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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Folks -</FONT></EM></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>I got this interesting article from "Corvair" Jack Pinard, a member of Ventura (CA) Corvair Club and CORSA West. For those of you who just love love talking old car trivia, this should keep you entertained for hours.</FONT></EM></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>- HB</FONT></EM></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT></EM></STRONG></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG><EM><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Classic Car Registrations</FONT></EM></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV>It is important to look at how many classic cars, hot rods, street rods and musclecars are currently registered in the United States. Unfortunately, not every state keeps this kind of information; each state classifies passenger vehicles differently. For many of the states, we were unable to obtain make and model data. The problem is that pre-1973 vehicles would include models that are not considered hot rods. For example, a 1957 Toyota would fall into the model years we specified, but would not be classified as a hot rod. Of course, there are also probably many pre-1973 vehicles throughout the United States, which are stored in garages or barns and are not even registered. California, the birthplace of hot rodding, has 2,775,004 registered automobiles from model years 1871 through 1972. This represents 5.99% of the total number of registered vehicles in the state. The following chart shows the breakdown of registered vehicles of model years 1972 and older. SEMA was able to obtain the registration data from 26 states. The process proved much more difficult than anticipated. Most of the state DMVs claimed that they do not keep such records. This statement does not seem possible, because in order to register a vehicle one must indicate the make, model and year of the vehicle in order to pay the proper fees. Many of the DMVs would not even respond to voicemails, e-mails or formal request letters. Of the states that participated, many charged fees from anywhere between $35–$1,000 for the data; others had the data available for free.</DIV>
<DIV>The table below breaks the totals down by state. California represents the highest percentage of pre-1973 vehicles with 2,775,004, followed by North Carolina with 1,033,224. The state with the least number of pre-1973 registered vehicles is Vermont with 1,331.</DIV>
<DIV><IMG title="" alt="" src="http://www.sema.org/images/Table_1_0228.jpg"></DIV>
<DIV>SEMA members can receive a complimentary copy of the full-length “2006 Hot Rod Industry Report” as another benefit to being a SEMA member. The report contains detailed analysis of the hot rod registration data presented above, including a deeper look at which years and vehicle makes are most popular. In addition, the report is filled with valuable facts and figures about the hot rod industry, and SEMA members can download the report by visiting <A title=http://www.sema.org/research href="http://www.sema.org/research">www.sema.org/research</A>. This and several other recently published reports are all now conveniently housed on the new 2006 Market Research CD. SEMA members can obtain a copy of the CD by contacting Shirley Presecan at <A title=mailto:shirleyp@sema.org href="mailto:shirleyp@sema.org">shirleyp@sema.org</A>.</DIV>
<DIV>Source: SEMA Research and Information Cente</DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at <A title="http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/1615326657x4311227241x4298082137/aol?redir=http://www.aol.com" href="http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/1615326657x4311227241x4298082137/aol?redir=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eaol%2Ecom" target="_blank"><B>AOL.com</B></A>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML><BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.