A new enviro-correct tax on old cars is coming into effect this year, in the form of mandatory emissions testings for cars 11 (or 12?) years or older.
It is all very well to want cars not to pollute but the benefits of a vehicular diversity need to be recognized and promoted.
It has become clear that cities need to promote whimsical and new ways of thinking to stamp their identity onto the world.
The presence of neat old cars not only brands your city as a creative place full of people who think out-of-the-box but it is also simply a delightful experience to see one of these old dolls on the roads.
Tourists to Havana frequently come back with admiring photos of ancient clunkers still on the roads of that city and we could also tickle some visitors by getting more of these babes onto our streets by easing up on some of the difficult restrictions that keep these guys off the road.
Hell pop a few of these onto a postcard for the city and you have one more reason for people to come here.
These three cars on the left were recently-sighted in Montreal (the top two in the west end, not entirely sure either is operational) and the bottom one at Pap and Cat.
The key is proper maintenance paying particular attention to the exhaust system.
ReplyDeleteIts such a scam to think these older cars are bad for the environment. How many resources,energy, pollution does it take to build a new car? factor in the fact that new cars are often built in Asia. I have read that building a prius decimates the planet.Just consider old cars are made with metal,glass and fabric or leather. Just producing all the plastics used in one new car is doing far more damage to the earth than the small amount of extra carbon from an older motor.
ReplyDeleteRant over
This year I bought new summer and winter tires for my 1995 850 wagon so I am wedded to this car for a few more years.
ReplyDeleteI agree that "buying" into the programmed consumption pattern of the 5 year replacement cycle of the automobile industry uses vastly more resources and the associated waste and pollution than the simple act of keeping my older car well maintained with regular maintenance and occasional replacement parts.
Hey NDGguy you're using my handle.
ReplyDeletePlease,I'm ndgguy. Now repping in Singapore for the next 2 months.
Here in the UK, we have "Car Tax" and MOTs already. MOT's are a mandatory yearly car check where you take your car to an MOT approved garage who inspects your car to make sure it's safe and not polluting. If it fails, then you either have the option of junking your car if it's not worth getting it fixed or getting it repaired.
ReplyDeleteIf it fails, you can't buy your Car Tax to make it legal to drive on the road. If you try to pull a fast one and drive without a valid Car Tax, then you get fined and your car gets seized.
Our car usually fails on something minor like it needs a new windscreen wiper but a few years back, we needed a new catalytic converter for it!!
It's been around for a while so you tend not to see the rust buckets driving around like you see in Montreal. It is always a shock to my husband's system when we go back every summer to visit my family and he sees all the polluting junkers driving around (my mom lives on Cote St. Luc road so we see traffic 24/7). While waiting for the 103 bus one day, we saw a c. 1980's car drive past that had it's entire back side panel rusted off. That would be an automatic fail here in England.
Car Tax also gets cheaper the more efficient and less polluting the engine is so those driving huge SUV's like Hummers, etc pay the highest in Car Tax and cars with smaller engines, pay less. Also the new cars that have come out with in the last few years with hybrid engines, pay next to nothing in tax.
The Car Tax also pays for the upkeep of the roads so you don't get the huge pot holes here like you do in Quebec so less suspension problems in cars here too, it's a win-win situation!
Another very very loud effort to effect a very very small change in the environment. How many people are fooled into thinking that such a government is truly interested in doing something serious and effective to improve the environment. People that own older cars do very little driving.
ReplyDeleteSounds like another money-grab by the government which will largely penalize vintage car owners and their club activities.
ReplyDeleteAs if the odd 1959 Chevrolet or whatever pre-catalytic converter vehicle driving around would seriously affect the overall air quality in any event!
Let's not forget that while old cars (say 1960's and prior) are fun to look at, and the amount of pollution the few that still run put out is negligible, they were pretty close to junk when they rolled off the assembly line. Nader's "Unsafe At Any Speed" might have specifically targeted the early Corvairs, compared to today's cars, they were all death traps in waiting. Going around a corner at any speed above walking required a lot of know-how, and a lot of hoping that those bias-ply tires still had enough grip to keep from sliding. FWD has pretty much completely replaced rear wheel drive, and that one feature of modern cars, especially in a city with as much ice and snow as this one, makes the old timers things you only want to drive on a fine spring day. I knew a fella back in the 70's who had an MG TC- restored and in perfect running condition. He described it as the ideal car to take to show off a picnic, and not much else. Just a few years ago I made the acquaintance of a guy who restored cars in the garage out back of my shop. He called the '34 Chrysler Airflow he was working on as "something only a maniac could love, while the '60's Amphicar was kinda neat, but the propellers could really make a mess out of a cat's tail...
ReplyDeleteI once drove a real Cobra- 289 Ford V8 stuffed into an AC sports car, and it was a blast, but you'd need arms like Superman to steer it around corners. There's one (I think it's a replica) that "lives" in the L shaped alley that runs from Baile to St.Mathieu. Always a fun thing to see.
Also spotted in the St.Cath/St.Mathieu area from time to time over the past few years is something that looks like a mid-50's Mercury or DeSoto, painted up as a police car (it even has a "gumball light on the roof and "sheriff" painted on the trunk). Being disabled, I've never been able to get to the owner and ask what the story is with this thing. Does anybody here know?
I sometimes feel nostalgic for my old '51 Mercury half-ton. Only 11 mpg (on the highway), but boy that thing was was an attention grabber, even when I owned it in the 1970's.
Anyways, I agree that a bunch of vintage vehicles all over town would surely make the burg more picturesque, but the downside is that someone would have to drive the bloody things...