Triumph Repair: will my Spit pass inspection?, rear wheel bearings, triumph spitfire

Question
Greetings.  I purchased a 1980 Triumph Spitfire from a gentleman who used to race it in SCCA races in the late 80's.  He rebuilt the engine, installing a performance cam, header, and weber carb.  He raced it for only a few years, and was using it as a daily driver when I bought it from him.  The car when I purchased it had 83,000 original miles on it.  It ran beautifully, and had a valid New York State inspection sticker.  I haven't gotten the car inspected yet because it needed rear brakes and the rear wheel bearings on both axles were in need of replacement.  Now that the brakes, and wheel bearings have been installed I'm worried about the car not passing inspection.  The car has no catalytic converter, and all the emmision stuff on the engine were removed.  I called the guy and he insists he got the car inspected legitimately.  He stated that the mechanic doing the inspection won't check for the catalytic or emmission stuff because the car is a 1980.  Is he telling the truth, or do I have something to worry about?  

Answer
Brian,

You need to check with the your local state authorities.  Some states have set a rolling 25 year exemption on emissions, ie cars older than 25 years don't have to be "smogged" anymore.  And your Spitfire is 26 years old.

If that's the case in your state then you may be ok.  If not, sometimes the Spitfire can pass the older emissions standards even without all the smog control pieces.

Cheers,

Jim