DVD3500

We went shopping in Alsace last Friday and realized food was on average 2-3 € cheaper per item (not counting wine which was sometimes half the price) all around. It was so much cheaper that it be worth it to drive there to do the shopping (it's about 80 km) especially when you factor in they had products that you can't get here in Germany.... Only thing that was not cheaper but was roughly the same price was meat but you can't get horse meat in Germany... 😄 My American cousins (that's not a euphemism. i r 'merican) seemed to be constantly in debt until they were pushing 40 and usually only were able to get out when they combined financing with a partner. I have to agree with some of the statements here that they often left for work (often in a gas guzzler), drove to a Starbucks/dunkin' doughnut/McDs got "food", ate out for lunch and were just "too tired" to cook for themselves in the evening. OH yeah, most of them smoked too... They almost always had the latest gadgets and thanks to social media I reckon they must have been spending several hours a day on said devices. The worst case though was the man my aunt married. Up until the mid "noughties" roughly 2006-2008 in the US when you got a credit card bill on the lower third of the last page there would be a sentence in roughly 5 times the font size as the rest: "You owe $20." Regardless of how high the actual bill was. In many cases that wouldn't even cover the interest. He was however steadfastly convinced that paying that 20 $ was all he needed to do. She tried all she could to bring the debt down but when she discovered he had given his card(s) to his grand daughter who was routinely spending 4 figure amounts per month (she even bought a used car with it) she ended up divorcing him because she would have gone bankrupt. The simple principles of home economics and financing seem to elude many people and it always comes to a head when times get tough. I think Germany if you have no house insurance they can foreclose on the house, even if it is paid off. I am not sure if that applies when your insurance is not "adequate" i.e. you live in a flood plain and your house sinks. Personally, in the US my family filed for bankruptcy twice. This scarred me terribly as I almost never want to borrow money. When we bought our house in 2011 I did not sleep for a week even though we had more than enough to cover the payments and all costs. I admit it is a neurotic fear but I sometimes wish I could spread it around so that others might be a wee bit careful with their money...

Blinking with the indicators is also "verboten" I am afraid but I like how small and slim it is!

Mounting on a "roll bar" would be OK. IN fact I believe a BMW had that as standard. The main rules are: Higher than the regular brake lights (can't find any rules about how much higher...) "Centrally" located Must be "mechanically fixed". Mechanically fixed means you can't take it off with bare hands i.e. you must use tools. Some point out that the modern license plate holders really don't meet this requirement as you can pry them open on one side and slide the license plate out but I figure something like a screw would suffice.... I agree that in good weather it is likely less useful but I am going to great pains to make the car useful to all legal drivers in the family which boils down to making things stupidly simple. I don't want someone coming home saying "Dad... I accidentally tore the the rear central brake light off...." 🙂

Found a few people who have tried it.. Looks like the space between filler cap and top/hood is not great and the light would have to be "shallow" or I may have to extend it up 2-3 cm (1 to 1.5 inches to the rest of us) and maybe lean it toward the top/hood to clear it. Would have to make sure the top can be easily raised and lowered though. There are lockable filler caps that appear to have a smaller diameter so that might help as well.

Hi Folks, (For the TLDR folks jump to the IDEA section) Here in Germany LED lights (except certain headlights) are verboten so simply swapping out the brake lights for something brighter is not an option. Adding a 3rd brake light though is legal. I have a Körbler targa hardtop so that is easy. Lots of kits where I can add that in the rear window. What about when I want to go topless? (the car for pete’s sake…) As I near getting my car’s body and chassis painted I started thinking about improving rear visibility as we have had no less than 3 fatal rear-end crashes in the area in the past few weeks. I had toyed with the idea of eliminating part of the chrome trim on the lip of the trunk/boot and replacing it with a thin LED brake light. Problem was the lid is curved so the light would not be very big and not being curved would look a bit half-donkeyed…. I was thinking about the fuel cap, for example a ring that clamps on the fuel cap and then attach a light to it somehow. However the rules here in Deutschland mean you would have to affix it with “tools” so any time the cap needed to be opened or used would be a pain. (I also could not find a way to make it not look like E.T. with a 100° fever…) Then while on a very boring conference call I had a brain wave! IDEA (TLDR=too long didn’t read) The rear of the convertible top/hood is attached to the car by 2 ½” bolts on a strip of metal. I could fashion a thin strip of metal would slide under the mounting frame out the back and using 90° angles I could mount a 3rd brake light between the top/hood and the fuel filler. I t may be slightly obscured by the fuel cap but that’s OK I think as 96.30894% of all drivers are looking down on a Spitfire anyway… This has the advantage that I could fashion a plug inside the car and swap it when I put the hard top on (you are only allowed one central brake light) as well as being total reversible. Any gaps caused by the extra strip of metal could be mitigated with weather stripping. Since that part of the car is not subject to high winds the metal could be very thin, like .2 or .3 mm I reckon. In fact, it probably has to be thin to conform to the lip around the tub where the top/hood is mounted. Whadaya think?

As soon as my car is back in my garage I plan on joining. 🙂

I still find it amazing that the standard EU plug works most countries at all! Turns out every country has some sort of authority, often not government funded, that takes care of things like standardization of plugs etc. For example you can set up a a "balcony solar power plant" that is just some solar panels and an inverter and plug it into any outlet. IN most countries this would work on any outlet and up to 800 Watts peak. Here in Germany they still require a special plug and they only allow 600 Watt.. even though Switzerland, Sweden, and Austria have been doing it for years.... It is all pure berucracy and if it doesn't affect enough people (read. is useful for reelection) they usually do sod all...

Almost all EVs have a pulsing green light when they are charging (pity if you are red/green blind)... most are locked while charging and unlocked once they hit whatever the limit is set by the driver. At work we actually have charging stations that automatically unlock at 12 noon so people can share stalls.

That was written into EU law this year. The fines can be quite high. Before that the charger closest to me was almost always blocked by a BMW (it's almost always a BMW...) hybrid that only had a 12 KW battery and it would sit there all weekend. The charger was a 11 KW charger so even if he slowed the charging to half (a common practice to help battery longevity) it would only take him a little over 2 hours. I experimented with living without home charging for 3 weeks in January. It took a little more planning but was very doable. Slow chargers at places like cinemas and theaters as well as near work were great. Fast or semi-fast at super markets were even better: You could leave the heat on while you shopped and the car was warm when you got back. Car was almost always up to 80% within the 30 or so minutes I was shopping. The infrastructure is really not too terribly hard. Here in Germany things have really taken off. Since getting our Enyaq in Sept 2022 it went from a fast charger every 50 km or so to about every 10 KM. We don't even plan our stops anymore. We take of and at 40% start looking for a charger on the navigation. If there are none free (which has only happened once) we drive to the next one. By the time we all do bio breaks and/or walk the dog the car is 80-100% and we continue. It really is a piece of cake.

We really should meet in a pub some day. I would never ever condemn you for your lifestyle. Dressing style... well that remains until we meet! I have said on another forum: I am not against ICE classic cars or even ICE cars in general. There are use cases that they are required as there are no alternatives. I take issue with legislation that makes driving and running a classic car a problem or nigh on impossible. I am gearing up to jump in with both feet once the German parliament allows dual citizenship so I can feet the Greens on their attempt to make it more difficult to have a tax exempt car or lift bans in congestion zones. If I had the time and money I would travel the world and meet every single owner here and check out their car. Why? Because their cars make them happy and I really like seeing happy people. I am that guy that is giddier about someone enjoying their present more than receiving presents. Higher Powers know, I have relatives on both sides of the Ukraine war. One third of my department is based in Israel and many have children on the front and ALL of them know someone who has been killed or kidnapped. I only take issue with misinformation, or misrepresentation of information. The link you provided is more or less the same source I found. It isn't two plants a day it is more like 2 a week. Still not great but it is also only permission and not a commitment to build. So I agree with that the Chinese are a real problem in this case. My stance is just slightly more nuanced. If I ever make it Scarva I will let you know! Feel free to throw rotten cabbages or accept my offer of a (n Imperial) pint of your choice. 🙂 My wife is German though so she may actually want the cabbage... 😄

That's the same logic the gun lobbies use in the US to justify the ease with which people can obtain a device that has very little uses except for maiming and killing. At least a car has more uses than that...

Source? All I could find is that they are "allowed" to build 2 per week. It doesn't mean they will or do. The same report also said they are building more renewables than any other country. The main motivation seemed to be energy independence from Russia. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/02/1160441919/china-is-building-six-times-more-new-coal-plants-than-other-countries-report-fin https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-new-coal-plants-set-become-costly-second-fiddle-renewables-2023-03-22/ BTW: The Autocar podcast said this morning that Nissan will be putting solid state batteries into their cars for the 2028 model year. Solid state batteries are lighter, more energy dense and even less likely to suffer thermal runaway as their operating bands are are greater. They can also charge faster and take deeper discharges. Oh and they use even less precious metals or can be made from recycled batteries. Other manufacturers are likely to follow suit.

I had heard of these Estates so glad to know their provenance. Even though I never knew him my deepest sympathies to family and friends.

What's wrong with the one on the windshield/windscreen? Having it on the dash would maybe make putting a tonneau cover on more difficult...

I will be putting one on mine... mostly because I actually like the looks of it but also as it should scoop more air into the engine bay.... Also thinking front fog/daytime running lights might look better nestled in there...Jury is still out on that though.

I have heard from some that the optional front spoiler on the 1500 was actually more to scoop air up under the hood/bonnet to improve cooling. A guy in the local club did some tests and claimed it brought temps down by almost 10°C. According to the "Guide to Originality" it was to proved "high speed stability" but I don#t remember hearing too many complain about that on a Spitfire...

I remember when "passive restraints" were first introduced after the seat belt requirement had been introduced several years before. One of the systems was the "motorized mouse" that pulled the shoulder belt forward along the A pillar either moving it out of the way when you exited or going back when you entered. The lap belt still had to be clamped manually. This was all compliant with the rules but the number of broken legs from "submarining" under the front console shot up drastically. For years the argument was an airbag was too difficult/expensive until Chrysler did it with with the first minivan then all of sudden it seemed to work... I remember telling people off for not putting on a lap belt and some of them argued if it was so important why didn't it work automatically?! We recently did a tour in a camper and it was a bit rudimentary. I had gotten very used to the automatic distance cruise control and other things our day-to-day car has. I definitely paid more attention.

Is it original though?

Missing a 4th: Bolt sheers=too much torque

SWMBO and I have been doing "classic" dancing for over a year and a half and one night they asked us to try line dancing. As a fairly proud "Yank" i.e. an American on the winning side of the civil war I seriously had trouble allowing myself to attempt it.

Next you'll tell me you're into Morris dancing... 😄

They made the mistake of drilling a hole through the frame and running cables through it. The rules change from country to country but in general, if you do not modify the chassis/frame and use the original mounts it is more or less the same as say making a Spit6 i.e. engine mod. You usually lose your historic status (again, depending on country) but here in Germany you get free taxes and free entry to emissions restricted zones. I have seen several conversions up close. There is modified Spitfire MKIV about 10 miles from my house. He has been running it since March 2021. They car weighs about the same as before. Weight distribution is about the same. Acceleration is very fast, even though power and torque are de-tuned to mimic the original as close as possible (again, a rule here in Germany). About the only downside is the range, about 100 miles on a good day and the fact that he went for a slower charging system. Part of that was down to the technology at the time but he was also a bit impatient... I talked to the company that did the conversion and they said 22 KW charging is not a problem any more. As to the "Why" I really couldn`t care what someone does to their car as long as it is still safe. I do groan when someone mods a car that is rare or has unique technology. Most Triumphs are none of those (Fury, and other prototypes excepted...) As far as "heart and soul" are concerned: Whether a soul exists is a philosophical question. Your heart beats though because of electrical pulses. So in a way, the car has more of a heart than it did before... Having grown up on muscle cars I am pretty much over the sound of engines. Like steam locomotives, if you really want to hear them there will be places to see and hear them for years to come. I do admit though, when a Porsche 917 snuck up on my and revved its engine to get me to get out of the way the sound of the flat 12 did make my knees weak... Fact is all the guys I know who modded their cars to electric drive between 10,000 to 20,000 (yes ten thousand to twenty thousand) miles a year whereas before they usually barely managed 1000. Other fact is they are still really expensive. I doubt there is a way to get a car converted for less than 10,000 of your favorite currency and that is only if you cannibalize other EVs and do most of the work yourself which means being a mechanic, engineer, and programmer in almost equal measure. I am cursed with having enough knowledge of all of those to REALLY fark things up but not enough to fix it once seriously farked. As far as tinkering these cars: They are still old. He has replaced UJs, diffs, and rear axles/drive shafts so all that remains. I have been following and studying alternative transport for over 10 years. EVs are not perfect and not the solution for everyone. They are however good for most people most of the time and are really the only field that is making any real strides anymore. Combustion engines have long peaked. Hydrogen fuel-cell cannot me improved because of the laws of physics and the infrastructure can`t be built up (there are very useful cases for it but personal transport is not one of them). E-fuels and synthetic fuels are vital for areas where hydrocarbons are best and I am also very active in seeing that this remains an option as there are vehicles such as un-modded cars that need them but again here, for the masses this technology will just not be ready for prime time within 10-15 years at best. When you look back 10 years cars with over 100 mile ranges in electric mode were considered impossible and now you can`t get one with less than 200. Infrastructure is a problem in some countries but here in Germany I have made almost 10 1000mile trips in an EV and the added charging time was almost zero because i have a bladder and I get hungry. Oh and 2 of those trips was towing a hood/bonnet on a trailer. Realistically I would say the added time was 30minutes to an hour at most, if at all. Growing up near Detroit I will verbally "bitch slap" anyone who poo-poos cars in general or car culture. I see them all as works of art (Allegro excepted) and engineering marvels and have as much a right to exist and be maintained as anything else. Once the German CDU party allows dual citizenship (I would have to give up my American to become German under current rules) I am planning on becoming politically active to protect historic cars AND renewable energy and I don`t see that as a contradiction at all...

All round tails though... no MKIV/1500 or MKIII GT6...

Since I have two Spitfires I have two of almost everything. I was thinking about trying to use a standard fuel gauge to show how full a battery is. (I know there are voltmeters etc. it is really just a thought experiment) Anyone have a clue if that would be possible at all...?

By "A" Frame do you mean one where only the front wheels come off the ground? They are legal in Germany BUT only if the car being towed is rod legal as well. The second rubber hits the road it has to be road legal (there are minor exceptions).