Dave (and list),
Early cats were not a honeycomb, but were filled with coated ceramic
beads, and were indeed terribly restrictive. I don't know which kind the
Spit has. It isn't uncommon to hear the characteristic hissing from the
exhaust of a mid-late seventies Yank Tank. And, honeycomb cats can and
do eventually collapse internally, particularly if the mixture has gone
rich for some reason and overheats the catalyst. And as for older cars
polluting more, they do. However, their miniscule percentage of the
automotive fleet, coupled with the fact that most older cars are classics
that are, for the most part, sunday drivers (maintained in better tune),
makes their impact negligible, and makes nationwide California-style
rolling exemptions not only sensible, but necessary if some people in
certain areas want to keep driving their cars due to the eventual
unobtainable status (or extortionate cost) of the necessary bits. As
someone who would like to drive his Triumphs for another 40 years, I'm a
concerned party.
Scott Kohl
Various Japanese, British, and (only one!) French
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