"Richard C. Burrell" <miltrkr@concentric.net> wrote:
> i live in California and own a M35A2 with historical plates and according to
> a highway patrol friend i do not need a CDL .
Well, I believe that your friend is mistaken. I talked to the DMV, the
CHP commercial enforcement division, and I studied the CA Vehicle Code
(CVC) myself very carefully, and I could find nothing that even
suggested that I didn't need a CDL to drive my deuce. All three
sources made it very clear that I did need one. The CDL requirement
was clearly and unambiguously spelled out in the CVC.
> in CA. when a vehicle is registered as a historical vehicle it does
> not have a weight anymore it falls into the automobile class.
Can you give us the CVC section number that says that? I looked very
carefully, and could not find anything that suggests that. The CVC
states specifically that weight fees are waived for Historical
Vehicles, and it states specifically that the requirement to stop at
truck scales is waived for Historical Vehicles. I could not find
anything that suggested that Historical Vehicles fall into a different
class with respect to licensing. I was even required to get a weight
certificate to initially register my DRMO truck, though I don't know
if that was a clerk judgment call or a real requirement. I did notice
that the weight value that I went to some amount of trouble to obtain
is not listed on my title certificate. Grumble.
> since all autos in CA. are classed under 6,000 lbs the third axle is not
> relevant.
The CVC doesn't say that Historical Vehicles are automatically classed
as autos (if you don't agree, please quote the CVC section number that
I missed so we can lay this to rest once and for all!). Furthermore,
it doesn't say that more than two axles only apply to autos; it says
(paraphrased) that any vehicle with more than two axles and a GVW over
6,000 pounds is classified as a commercial vehicle. It's the third
axle that makes it not an auto, and there's no section that I could
find that says that doesn't apply to Historical Vehicles.
I made a lengthy posting a year or so ago in which I quoted the
relevant CVC section numbers which clearly spell out the requirement
for a CDL to drive a deuce in CA. I could probably dig that up if
necessary.
-- Mark J. Blair, KE6MYK <mblair1@home.net> PGP 2.6.2 public key available from http://www.keyserver.net/ Web page: http://www.qsl.net/ke6myk/ DO NOT SEND ANY UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL EMAIL TO THIS SITE PLEASE SEND PLAIN ASCII TEXT ONLY -- NO HTML OR QUOTED-PRINTABLE
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