There was a recent news story about Minnesota banning vintage cars from the road at night and severely limiting the annual mileage.
As usual, the media got it wrong.
The restriction only applies to cars with antique plates.
Jerry Sutherland
In Minnesota, antique plates are permanent plates that require no annual registration, but they come with clauses like show-only, repair-only and other specified activities. In other words, you can’t daily drive your classic on antique plates.
Those are reasonable requests, but once this story filtered through the car hobby, classic car owners believed their days were numbered on the open road. Fortunately, that’s not the case, so your antique plate is still a one-price permanent solution.
You’ll find similar conditions on classic car insurance, and that’s what keeps the price down. There are different options, but basically your costs go way down because your car is less of a risk for the insurance company when there are restrictions to its time on the road.
Contrast that story with a real threat to California collector car owners that created the Leno Law. Basically, this law is a response to a California smog law that would have forced old iron off the road.
SEMA was a driving force behind the Leno Law–as was Leno and other players throughout the United States. They’re tinkering with it and a newer version of the law is expected to surface that exempts cars built before 1982.
Old iron will have to be registered with a plate that identifies them as antique vehicles—but so far, so good. In other words, you’ll still be able to take your first-gen Mustang convertible to the beach.
The only fear is what future governments will do, because we’re heading straight into a society where people-driven, internal combustion car will be a footnote in history.
But for now, your 1971 Camaro SS is safe.
You could easily argue that it won’t matter to current car guys because in 50 years, a ’58 Plymouth Fury will be just an old curiosity—like the Coliseum in Rome or the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Sadly, that is probably accurate, even if cars have been around for 150 years.
Cars may still be around, but you won’t be driving them. They’ll be electric and all you’ll have to do is punch in a destination and watch a movie on your holographic TV screen. The soul will leave the car hobby body at that point.
This started with analyzing a misinterpretation of an antique car law in Minnesota but it’s bigger than one law. Once lawmakers start circling around the old car hobby, you can expect changes.
They like to tinker with fun things and add taxes and regulations, so the fun thing is less fun. It’s in the politician manual on page 1. They’ll have a battle because old car guys are mavericks in society, but the ranks are thinning so there’s only one option.
Go out and drive the wheels off it because someday that Minnesota license plate law rumor will be real.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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