At 03:16 PM 10/15/98 , Bob Calkins wrote:
>All this talk about Mazda & Subaru motors is great, but if you live in
>the Golden State...Forget it......Never gonna happen my friend....not
>untill your Vanagon is 30 yrs old

"innercite.com", indeed!

Well, just to set the record straight for all our non-California friends,
all of California is not like this.  There are smog inspections required
where I live in California only when you sell a vehicle, never routinely.
It is a good thing, because several of mine would never pass the visual
inspection.  Most people in California live in some urban nightmare like
LA, San Diego, San Fransisco area, etc.  Like 90%.  The other 90% of the
area of the state is inhabited by a relatively few people.  The smog is
done on a county-by-county basis, and ours is exempt.  It could change
tomorrow, though, and we won't get "grandfathered" in, probably.

Engine swaps *are* possible in California, even in smog-areas by going
to see a "referee".  I saw a big dragster get a smog approval once -- it
was built out of old cars, but was basicaly a new construction thing,and
they were making it pass new car standards.  It did it, too.  But there
is trouble, and the car actually has has to run well.  Not impossible.

Malcolm H.