On a recent visit to Port Newark in New Jersey (to pick up a 1997 Renault Twingo out of France), the docks were alive with a steady stream of 25-year-old or older imports from Europe, Japan, South America. It's all thanks to one 1988 law.
illustration by Serge Gay Jr.alive or paying sufficient attention, it’s hard to explain how grim the Seventies and Eighties were for car enthusiasts. Particularly for those with any awareness of foreign cars—for instance, the typicalreader. Newly enacted U.S. emissions and safety regulations choked the performance of cars sold here, while shrinking R&D budgets limited consumer choice as big manufacturers certified fewer models and engine families for sale.
Just your average government bureaucrat suiting up for the day. Richard “Dick” Merritt, who helped found the Ferrari Club of America, also helped craft the enthusiast-focused 25-year rule.Today the rule’s ramifications are even clearer, as a recent visit to the docks at Port Newark in New Jersey confirmed. The port was alive with the sights and sounds of exotic and oddball foreign cars.
No discussion of the 25-year rule is complete without reference to the situation predating its adoption. Dick Fritz, an engineer working for the famous Ferrari importer and dealer Luigi Chinetti in the Sixties, became immersed in helping the chronically underfunded Italian sports-car maker meet then-new U.S. emissions and safety regulations.
In Fritz’s view, more than anything, the relative strengths of European currencies versus the dollar made compliance conversions less attractive. Along with increasingly consistent regulation and continuous improvement of engine management and emissions technology, manufacturers, mindful of their Eighties miscues, were able to expand their U.S. offerings.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Dear Abby: My wife is obsessed with crossword puzzlesDear Abby advises a husband struggling with his wife’s crossword addiction and a man whose neighbor keeps cornering him.
Read more »
31 Products So Good Reviewers Give Them “11/10 Stars”Over four million people are obsessed with this low sodium seasoning for good reason 👀.
Read more »
Anne Hathaway's Fluffy Lashes Are Thanks to a Mascara I'm Obsessed WithWestman Atelier launched its new Eye Want You Mascara. Brand founder and celebrity makeup artist Gucci Westman has used the volumizing mascara on Anne Hathaway. Shop it for $45.
Read more »
How to build the perfect cheeseburger: We asked 3 burger-obsessed Dallas folksWe’re big fans of the double-double. Condiments are up for intense debate.
Read more »
reality-television - The Daily Beast's ObsessedAll reality-television coverage by The Daily Beast's Obsessed.
Read more »