My Fiat Gasser idea has been shot in the foot

I'm sorry but this is the attitude that scares me the most, I don't need the government protecting me from myself, the less government the better. As for the so called engineers listed in the NSW system, what a complete JOKE, one idiot told me to mig weld Chrome Molly 1 1/2" tubing to 1" mild steel tubing on the misses bike, when I told him you can't do that his responce was , and I quote "Well, I don't know about that kind of stuff, you will have to talk to a metalurgist" So don't try and tell me that these idiots will save my life because the government is there to protect me, I find it difficult to respond to that withought using expluritives.
Charley

 

I dont know who this "Rego" guy is, but he has some pretty tough standards.

Roo,
Let's break the actual figures down and see if your regulations contribute to safer roads and highways.

All of the stats and data I'm about to give you come directly from government web sites, tho I have rounded the numbers to the nearest zero in a couple cases to make the math a little easier.

For Australia:
Population.............................................20,500,000
Avg miles driven per person............................11,000 [converted from Km.]
Number of trafic deaths..................................1,616 [2007]
Trafic deaths per person............................1 in every 12,685
Deaths per miles driven................................1 for every 139,540,000 miles
Avg fuel price per gallon.................................$4.00 [converted to USA]
Fuel cost per death [@ 25 mpg avg.]..............$34,885,000.00

For the United States:
Population..............................................302,000,000
Avg miles driven per person..............................16,000
Number of trafic deaths...................................41,315 [2007]
Trafic deaths per person.............................1 in every 7550
Deaths per miles driven.................................1 for every 116,955,101 miles
Avg fuel price per gallon..................................$2.00
Fuel cost per death [@ 25 mpg avg.]...............$9,356,000.00

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
*The Unites States Government estimates there are aprox. 30,000,000 illegal [un-documented] aliens living in the USA, so let's re-examine those figures based on a populatiuon of 332 million:

Trafic deaths per person.................................1 in every 8035
Deaths per miles driven..................................1 for every 128,385,654

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
*All of the above figures are based on 2007 data. Since the year is not yet completed, 2008 data is not available, however, the in-comming data is pointing towards this year having the lowest trafic death toll in almost 1/2 a century. Experts are atributing it to this summers spike in gas prices that drove the national average over $4.00 a gallon.

So......Hmmmmm......
On it's face value, it appears that we [USA] drive about 50% more miles per person than Australia, and have about a 50% higher death rate per capita than Australia. If the 2008 figures hold true, it may turn out that the USA's roads might be on par, or even safer than Australia's.

And finally, I think Australia's national speed limit is 100kph [62 mph], where as the USA [has no oficial speed limit] but it averages 70 mph, and I'v seen 75 and 80 in some western states.

In a nut-shell, it apears that Australia's roads are marginally safer than those in the USA, but it looks like the safety factor is more closely tied to fuel costs [people driving more economically] than it is to any safety inspections the government imposes on it's citizens. [to collect more tax $'s]

Actually, if you factor in that we Americans drive more miles, and drive them FASTER than the Australians, our roads might already be safer than Australian roads!!!!!!

 

That's what we can look forward to here with the new emphasis on mileage standards in the new presidency. Obama may be smarter than Bush but I have a feeling he is going to step on some personal freedom, and just like Australia it will probably begin with disarming the citizenry.

 

Darryl,
I am not too worried about the overall statistics, I just don't want one of those piece of shit rat rods having a major failure and running into me if we happen to be in the same place.
I am totally into traditional style rods and am not immune to building somewhat radical stuff, as evidenced by the Harley powered front engine street dragster that I built a couple of years back. What I don't like are poor welds, questionable suspension and steering geometry and in general cars that are dangerous to the public at large for whatever reason.
As you noted the Aussie scene is smaller than here in the US but it still amounts to more rods per capita than on this side of the Pacific and as such they are somewhat more visible to the authorities.

Roo

 

When looking at the 'statistics' don't forget to factor in road condition. One of Australia's most important 'highways' is just one lane wide each way and with no centre divider or verges for much of its length, and I don't know if they're still there now, but when i drove it a number of years ago there were a whole series of ONE LANE bridges along it, where traffic going north had to stop and wait until any traffic going south had cleared before continuing!

A lot of our fatal accidents, especially single vehicle ones, are on remote roads, where the driver doses off at the wheel or hits a gravel patch on a bend and loses control.

Any accident involving a 'hotrod', fatal or not, is guaranteed to make the front page of the papers and the evening prime time national TV news.

And I certainly don't want to be on the road anywhere within miles of some of the 'ratrods' I've seen on the internet!

Cheers, Glen.

 

Do as you like but for what it's worth, I have more than one friend who has had trouble getting modified rods and customs tagged and they do this:

Buy two nearly identical vehicles of the same make, model and year...one you leave mostly stock and get it tagged. The other you modify as you wish....tag the stock version, then once you get the tagged one home, you remove the tags, data plates etc from the stock version and mount to your rodded version. If you do get stopped, 95% of police (in the USA that is) will not know the difference and if they do suspect something, you usually get 15-30 days to take your car to the inspection station....where of course the policeman that stopped you does not work...by now you've re-tagged the stock version and ...you know the rest of the story. The fact that the arresting officer and the inspection officer's paths almost never cross makes the ruse works. I'm not saying you SHOULD do this....I'm just saying that I know some people that have done it and it works for them.

Of course, we here in America would be happy to see you emigrate and bring that Gasser with you....The Take-Home Message is " There's Always Another Way".

 

I am from Kansas, thats why it hurts so much now. I grew up stuffing any engine into any frame you could shoehorn it into and register it as an antique.
Charley

 

If you want to build a hot rod, just go out and find an appropriate hotrod body to build it from. Ditto a street machine or a burnout monster. You'll have to accept the fact that Australia has different rules, and for different reasons. Any old timey Aussie rodder will tell you why the rules were set up the way they are.

A 1969 Fiat is hardly what most Aussie rodders would consider hotrod material after all.

Cheers, Glen.

 

British Imperialist tyranny.
"Everywhere the british go they screw up all the fun .
Its because they are just talkers but have little really done."

Everything even their toilets are over complicated and always there is a committee involved. I remember when they started coming to Canada after WWII. They are the master of rules and the authors of nothing. Austrailia like Canada is a bit less anal and the people relatively easy going. These people when they come are like putting cement in hot choclate. Throw the bums out, I say! They are spoiling the fun!

 

Way to go to insult all the Brits on here, you ignorant fucking dipshit.
Have any other racist bullshit you´d like to share?

 

nein, eins ist genug

 

'Eh.

 

Rameses,
OK, Hot-Rod rego is strictly pre 48 build, so why are clubs full of fibreglass Revel kit 32's on chassis that were stamped and welded in the last 2 years? There are plenty of post 48 custom cars getting about on limited or restricted rego.
Its all about perseption. Sure you can buck the system (in this case the DMV) but your unlikely to win. Best is to understand the way they think and then work around it.
You can't register your Topo as a Rod because it doesn't fit their definition. But, you can re-chassis a vehicle and get it approved by a coach builder who will want a few hundred dollars to fit an engineering modification plate.
Or, if you can get your head around it not being registered as a Fiat, build it as a kit or one-off and apply for rego as a Rameses '09 special. You'll need to meet certain safety requirement for "limited production" compliance, like anti-burst door locks and a padded dash, but not ABS and air-bags.
Maybe don't register it as a car at all? Commercial vehicles have much laxer requirements. Back in the 70's, many a T-bucket was fitted with rear truck rims and ballon tyres and registered as a tractor!
Finally the ultimate dodgey, trailer it to Tasmania where the regs are much more relaxed, get a RWC from a friendly country cop or a persuadeable mechanic, then transfer the reg to NSW when you get home.
(OK thats way shonkey and I'm ashamed for evenbringing it up, but its been done before.)