I'm with you Mark, I just wanted to share what happened to my friend. A CHP biker pulls him over for speeding - not too excessive or anything either. "Nice mustang...sounds healthy" the cop said. The cop seemed to dig on the car and asked if he could see the engine. My friend said sure, thinking at this point he might get off 'cause this cop's a motorhead too. No such luck, as soon as he opened the hood the cop starts naming parts that weren't street legal that had to go! "This is a great car, really...but it's not built to be street-driven" the cop finished with, or something like that. Speeding ticket and a vehicle inspection bonus, ouch. They made him strip his car of course, what a headache.
Meanwhile, I love driving my Z, and this is certainly a case of the wrong cop and bad luck. Just meaning to clarify the limits of protection a "smog exempt" car gives you in California.