For the love of cars, channel 4 8pm- Air cooled content

[dollywobbler]

Why is it illegal to have the proper plates fitted?

 

Not illegal to fit, but it is illegal to supply them.

[cort16]

Did you know Fuzz Townsend was 50? I thought he was in his late 30's. Being a drummer/car restorer must be good for you.

[hairnet]

just watching the aston episode - how FUCKING MUCH??>????????????

 

and thats the find bit

[HMC]

Not illegal to fit, but it is illegal to supply them.

Usually sold as 'show plates' but it seems odd as often many things are assessed differently based on the age of the car- for instance the allowance of black background plates on a pre 73 vehicle, as that was legal at the time. Yet applying the same principal to a post 73 pre 2001 car today for some reason seems to be frowned upon by the legislators.

[saucedoctor]

A classic case of the Civil Service, and those who drafted the legislation, not knowing their arse from a hole in the ground.

[Formula Autos]

Not illegal to fit, but it is illegal to supply them.

Basically, if you've got existing old-style on your car and they're legal for it's age you're OK. New plates are intended to be an update, to current regulations, as and when you need to fit them.

 

Fit a set of 'show plates' though, and who knows when they were made? Hence you can pretty much drive around with them on, and pass MOTs, with no problems if they're period correct. It's the suppliers who have to be a bit crafty, to keep themselves out of trouble.

[Bren]

My wife also likes the show - it must be Phil Glenister.

 

It showed what a capable car the SD1 is - a V8 will still humiliate a lot of modern stuff.

[beko1987]

Well I watched it earlier...

 

I thought Philip Glenister was an ok driver, and did pretty much all the driving on life on Mars, yet said he wasn't a great driver with no experience...

 

The liver run was OK, but I'd rather see them either do 120mph in the rover or just show more of the restoration...

 

Was hoping the old owner got to have a rag about though, was glad he did!

[Clanger]

I have just "borrowed" this (and last week's) episode from the internet.  I still haven't watched it yet, but will do in the next day or two.  Looking forward to it, although pretty much all of these shows cater to the masses and don't get into the real nitty gritty stuff.  Still, it beats the hell out of that fat cocker-ney wanker Bernie Fineman and his mouth breathing Canadian bum chum.

[dollywobbler]

Basically, if you've got existing old-style on your car and they're legal for it's age you're OK. New plates are intended to be an update, to current regulations, as and when you need to fit them.

 

Not true! When the rules changed in 2001, you were no longer legally able to buy 'correct' plates for a pre-2001 car. If you bought new plates, they had to be new font, with the postcode of the place that made them yada yada. Thankfully, the entire country seems to have pretty much rebelled against such stupidity. As far as I know, it's the only time that correct-for-age kit has effectively been outlawed. "No seatbelts in your 1950s classic? That's fine. Old font number plates? BAN HAMMER!"

[Taff]

Not true! When the rules changed in 2001, you were no longer legally able to buy 'correct' plates for a pre-2001 car. If you bought new plates, they had to be new font, with the postcode of the place that made them yada yada. Thankfully, the entire country seems to have pretty much rebelled against such stupidity. As far as I know, it's the only time that correct-for-age kit has effectively been outlawed. "No seatbelts in your 1950s classic? That's fine. Old font number plates? BAN HAMMER!"

 

it's a funny one, isn't it? I have a set of "US-style" number plates on the Galaxie and have yet to get pulled. And now the car is MoT exempt, it's dependent on some copper (probably younger than me) to decide if I have broken that law or not.

[scruff]

I think both are brill! Fuzz is an "old motor" bloke through and through, when he was at PC he was commuting from Shropshire in a V8 250 and later his Dart. 

I really liked the Aston but again the wanky font pressed numberplates offended my inner nerd.

[cort16]

That DBS was a lovely car. It was interesting the auction guy said one had never been done to that standard before, which sounds like it really was a money no object resto. Can you even imagine spending 30k on an engine rebuild?

They looked genuinely shocked when it hit 150k.

[motormatt]

The original liver run is up on YouTube at the mo. I had to change my undies several times throughout.

[warren t claim]

The original liver run is up on YouTube at the mo. I had to change my undies several times throughout.

This is better.

[Taff]

Had your son emailed him?

 

Because that sounds like a bullshit story to me. Even if true, it's a bit of a miserable thing to tell someone.

 

no mate, we were bantering. he was a really nice bloke, our flight was late so we had another beer and talked about motors. I gave it the big "wink wink, when-are-you-doing-my-car-then?" routine and he laughed and came back with that reply.

 

Unless he wasn't joking and I really have ruined it...

[Clanger]

This is better.

Nice vid!

Muppet got lost on the way to Charing Cross! 

 

Best part was through Admiralty Arch and then the wrong way round Trafalgar Square.

[Lord Sterling]

Not seen the episode yo be honest. Will have to catch it up on some sort of computer device. I remember the SD1 when it was advertised on eBay.

[cort16]

Was there any 800 police cars? I'd have thought an 827i hatch was pretty the perfect police car.

[CortinaDave]

Talking of rozzers, Today one decided to hit me with a £100 fine for not wearing my seatbelt as I pulled away from my house.

 

Got a tug doing all of 14mph less than 200 yards from my door and the usual peering at my tyres , checking my MOT, insurance etc

 

Sigh.

[Bren]

Verbal advice is just as good.

[CortinaDave]

I believe they've targets of numbers of tickets they need to hand out each week these days, so its never a quiet word anymore, just straight for the fines book.

[Steviemillar]

Was there any 800 police cars? I'd have thought an 827i hatch was pretty the perfect police car.

Yep, I have been in the back of an 800 saloon F803GSO when tugged for speeding 42 in a 30. The only vivid memory I have if the event was hearing the blue light bar making its "swishing" noise when I was getting my lecture and speeding ticket.

[michael1703]

I thought it was a weak episode, I think after about half hour in to a 1 hour programme we see a freshly painted shell,some blokes working out why there's extra instruments and that's about it.

[billyboy406v6]

I think Phil Glenister is great entertainment, but  Ant,Fuzz and the other cock do my head in !

[cort16]

I find it the other way around.

[michael1703]

The previous series had 15mins of dicking about and 45mins of content but the sd1 episode was the other way around

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Was there any 800 police cars? I'd have thought an 827i hatch was pretty the perfect police car.

The Met. Had loads of 827 hatches in both auto and Manuel flavour. From memory,after the 2600 SD1's with Minilites, they used 2.0 GLS Auto Sierras with 4x4 Cossie vented bonnets as response cars and 827s for traffic cars. So it took 2 cars to replace the mighty SD1.

Nice vid!

Muppet got lost on the way to Charing Cross! 

 

Best part was through Admiralty Arch and then the wrong way round Trafalgar Square.

Yes but if he'd just gone down Piccadilly or even Consttution Hill he wouldn't have needed to drive like a twat against the traffic. Did you notice the XJS with spoiler that they passed at the bottom of Park Lane was in front of them again in The Mall.

[Clanger]

Yes but if he'd just gone down Piccadilly or even Consttution Hill he wouldn't have needed to drive like a twat against the traffic. Did you notice the XJS with spoiler that they passed at the bottom of Park Lane was in front of them again in The Mall.

Well spotted!

 

I was wondering why he didn't take Picadilly, but then I suppose he could've taken Oxford Street and gone down Regent Street too.  I think I was still a dispatch rider about the time this was filmed and I seem to remember that Picadilly was always jammed solid once you got to the one way section.

 

Even though the muppet got lost, and even though his passenger's sole job seemed to be to switch the siren from wail to whoop it was still a cracking vid. 

 

The same person has posted a ride along with the Houston Texas Fire Dept. and you can see the subtle differences in the driving styles/policies - over here they wait for traffic to make space to let them through, whereas UK emergency personnel seem to be able to make their way through the space they create for themselves - if that makes any sense...

 

I really loved hearing him make that Rover V8 stretch its legs, and he seemed to get a little wheel spin from the Rangie in a few places.  Top marks.

 

For contrast to high speed antics check out this crowd - the Met's Special Escort Group.

 

[Largactil]

I might be mistaken, but I could have sworn that 6 cylinder DBS' started at sub-£10k as recently as 15 years ago...(!)

 

I always preferred the V8 (liked the nose better), but they must be well into six figures now - 15 years back , I remember sitting in a V8 Vantage at a local car dealer; it was HUGE, and cost £60k.

 

(Probably worth x3-x4 now).