Some Automotive Fun...

Richard N said:
Car Thieves Don't Watch This!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1793275369757520252
View: https://x.com/historyinmemes/status/1793275369757520252
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The Opel Corsa of that generation were truly something to see, built for drifting lover teenagers on the cheap:
My most vivid souvenir is when I understood they built the rear wheel passage without any protective liners, leaving exposed to rock projection a frangible piece of plastic acting as a pipe carrying fuel fume back to the tank. When this part became punctured (what would have happened invariably to all of them) and the driver fully filled the tank (scarce event for any broke student), the fuel would poor onto the aft right tire when the car was cornering. I can ensure anybody that this 911 turbo like behavior came as a great surprise!
 
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Graham1973 said:
How to beat the speed camera...not

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TaTJ1egNHk
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In the US, there are ways to get around speed cameras and such that are dubious but legal dodges such as:

The vehicle is registered to a company, corporation, etc.
The vehicle is not registered to the driver
The vehicle is registered to multiple persons.

While there are a few--very few--states that cite the owner, the vast majority have to cite the driver. In all of the above, if the person cited that was on the registration as owner, wasn't that person, they can simply show proof they weren't the driver at the time the ticket was issued.
Now, the issuing authority will ask that you identify the driver, but you are under no legal obligation to do so whatsoever. That's on the issuing authority to do and they don't have the time and resources to go hunt down who was actually driving.

Also, some states require both a front and back license plate while others only require a rear one. For example, California is the former, while Arizona, next door, only requires a rear plate. California speed cameras etc., are set up to only photograph the front of the vehicle getting both the plate and driver in the shot. If you don't have a front plate (legally) the state of California can't cite you because of that lack.

All of that is totally legal if a bit dubious.
 
At night, the dodge is to spray a retro-reflective clear varnish over the top of the license plate(s). Any light will reflect back evenly from the plate, the license number will be invisible. Doesn't necessarily help during the day, though.
 
"At night, the dodge is..."

In UK, IIRC, there was a brief craze for sticking a prismatic film over rear number-plate...

This back-fired when traffic wardens etc realised such interference with number plates was both easily spotted and a 'Stationary' offence.
If vehicle was on public road, eg parked kerb-side, such number-plates 'did not conform', drew hefty ticket...

Same expensive 'gotcha' applied to number-plates with a non-standard font...
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Um, been a while half-a-lifetime but, when I was in South London for a month while my wife had brain surgery, a large group of teens would gather at a traffic-light controlled junction near my B&B and cheer every time the junction camera nailed a speeder or red-runner...

The locals had been 'set against' that camera until several teens were 'bowled over' by a red-running speeder who 'failed to stop'.
They were very lucky to have survived their injuries.
So was the driver, after being traced and convicted...

( It was a rough area: The local girls' soccer team routinely hospitalised opposition, often finished 'won' matches several red-carded players down. I was told this by the awed 'Laundrette Lady' after I extricated and returned sundry stray items from their prior 'Service Wash'... )
 
Nik said:
"At night, the dodge is..."

In UK, IIRC, there was a brief craze for sticking a prismatic film over rear number-plate...

This back-fired when traffic wardens etc realised such interference with number plates was both easily spotted and a 'Stationary' offence.
If vehicle was on public road, eg parked kerb-side, such number-plates 'did not conform', drew hefty ticket...

Same expensive 'gotcha' applied to number-plates with a non-standard font...
--
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Ah, see in the US there's not a general law about that.

Though my personal favorite is still the SQL code injection attack to delete the entire database. Requires a number plate about the width of the bumper to pull off, though.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Ah, see in the US there's not a general law about that.

Though my personal favorite is still the SQL code injection attack to delete the entire database. Requires a number plate about the width of the bumper to pull off, though.
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Actually the craziest story I've heard (Cannot remember the exact source though.) was a case in the UK where a railway employee stole a thermite applicator from his worksite and used it to destroy a speed camera that he thought had taken a picture of his van.

As it turned out the pictures taken by the camera were not stored in the camera and were not destroyed. Worse from his point of view the camera took a series of pictures as it was being destroyed and the man's van was parked with either the front or back licence plate facing the camera.

Guess how long it took for the police to turn up at his front door armed with arrest warrants for speeding, attempt to pervert the course of justice, theft from an employer and discharge of an explosive in a public place...
 
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Graham1973 said:
Actually the craziest story I've heard (Cannot remember the exact source though.) was a case in the UK where a railway employee stole a thermite applicator from his worksite and used it to destroy a speed camera that he thought had taken a picture of his van.

As it turned out the pictures taken by the camera were not stored in the camera and were not destroyed. Worse the camera took a series of pictures as it was being destroyed and the mans van was parked with either the front or back licence plate facing the camera.

Guess how long it took for the police to turn up at his front door armed with arrest warrents for speeding, attempt to pervert the course of justice, theft from an employer and discharge of an explosive in a public place...
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I hadn’t heard that one, but I have seen the photo of the man who decided to spray a Gatso with paint… just as he started (you can see the spray leaving the nozzle) a car went past triggering the camera. Not only was his face visible (he hadn’t bothered wit a mask) but so was his parked car.
They also got the driver of the car that sped past.

SRJ
 
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The Beast and Scamander all polished up for show, among others.

www.classicdriver.com

Plenty of Beauties and even a Beast at this year’s London Concours

With the 2024 event season now in full swing, attention turned to central London, and more specifically the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company, where London Concours brought along a delightful array of machinery, with a few wild cards thrown in too!
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