Images: The SEMA Action Network on Facebook

Legislators may be on break for the remainder of the year, but we hot rod enthusiasts have a job that lasts year round–keeping an eye on rules and regulations so nothing gets too out of hand. Luckily, the Specialty Equipment Market Association is on our side and while they prepare for next month’s big show in Las Vegas, they’re still keeping tabs on any lingering legislation that might have squeaked through at the last minute. This is October’s SEMA Law & Order update!

Because legislatures have adjourned for the year, there are fewer updates this month, but still some notable ones.

In New Hampshire, a new law has been signed into affect that allows owners of of classic vehicles from the 1975 model year or earlier to use year-of-manufacture plates on their vehicles. Prior to the law being signed into affect by Governor Maggie Hassan, only vehicles from 1960 or before could run year-of-manufacture plates.

The only stipulation for the increased model years that can run year-of-manufacture plates is that classic vehicles can’t run plate numbers, whether attached to a vintage plate or not, that are already registered to another vehicle.

Hot rod and classic car enthusiasts are also getting good news in Rhode Island as Governor Lincoln Chafee recently signed a bill into law that will allow the Division of Motor Vehicles to begin issuing replica year-of-manufacture plates for vehicles that are more than 25 years old. While these vehicles can get reproduction plates, they will still be limited to occasional use for things like club activities, parades and exhibitions, unless the vehicle is fully inspected and meets or exceeds all current inspection requirements for transportation vehicles in the state.

On the federal level, it looks like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will not be issuing a tire age federal safety standard. This means that if maintained properly, modern tires used on any classic car or hot rod should be able to remain on the car for the foreseeable future without the government mandating when you need to change your tires.

While they don’t anticipate issuing a federal safety standard for the age of tires, the NHTSA is purposing to add a third symbol to the 2-character plant code on all new tires, since the NHTSA is running out of 2-character combinations to designate tire plants, as well as standardize the length of the full tire identification code to 13 characters.

The NHTSA believes that a standardized tire identification (TIN) code length will help eliminate confusion that the current variable TIN lengths could cause when identifying tires produced in this country.

The remainder of the year may not be too exciting as far as legislative action for or against the hot rod hobby goes, but we can rest assured that no matter what time of year, SEMA will be keeping a watchful eye on things!

Be sure to stay up to date on legislative action that SEMA is monitoring by becoming part of the SEMA Action Network. It’s free!!!