As I have seen, here's many non US hambers too. So I ask a simple question - how much could you modify cars in your country? Which mods are street-legal which are not? Do you have an organizations that help car enthusiasts with technical problems? If I should answer myself, then here in Estonia, it's almost impossible to modify a car legally. Few years ago it was simpler to register modified car as home built, but then you had to follow modern rules and all your major components should met local reglements. Nowadays because of updated laws, it's almost impossible to build anything that resembles classic rod and register it even as home built. I think it's mostly because hot rodding is not very popular here - I know about 5-6 enthusiasts in our country who are building something in reality. So it's more convinient for authorities just not deal the issue and say no.
Best thing is having anamerican car, possibly registered b4 any modifyin takes place. They will never know the diffrence from stock. Unless its a "shock-style" build.... Domestic customs are more difficult. Here where i live in italy anything is illegal, unles its a bolt on "approved" component, but there are limitations there too. Its basically at your own risk. I have air ride and soon hydros, and that is 100% illegal, infact are tucked away in a hidden compartment..... What do you wanna build anyway?
Its nealy impossible to say Hot Rod and legal in the same sentence...Do you work for the government??
From my experience in talking and corresponding with rodders in Europe it seems most hotrods are illiegal in some if not every way but the local, state or national governments don't seem to be very keen about cracking down on these "scoff-laws". Perhaps an effort could be made by rodders in these countries to petition their representatives in government to make allowances and exceptions for modified cars similar to the SEMA and other car organizations here in the USA.
Hot Rod in the USA means several different things. To Hot Rod is a verb that implies you are speeding or racing or making alot of noise. Hot Rod as a noun means a type of car such as Hi-Boys,T-buckets,chopped top, etc. Hot Rod as an adjective means a description of a car such as " Hot Rod Mercury" Hot Rodding, as in racing, is illegal except at organized events. Building Hot Rods is not illegal, but they have to be "street legal" to drive on public streets. If not, they have to be trailered to Hot Rodding events. Hot Rodding began in the 40s or earlier, it's a tradition or custom that has spread like wildfire. Millions of people love Hot Rods. It's a huge business and it has great entertainment value. Owning a Hot Rod has been the dream of many men and women. That has a lot to do with the laws being more liberal in the USA.
ACE is an organisation looking out for the rodders and fights to keep our kind of cars on the road. Thanks to England being part of the EU they are now trying to bring all countries inline with a set standard to how cars are reconised. It could see any modified classic being checked for originality. Possibly taken off the road as being classed as a new built vehicle (i.e not original) and sent for an SVA test which it probably wouldn't pass either meaning rebuilds or new lifes as race cars. SVA's are a huge test for all new cars built for the road. If this standard was put in place it would mean that any classic/vintage car would have to be stock and possibly have strict mileage restrictions. Used for registered club runs (have to be in a reconised club) and shows but no daily drivers or cruising. If i remember there is some give and take with engine replacement and period speed equipment would be allowed. So even with a 50/60's cruiser owning and driving one is going to get harder. Then like other countries it means the only way you can build a rod is to follow alot of standards and build to an SVA standard. You could take your chances, have a friendly mechanic doing the checking but if the traffic cops stop you one day and start digging the cars going to the pound! Knowing how the goverment like to screw things up and due to all the eco laws coming in etc, how legal any old car, rod or not may be on the road may be an issue. If that day comes, i'm going drag racing to see my days out and just own a race car and camper instead. Enjoy it while you can folks, the fun police will find you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The day my car gets inpunded, and it can happen, im goin straight in the UK or USA, even if i have to swim w/ togheter my dogs to get there. ahah, no really, but if it happens im gonna get the fuck outta here. You guys ion the uK are lucky i tell ya. Only place in the world where a cop throws a thumb up on a 3 wheelin car....
No, of course I don't work for government I just try to find anything, that could be argument when talking about registering modified old car to our local authorities. As the car ('37 Chevy, I made topic about few weeks ago) is not that kind of car that I want to restore 100% nor it is even possible, considering missing engine and drivetrain. Yes, as I understand - hot rodding (I mean modifications, not illegal drag racing) is somewhat illegal (or at least be in gray area) even in States. And historically it has always been. But all these jalopies are registered - and I could imagine that many those finds are registered later than built, missing original titles. Being street legal - I know that rules are different for different states. But I haven't much information about rest of Europe or Australia or New Zealand. I know the strongest argument against modifications here is the fact that there's no one to take responsibility if something happens - industrial car is backed up with safety tests and strength calculations, but that one of a kind car is pretty dark land - nobody will know how it will survive accident or how safe it would be in crash for others.
In America, In the past... Before the creation of the EPA you could license anything as long as it met dot requirements, things like wipers, headlights, seatbelts (later). Environmental rules created emissions regulations adding them to federal manufacturing license rules. The illegality for modifying a vehicle manufactured under this license is from De-certifying the vehicle. It depends heavily on if you are manufacturing your own vehicle from new or used parts for your own use, which is your right... or if you are modifying an existing vehicle manufactured under license. The commerce clause gives the fed the power to regulate the commercial manufacture but it does not give the power to regulate private manufacture for self use. What you do for yourself is not commerce. That being said, as time goes by legal protections binding the government from infringing on rights and exceeding it's lawful powers are eroding and rights are being watered down. This is why it's not so black and white anymore. The fancy Schmancy rules concerning bumper crash ratings, antilock brakes, alternative restraint etc are all requirements against a manufacturer's License and as of yet still do not apply to the home builder. Emission rules however exceed their authority and now do apply the the home builder. The right way to look at it is not that the law say's a person can build his own car... the person is free to do whatever he pleases as long as there is not a rule against it so... it isn't that a single person is PERMITTED to build his own car, that's his right. By the commerce clause and the government having the power to regulate commerce, a manufacturer building not for his own use but for public retail is required to be licensed, and the regulation of the product is under the manufacturer's license and those do not extend to anyone who do not need a manufacturer's license. A big Global difference is rooted in the relationship between people and their governments. For most of history Law has always protected Government and ruled over the people When Americans threw off their king they reclaimed their aboriginal sovereignty. We went through a process of trying different self governments. When we created the government of 1787 we created a constitution to be a writ of law that does not give authority to government. by the 10th amendment it retains all authority in the people but gives government limited power to execute our authority in common through representation. even with democratic principles the core of the new government was republican.. there was a core of liberty that was not open to debate, never to be voted on. In short what we did was we created a new order. One where the Law rules over the government and protects the people. In this system you are free to do anything you want unless it's restricted by law. Our supreme court has ruled that outlawing activities and things so the government can license and regulate them is unlawful. Our constitution is supposed to protect us from illegal laws. In 1913 the federal government went bankrupt and into recievership. Originally (original jurisdiction) the constitution was the official common law charter establishing the government. In the reorganization of the bankruptcy of 1913 federal and state governments were incorporated as corporations no longer under constitutional charter. Right now our nation's Law is floating somewhere in between George Washington and Mussolini. nothing in practice is black and white they really muddied it up. but thankfully it's still in the hands of the states how they want to push the federal agenda with vehicle licensing. some have extreme restrictions, some have almost none. If you can't get something licensed in your own state in some cases you can get it done in another and then import it. That ability is also eroding as states become more dependent on the federal money spigot and federalization of state policy deepens. In the end like in other countries your simply left to the specter of democracy and the will of the masses. When Fabian progressives refer to the constitution as a writ of negative rights it is double-speaking in 1984 right-speak with disdain from office being bound under law in that the government MAY only do as the law specifies and MUST do as the law requires. Our constitution is not a writ of any rights. It does not give us rights , we were born with them. And it does not give government rights, It gives government limited power. Our constitution born of common law, is written to protect our native individual rights by reserving authority in the individual, providing unalienable and equal "protection of law" to all individuals while keeping the government under the "rule of law" subject to the people.
Here in the US the states have accepted the federal dot standards but don't all enforce or apply them the same. We have a bit more popular influence in policy when we go active. if the laws in another country prohibit any home-built mods it's possible the laws there do not recognize individual rights. if this is the case then they are looking at it from the perspective that you, the subject can only do as your allowed... not as you wish. It's pretty hard to change THAT relationship between a government and a people. usually takes generations and a war. In that case since were just talking about one right... the appropriate avenue would be to convince the ministries to allow the behavior. In America we convince our "ministers" were going to do what we want to do and if they don't like it we'll get another representative. As long as what we want is in harmony with the public good and we get support, it flies. I understand that won't fly in a lot of other places best thing y'all can do is to keep promoting the hobby in a positive light like they do here on the HAMB and build that popular support and good will. Regardless the system people still get into public service because they want to do good things, they aren't all just in it for the pay and benefits. You hafta schmooze them.
There are different rules in every state and territory down here. There are National guidelines for construction of rods however some states haven't signed off on them yet. Some states require actual mechanical engineers to sign off and thankfully my state is a little more progressive and requires use of Technical advisers. This saves considerable $$$. We can't be that backward as National guidelines are based on our (Q'ld) guidelines. There are two (2) schemes, full registration and club (Concessional) registration. To have a rod here in Q'ld you need to be a member of Australian Street Rod Federation (ASRF), similar to you National Street rod Association (NSRA), however this is not mandatory in every state. Our guidelines unlike NSRA are mandatory and not left to the discretion of individuals. It sets a high safety standard and keeps a lot of unroadworthy cars off the road.
Here in Okinawa if you want to chop a top forget it, flare some fenders...yeah right! Ya wanna run open headers and go fenderless...holy jesus are you nuts?! If it ain`t stock it ain`t legal. There are no groups to help you out, if you get busted with fake inspection paperwork your toast... My wifer better appreciate what I gave up to move to her homeland.... Viva
Yes, this is the kinda bullshit we have to put up with. Changed steering wheel? you lose your slips as the car is not as it was intended to be. Custom bodywork? lose your slips for altering the car appearence or even inpound if extreme. Adjustable suspension? straight inpound. And so on. This is just some poor excuse for the government not wantin to deal with cars that arent tested to death, and the sad part is that if you ask average Joe he thinks is a good idea, safety and citizen protection over freedom. Fuck that
Bonez have to admit thats pretty harsh. What are the laws with driving old US tin? As i mentioned i'm leaning towards having a late 50/early 60's US car with a V8. Pretty much a stocker with a few inches out the coils and a few bolt ons like a visor and maybe a few mild custom touches. Almost future proofed just incase the laws do change. Would you be able to legally drive something like this where you live?
Here in New Zealand we build too a manual drawn up by hotrodders in agreement with the govt authorities it is a bit limiting and at first I did not think it would work, however now I can see the wisdom of it. Each car is inspected and a code of complyance is issued. Fender exemptions can be applied for and the standard of cars has been raised it is a bit limiting in that the average joe has to follow a set of rules wich makes it harder but not impossible to be innovative and try new things. in most cases you cant join a club without your car being certified. the government supports this and it appears to work reasonably well.
In addition to the certification that RussTee mentioned, cars in general here have to have a twice yearly inspection, called a warrant of fitness. He also mentioned fender exemption. This is an area that really bugs me. To get fender exemption you have to belong to a club affiliated to the NZ Hot Rod Association. OK so far. You then have to attend two sanctioned events a year to get your exemption signed off by an NZHRA appointed person. Now I guess that's OK for most hotrodders, but as a hardcore traditional rodder I find there is not one single event on the NZHRA calender that I want to go to. So I have the choice.... be forced to attend streetrodder events that are a bit of a yawn for me, or run detachable cycle guards that go on for the twice yearly inspection and come off again soon after.
Here in Sweden You can build Your own car from scratch or a Kitcar if You want to,There is an organisation "SFRO" that been around for ca 30 years that inspects the build,first You build the car to a stage where it's a rolling chassie with all the major mechanics in place,and then You take it to your nearest SFRO-inspector who checks it out so it's built in the right way and that all welds etc is of good quality. Then You go back into Your shop and build it to a stage where it's road-worthy with all lights and other stuff in place so it can clear the govermental organisations inspection. But before that You'll have to go back to the SFRO-guy for a final check-up and then he makes a brake-test a noise-test and looks over the car in general,the guys in SFRO are hot rodders and Your friend,there job is to see to that the cars we build is safe and if they approve of your build the states inspector just checks it out according to the rules of road-safety and such stuff,they usually don't argue what is already is aproved by the SFRO-inspector. We are lucky to have this opportunity to build our own cars with the help from SFRO,before these rules was around You could build a car but it was almost impossible to get it on the road legally since You had to do a crash-test before You cuold get it legal,but after the crash-test there was no car left to register since the test destroyd it,so the only way back then was to build 2 cars; destroy 1 and get the other one on the road legally...
And the same goes with the fenders for us as for the guys in New Zealand,yearly inspection=fenders on, after inspection=fenders in a dark corner of the shop until next inspection,we can get a ticket for driving around fender-less but that is not very common,the cops on the street usually don't know what the rules are so they usually just let's it go
Well, american iron is a whole diffrent planet. If the car has plates you are golden, then you can chop it, shave it, lower it....no cop will know the diffrence from stock, but as i said earlier, thats unless its a shock style custom, but im into more traditional things so i will never care. Im into lowriders too, and that is a problem. my set up is well hidden , and cant be seen at all. althou, if i get caught hittin switches im done. You are safe in the UK. i lived in london 8 years and althou you guys bitch a bit about the laws being strict you can do pretty much all you want. every copper will have more important things to do than hassle a car enthusiast in your cuntry, here not. they like hassleing, its all they do. i started this group a few years ago to address this problem, started well, but fell into oblivion as nobody cares really. European Gearhead Aid You are lucky to have Kev Rooney and ACE lookin after the kustaom cars comunity as well. http://www.the-ace.org.uk/ I might very well move back to the UK in not so long.....for reals.
The Jalopy Journal
