1983 SC and Catalyst

[Steam Driver]

A friend of mine (no joke; not me) has an '83 SC Cabriolet that he bought a couple of years ago. Just recently he noticed that it has no catalytic converter. It appears that the inlet was removed from the cat and welded onto a straight pipe replacing the cat. Same thing at the other end. This has obviously been in place for a long time.

The question is how did this car pass emissions? And according to the Carfax it did.

The car was purchased out of the Nashville area, and Nashville is one of three cities in Tennessee (the others being Chattanooga and Memphis) that have a draconian regulation where all cars back to 1972(!) are still subject to emissions inspection. So perhaps the P/O had a friend someplace? TN runs it's own, contracted out, emissions inspections. Not via designated service stations etc.

[76FJ55]

I know someone that lived in Los Angeles, CA and drove a VW Vanagon. the outside of the cat was there so it passed visual, but the inside was hollow and had a straight piece of pipe pressed through it and tack welded in place. It passed smog not problem. As long as the engine is in good mechanical condition and tuned well, it should be able to meet smog.

[crimedawg]

Yup, a “friend” does this every 2 years here in CA.

[AlistairWallace]

Some states do not require it for older cars. In North Carolina its not a requirement, to pass emissions that is.