1957 Ford Country Sedan mocha silver V8 4dr wagon

[Limey57]

GB residents are good to import a vintage car from the US, and there are no environmental laws in England for pre 60 cars I believe, so my og San Francisco based wagon was registered in Birmingham, UK as an everyday car, even with holes in floor and a-posts.

Things are-a-changing here as well......  There have been various regulations in place for over 20 years that were not enforced regarding modifications, we are now seeing these tightened and any car being imported into the UK should be 100% standard.  Our annual safety-test (MoT) has now been abandoned for any car built before 1960 and we don't pay any tax on a car built before around 1975, so for my Ranchero I simply pay £160 (~ $185) a year for insurance and that's it, I have no restrictions on mileage, no bureaucracy and no complicated inspections.  Today.

There are proposals to remove the "Historic" status of a car modified away from standard (as with my Ranchero - disc brakes, R&P steering, 302 & AOD etc, etc) and throw it back into the realms of modern cars (safety inspections, paying tax etc), this is still at the discussion stage, but changes will come.

As you say, these are all done under the "environmental" heading, but how much pollution does the whole old-car movement of the UK cause compared to all of the new coal fired power stations being built in China & India?  The motorist always has been an easy target.

Mind you, the price of gas is the biggest limiting factor nowadays, after driving diesels every day, stamping on the gas pedal of a 302 V8 sees the fuel gauge needle move way quicker than anything else!

[gasman826]

Technology is already there in EFI vehicles.  The ECM has a radio frequency chip (RF) that spews all data steams into the air for anyone to listen in on and use any way they want.  Your vehicle speed sensor (VSS) is sending your speedometer info.  Your odometer info is offered up.  You GPS informs the location of you vehicle at all times.  How do you think ONSTAR works.  All your vehicle information is out there and just waiting for too much government to figure out how to use it.  Ford was slow to market WIFI due to security issues.

[djfordmanjack]

I hear what you say Gary ( Gasman) and my answer is I do not drive or own vehicles built after 1967. I do not have facebook, I do not have GPS, I use paper roadmaps. no electronic speedos or any type of sensor in my cars. If that sounds like a political statement, it probably isn't. I just love these old cars, and yes I do take pride in personal freedom.
Gary (UK), my British friends keep telling me how it might get harder for you to drive old cars in gerneral and especially modified ones.
We can only hope that rumors will not become real, like over the last 20 years- they didn't. Who knows what they have in plans, and let's just drive our cars on the open road as long as we can.

[RICH MUISE]

Sometimes too much bureaucracy can be a good thing......NO RATRODS!, lol.
Really interesting info Guenter and Gary.....nice hearing about life over the pond.

[Ecode70D]

Rich
    Is that why you ran away from Taxachusetts? 
Jay

[mustang6984]

Here in the land of fruits and nuts they want everyone to be in an electric car or a bicycle. On one of our local 4 lane roads they just took two lanes away for bicycles only, so now you 30 cars backed up sitting there idling at the stop signal while one guy goes by on a bicycle 

The future of electronic monitoring by big brother is scary. I see the day in the future when every time you go over the speed limit it makes an automatic deduction from your bank account 

Yea...they have done the lane elimination thing in parts of WA state as well. Seattle, which has little parking to begin with, had removed 100's of parking spaces, Olympia took a lane away on one of it's busier roads...and NO ONE ever rides a bike on the thing.
And yea...I fear that electronic deduction thing is coming. Hopefully not until I am dead and buried! LOL!!!

[junior58]

Starting to think my little piece of paradise down here in New Zealand ain't so bad. We have a safety certification system in place for modified cars, and all cars imported must go through an initial safety compliance but once that is done there's no restrictions on use, no mileage limits or daily use limits. In fact the annual vehicle registration fees are cheaper for "vintage" cars (over 40 years old). Some of the insurance companies will charge reduced annual premiums based on your expected yearly mileage, but they don't mandate it. There are no extra "pollution taxes" or any of that malarkey. Other than it being more expensive to get cars here due to location, we have it pretty good.
By the way, well done for battling through the beauracracy and getting it done.

[rmk57]

Yea...they have done the lane elimination thing in parts of WA state as well. Seattle, which has little parking to begin with, had removed 100's of parking spaces, Olympia took a lane away on one of it's busier roads...and NO ONE ever rides a bike on the thing.
And yea...I fear that electronic deduction thing is coming. Hopefully not until I am dead and buried! LOL!!!

Same thing is happening in Vancouver. It seems every couple months they close down a lane or even a whole road for bike lanes. As you know living in the northwest from October to April there's a lot of rain and crappy weather that isn't conducive to biking to work every morning.
I wouldn't mind so much if the bikers were taxed to ride on their shiny new bike lanes, but you know it's not going to happen.

Next thing coming this way is road tax usage.........Iv'e heard Portland, Oregon has it already.

[mustang6984]

Same thing is happening in Vancouver. It seems every couple months they close down a lane or even a whole road for bike lanes. As you know living in the northwest from October to April there's a lot of rain and crappy weather that isn't conducive to biking to work every morning.
I wouldn't mind so much if the bikers were taxed to ride on their shiny new bike lanes, but you know it's not going to happen.

Next thing coming this way is road tax usage.........Iv'e heard Portland, Oregon has it already.

I have about 14 more months of dealing with the leftist liberal garbage around WA state...them I'll be in the more common sense part of the country. Can't wait to get out of here where the "feel good" crowd gets away with doing as they please even when it makes no sense. Pandering to whiny minority has driven me out. My family tree set it's roots here in 1908...but done now.

[hiball3985]

No cars with any of the electronic crap, no cell phone, no GPS, other then the home computer I'm off the grid  Only use PayPal for online purchases everything else is done with cash..

[djfordmanjack]

Right on , Jim !
IMHO it's always better to keep things simple.

[petew]

I have about 14 more months of dealing with the leftist liberal garbage around WA state...them I'll be in the more common sense part of the country. Can't wait to get out of here where the "feel good" crowd gets away with doing as they please even when it makes no sense. Pandering to whiny minority has driven me out. My family tree set it's roots here in 1908...but done now.

After 55 years I (we) left Connecticut and moved to Alamance County North Carolina , it was a breath of fresh air.

[RICH MUISE]

Didn't take me that long, lol. At 19, I moved my wife and newborn to California from Mass. and never looked back. There are some great folks in New England, but overall,  attitudes and bureaucracy are tough to deal with.  Of course, it took another 20 years or so to escape the crazyness of California. IMHO, Colorado was the best all around for great attitudes and governmental regulations you can live with. Some of you guys are probably thinking."yeah, and it got a lot better in Colorado after I moved out of there, lol

[mustang6984]

After 55 years I (we) left Connecticut and moved to Alamance County North Carolina , it was a breath of fresh air.

I'm headed to the middle of the country...Missouri...don't want anything to do with either coast...especially hurricanes and such. Been through one of those in my time...and have no interest in re-visiting that "thrill...nope. And the part of Missouri I am going to doesn't suffer the tornado fun and games either...so peace and quiet for me.

[djfordmanjack]

home run & touch down !