicles '74 and older don't have to be smogged in Ca.,one reason I wish my son's '69 pickup was mine

I think it's the same way here. The year might be different, but I'm not sure. I just wish the year was a moving #.. Say, anything over 25 yrs old or something like that..

 

[ScottyBoy]

Another bit of trivia:
For those who didn't know, inspection stickers in New Orleans and surrounding areas are actually not called "inspection stickers". They are called a "brake tag". Just google the words "brake tag" and see whats the first thing that comes up!
Right after I moved here I went to an inspection station and said "I need to get a brake tag" and the guy looked at me like I was speaking Russian or sum shit.