Sorry ... not a thumper

[mthee]

Also 

[manxie]

Cool as ..... for sure!!!!! Sadly, decent muscle cars were out of my budget    Maybe one day 

[Moto63]

Yes and doesn't ELVIS look real good with that there blonde hair do......sseeexxxxyyy!!!😜😜🤘

[timbo]

That's the one Matt. A Capri on steroids 

[mthee]

Oh yes, I thought those lines looked familiar. My dad had several from when they first came out.

Michael, you loon! 

[manxie]

Hey Tim, just realised why you`re selling bikes ... maybe you`re after this ... I know I`d like it!! .....

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/oldsmobile-cutlass-s-1971/14723076?campaign=3

[timbo]

  Yes, I had spied that one. But, although I like the idea of owning one, I'll stick to window shopping 
Please keep us up to date on the trials and tribulations of your caddie ownership 

[manxie]

Not a lot to say at the moment Tim. Only driven it off the boat, then 20 miles home. A mate is going over it for me, tweeking a couple of bits and checking it out for the Manx test .... 

[manxie]

Took the car up to the vehicle test centre (1 month waiting list) today after spending a fair few quid on it getting it ready for the test. It has a full UK MOT and failed our test! They are very strict up there but it failed on loads including all four corners needing wheel bearings and an oval tyre!! (it had 60psi in the tyres via the previous owner to disguise the fact ) Plus more faults!!!  How the hell does it have a UK MOT? I`ve heard about dodgy MOT stations in the UK and this was obviously taken to one of them? Nightmare, more money, more time to repair then wait for another appointment  It`s now on Ebay!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cadillac-Eldorado-Biarritz-Custom-Classic-/272682422002?hash=item3f7d238ef2:g:0~sAAOSwDiBZIxaq

[Andy M]

A friend of my wife drives a BMW convertable she can't afford. Presented it for MOT in her work clothes. Came away with a fail and a list of very expensive repairs the test centre was offering to carry out. Took it to another garage wearing scruffy gym kit and told them if it failed she'd be on the bus for months until she could sell it. It passed.

I had a fail on brakes on a bike that would do stoppies. Took that for retest wearing my work clothes (with brake manufacturers logos) and it passed.

Every month I e-mail a page from the DVSA manual to DVSA test stations who employ illiterate idiots to test truck EBS systems.

The MOT is lottery for who has to pay the bribe. Toffee hammers and a torch to find faults on vehicles with stability systems and crash mitigation radar.

Andy

[timbo]

Maybe our government run test centres in NI aren't such a bad thing 

[CrazyFrog]

Yup, MOT is completely worthless. Three of the last four bikes I've bought with a 'new' 12 month MOT have had glaring MOT failure faults, obvious after five minutes with the bikes. These were 2 with loose steering head bearings and one with a blowing exhaust.

OTH, my DR350 had an MOT advisory a few years ago on front wheel bearings. I could detect no play in them myself and on changing them found the existing bearings were absolutely fine, almost new in fact.

[Andy M]

Maybe our government run test centres in NI aren't such a bad thing 

They solve the "Would you like to buy a non-strident horn with your MOT ?" type bribes but not the competancy issues. The US and Australia use automated test lanes. A robot doesn't care how rich you are, if you are wearing a short skirt, if it got its leg over last night etc. Won't happen for years.

Good news is that DVSA is now coming round to black box data. No stored faults in the collision mitigation or ESP is a far better indication its working than having the pit monkey tap something with his hammer to see if it falls off. Only happening on large vehicles as far as I know. The ministry would do better employing fewer, better trained people to look for faults in systems (like the VW emissions thing) and do random checks, but that involves paying off a huge pensions black hole and deciding how they handle genuine faults.

Andy

[manxie]

Maybe our government run test centres in NI aren't such a bad thing 

Yours must be similar to ours Tim.

Any vehicle over three years old which moves to the island are tested. Wagons, buses, taxi`s, ambulances, police cars etc are tested every year but once you put a car or bike through, that`s it...no more testing. But believe me, it HAS to be spot on to pass our test. Bloody UK MOT`s, not worth a wink  Maybe this should be in the Rant Section??

[guest2083]

I use one place for my mot's as I know they know what they're doing, they spotted something that had been missed on two previous mots at the place I used to work at and which admittedly I'd not noticed as well. After that even when I was still working at my old job I took all my bikes to where I go now, as it was closer to where we'd moved to. There are closer places now, but still I'd go there.
My wifes MP3 though has to go somewhere they do trike mot's, it failed the other day with less than 1300 miles on because the rear wheel was wobbly, I'd not thought to check it. It was easily solved with the addition of an extra spacer between the suspension arm and the wheel. BUt you see some places still do it properly.