or possibly not, someone who does so few miles possibly doesn't have enough of the "modern" driving experience. A few weeks ago I was behind someone who tried joining motorway traffic be driving down the slip road at 30 mph :(
Usually on the dash on the drivers side or on the door pillar. There are other undisclosed locations in an attempt to stymie chop shops.
I found it odd that my Sprite's engine was given as 1100 cc's (100 cc's less than a Harley 74) while Whitworth wrenches were in fractional inches.
I found metric wrenches handy when working under a car. The average wife/girlfriend can better cope with 'give me the damn 11' than 'give me the frigging seven sixteenths'.
I would rather spend a lot maintaining my three old bangers than give money to a dealer to service a new car...
and when it breaks fix it don't rush to trade in as most people do ....
thank god
until they punch up your MOT history ...
UK cars are identified in exactly the same way with a VIN
Anyone in the UK can check if a car is insured, has a valid MOT (new cars don't need to be tested for the first 3 years) or has road tax on-line by typing in a number plate. In general, in the UK the number plate is registered to the car when purchased new and remains with the car for the car's life. Yearly road tax is paid by the car's registered keeper and stays with that keeper. If the car is sold the new registered keeper has to pay road tax for that car and the old keeper claims back for unused months. It's possible for both parties to lose out here as the car has to be taxed by the new owner for the full calender month in which it's on the road in their ownership and the claim back is only for full unused calender months. Road tax is now on-line/data base as the car carries no visual indication that has yearly road taxed is valid. The paper disks that we used to have displayed on the windscreen have been scrapped.
The Police have almost instant access to more of the data base either in-car or via cameras so that they can stop and check cars. They have equipment that can automatically identify number plates. This is assuming that they have the manpower to stop a fair proportion of uninsured drivers, or cars without tax or insurance. However, I have passed two different Police "traps" in the last 6 weeks where there is a camera van sitting at the roadside and around half a mile further on two Police cars waiting to stop cars that have been identified by the camera system.
There is nothing magic about servicing a new car. Often in the first few years its nothing more than changing oil and filters.
Very many years ago I got caught with the first free service scam. The small print was the labour was free. The price of the oil included the gold it must have had. The invoice included a charge for the plastic seat covers and the paper foot well covers that they used to keep my car clean from their oily overalls :(
1098cc to be exact. Not an original sprite. that was either 997 or 998...
Oh dear.
you are the exception then ....as usual
how do you manage it ? ...
Mine was a '62. It had the 1098 engine and the inadequate brakes left over from the bug-eye. The brakes were moot, since you needed a long downhill stretch to break 90. When it rained you got your tent poles out of the trunk and set up the tent, after retrieving the side windows from the same place and screwing them to the doors. Usually it was easier to just keep driving.
Those were the days. A while back I looked up the specs for the Brit sports cars of the day, the MGs, Triumphs, Healeys, and so forth. My subcompact Toyota could smoke them off the line, beat their top end by
20 mph, and handle a lot better, all while playing tunes from Jango from the bluetooth link to the phone.
And wiper blades... The maintenance schedule for my Toyota is one of the most boring ones I've read. 5000 miles, change oil and filter, rotate tires.
I'm another one. When the car or bike leaves the lot it waves bye-bye forever.
Fortunately traffic cameras are not legal in this state. The gouging they do in a couple of the adjoining states was embarrassing even to our legislature.
I had one of those too.
I think it had quarter elliptical rear springs too.
Its sad, but they were fun at the time. I remember the final nail was trying to follow a hot hatch round a curving slip road and simply running out of grip due to high profile narrow tyres...
Wiper blades, you say?
:-)
That used to be a hot topic in uk.r.c, one of whose denizens boasted that he had driven across Europe in the rain without functioning wipers. He seemed to think (if that's the right term) that it had been a clever thing to do.
have to say I hate buying things with guarantees I prefer a cheap price and take the chance.....
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