Don't laugh, I have been contemplating moving/wanting to move out of here. But I'm married, 50 yo and my wife is not in favor of the idea (27 years married) because she's looking forward to our grandchildren.
I think I'm condemned to stick around here.
I'm not laughing at all. I have a friend in Australia and he tells me about all the BS hobbyists have to go through to just drive their cars.
I would try to organize and fight to get laws changed.
Not to rub salt into the wounds, but a number of miles north of you in the Netherlands, a new rule just got passed that cars older than 50 years are excempt of any yearly/2 yearly inspection at all starting next year.
BigBlockMopar wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 6:53 pm
Not to rub salt into the wounds, but a number of miles north of you in the Netherlands, a new rule just got passed that cars older than 50 years are excempt of any yearly/2 yearly inspection at all starting next year.
BigBlockMopar wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 6:53 pm
Not to rub salt into the wounds, but a number of miles north of you in the Netherlands, a new rule just got passed that cars older than 50 years are excempt of any yearly/2 yearly inspection at all starting next year.
I'm a resident of British Columbia, wouldn't doubt the truth of Bill's anecdote. While the testing requirements here were non-negotiable, once passed the car could be re-worked in pretty much any manner suited the owner. Typical stunts were to retard idle spark and lean out the carb to barely tolerable then restore settings for decent running afterwards. Back on the road one would never be challenged by authorities, who'd always be too busy hunting speed limit violators.
Well they complain not just about the injection. They head of the tech inspection also mentioned that it had too much power. Now bear in mind that a tech inspection has no dyno in there and when questioned if he perhaps established the amount of horsepower by the feel is his butt dyno, he said he had enough experience to tell a high hp car from another. My recent dyno test showed 180 hp (approximately) so this is part of the debate in front of the court now.
So effectively I would have to change out the engine as well and find an all original L82 1979 corvette engine. I probably could find a worn out 350 somewhere but then the complaint is probably going to be that the engine is not original to the car
The way they are handling things means that ca. 30.000 cars in the Flemish region didn't pass and another 30.000 never went in for the inspection and now sit idle in a garage somewhere....
Clearly there must be a community of enthusiasts across Europe whose quality of life is harmed by way of this. Is there no representative organisation through which political persuasion could be promoted?
chimpvalet wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:08 pm
Clearly there must be a community of enthusiasts across Europe whose quality of life is harmed by way of this. Is there no representative organisation through which political persuasion could be promoted?
Yes, and they are trying, but at the moment nothing changes.
When I was a young child (under fifty), we had Safety Lane Inspection testing in Chicago.
The procedure was simple and elegant. You drove to a testing station, placed a five dollar bill
on the passenger seat and waited for the inspector. He (never a she) would sit down in your car and
ask you a few questions about your car; mostly about brakes and tires. He would do an inspection
walkaround and disappear, along with your fiver.
This process served several important purposes.
First, it funded the inspection process with reduced cost to the taxpayer.
Second, it helped fund the local political party (always Democrat).
Third, it directed auto repair business to a co-operating brake and tire shops.
Forth, it helped spot stolen cars, but not many.
The Safety Lane Inspection has been eliminated, replaced by mandated emissions testing.
This is a process (from the early 70s), whereby the tailpipe was sniffed to detect the
level of CO2, HC and NOx in the exhaust stream. CO2 is a very essential compound necessary for
plant growth and otherwise harmless. HC has been virtually eliminated by use of catalysts
and better control of fuel mixtures, NOx has been reduced by use of cats and lower combustion
temperatures, at the cost of improved fuel consumption.
But the despicable practice of bribing the inspector has been replaced by the trustworthy computer
and the funding replaced by funding from the federal government for conducting unnecessary tasks.
Everything else remains unchanged.
Since 1970, auto emission air quality has improved by 99.99% but the relentless pursuit to
eliminate the dangerous and evil remaining 0.01% continues unabated.
When will senseless testing finally end I asked the inspector.
"When the government funding runs out," was his reply.