Standing Up For Enthusiats!!

[302 XC]

Originally Posted by Dash_XR

I think it should be made more clearer for owners what is and isn't legal so they can modify accordingly. At the moment you have to trawl through pages and pages of legal jargon just to see what you can and can't do.

I don't expect the police to know this back to front either which actually works more in our favor at the moment anyway.

With the advent of electric medias,like forums , google, access to main road rules and regs,is there really an excuse of "I didnt know " when dropping those SAAS seats in ,or dropping it 1 " of the ground .....
There are so many posters on various forums even after asking certain questions that will reply with ,"Ill do what i want anyway"
Many places are there to help make these modded cars safe and legal,but many uneducated people think these places or people are there for monetary gain
Theres a fella who is on many 4x4 forums im on,he is QLD based ,and maybe he is drumming business or not, but he informs the forums he is on regarding any or all changes comin,or new
He is trying his best,(alteria motive ???) to help educated and make the cars legal,he takes the time to help people make em right
He is the bloke issuing the mod plates ,so he likes em right
The onus first and foremost is the car owners responsibility,wether thats a safe or legal car, wether stock or modded

[MercurySilver]

i had clear tail light covers in a vs ute while running red globes
a copper out our way went past me did a u turn pulled me over and was nice enough to tell me that they are illegal

i wouldnt have a clue what i could do to my car over here (SA)
i dont think the cops do either

[SPArKy_Dave]

That was wrong.

They're not illegal, as VS ute's have the rear reflectors separate from the tail lights.

Some commodore ute's and wagons also had factory tinted tail light lenses,
along with many other model vehicles in varying degree's -

the 1990's Jag XJ6 for instance - black as midnight from factory.

http://www.motorstown.com/imgs/10876...xjs-4.0-2.html

http://www.classicandperformancecar....ing_guide.html


Some early 80's Statesman Devilles
ED Falcon sedans
Some Holden Barina's

Some Toyota Aurions got red tail light lenses, some clear.

Some new Mitsubishi Lancers had Altezza lenses and an exhaust chrome dump pipe dealer fitted, in a bid to attract the younger buyer.


New VE HSV's, 'officially' have only 102mm of ground clearance unladen.
(not accounting for sag or tolerances)

Some mid 2000's Ford Fiesta's, had only 95mm ground clearance at front bumper lip - factory.
etc, etc.

A mate bought a brand new VE SS ute, which the dealer modified, before he even took delivery - exhaust, suspension, wheels.

He got pinged for being too low, and too loud not long after.


The modification line is extremely blurry now, with so many car manufacturer's pushing the boundary's these days.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by Bunyip04

I'm the same mate, i've never been picked up for anything of the like,
but i have a friend (a real person, and a genuine friend) that's picked on all the time in a particular area of town, and i know for a FACT he's not an idiot type that ppl label hoons. E.g, he got told to remove his blue park bulbs after having them in for a month or they'd issue him with a defect notice, i've had mine in for a year, never even had it mentioned, i have blue number plate lights, which i've been informed by the mvr that i could get stung for it, and take it on the chin if i do, which is fair enough. To me it's clearly a personal thing in some cases which is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. If it matters, he has a FG XR6T ute in ego, so it doesn't stand out that much.

I went through this 'blue lights' things with my sons, the law clearly states that all forward facing lights must be white and all rear facing lights red, number plate lights are to be white as well. Check the ADR's

One of my sons bought those windscreen washers that show a blue light and there was nothing they could do as they are not part of the original fitment to the car, e.g. parkers, headlights, etc.

[MercurySilver]

see blue lights all the time over here in the country
i was actually going to get some until i read this

so the way i see it all ebay ads selling these lights should be stating the above from trevor57



(i reckon i only threw those clear vs lenses out in the dump at the start of dec)

[Bunyip04]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

I went through this 'blue lights' things with my sons, the law clearly states that all forward facing lights must be white and all rear facing lights red, number plate lights are to be white as well. Check the ADR's

One of my sons bought those windscreen washers that show a blue light and there was nothing they could do as they are not part of the original fitment to the car, e.g. parkers, headlights, etc.

Yeah, i'm aware of it, but i like the look of it, and i'll happily take it
on the chin and remove them when i'm asked to.

[xxx000]

Originally Posted by SPArKy_Dave

That was wrong.

They're not illegal, as VS ute's have the rear reflectors separate from the tail lights.

Some commodore ute's and wagons also had factory tinted tail light lenses,
along with many other model vehicles in varying degree's -

the 1990's Jag XJ6 for instance - black as midnight from factory.

http://www.motorstown.com/imgs/10876...xjs-4.0-2.html

http://www.classicandperformancecar....ing_guide.html


Some early 80's Statesman Devilles
ED Falcon sedans
Some Holden Barina's

Some Toyota Aurions got red tail light lenses, some clear.

Some new Mitsubishi Lancers had Altezza lenses and an exhaust chrome dump pipe dealer fitted, in a bid to attract the younger buyer.


New VE HSV's, 'officially' have only 102mm of ground clearance unladen.
(not accounting for sag or tolerances)

Some mid 2000's Ford Fiesta's, had only 95mm ground clearance at front bumper lip - factory.
etc, etc.

A mate bought a brand new VE SS ute, which the dealer modified, before he even took delivery - exhaust, suspension, wheels.

He got pinged for being too low, and too loud not long after.

the Jag pics you quoted are overseas versions as sold in the UK

I think you'll find all originally sold here (Aust Comp plated) had complying lenses

also just because a dealer modded a new car that doesn't mean it's automatically legal

[SPArKy_Dave]

Originally Posted by aus880

the Jag pics you quoted are overseas versions as sold in the UK

I think you'll find all originally sold here (Aust Comp plated) had complying lenses

also just because a dealer modded a new car that doesn't mean it's automatically legal

The lenses on the mid 90's Aussie XJS Jag's were the same - black as midnight -

http://www.carsales.com.au/private/d...k&sort=default

http://www.carsales.com.au/private/d...k&sort=default


And yeah, agreed about the dealers,
but because they have the power to automatically register a vehicle, you'd think they'd know the rules.

[XBROO]

Maybe the cops just want youes to do drugs and drink booze, then mod your cars. They seem to target hoons worst then thieves. Look I'm not cop bashing as I got a few mates in the force. But it is easy money when you can pull up a car then issue a ticket, then trying to work out which junky has bash an old women for a couple of bucks. As this stand up for Enthusiasts well, I'll sit this one out. As the main one that are making a racket are the ones doing wrong in the first place. I cruise in my cars quite a bit and I don't get hassled.

[Elks]

This whole conversation is way off track. This is not about police defecting vehicles or enforcing the law. They always will. And if you give them attitude they will be more strict than seems fair. And like everyone they make mistakes and its easy to get stuck in this.

The issue here is with the lawmakers. The politicians, these people have the power to ban modified vehicles altogether, they also have the power to ban vehicles under 500 hp if thats what they want. Within reason they will do what ever they think will get them elected. If the "general public" wants safer roads, and they do.

Clamping down on honing behaviour is a vote winner. Just like general law and order. The harder they push the more votes they win. Well that seems to be the trend.

The work the grunt files are doing is to try and get a counter viewpoint. That car enthusiast are a significant and worthwhile part f the community adding jobs and a pastime not full of booze and drugs. Politicians need to know that the laws, and I'm talking in general are making people unhappy with them. If all they here are the points of the media shock jocks and road safety council types they we will lose the fight, because we didn't fight at all.

I suggested on the Grunt Files facebook page they could organise a national cruise to Parliment House day. Have a few thousand cars arrive at Parliament House in each state. Make a statement, make yourself heard. I noted the risk was some one would burnouts in front of the police or cameras and set the whole thing back. Only a few post later some idiot chimed in with something like " let's rip a big skid. That will show em" Really? I think it would prove them right and we will all be driving Prius' forever.

Think of the work other groups have done. The "I hunt and I vote" stickers. The pressure put on by Bicycle Victoria for bike lanes and they got there.

The car enthusiast scene in this country is massive. 80,000+ members on this site alone. Thousands of workshops, employing thousands of people with tens of thousands of customers sendings a combined millions ( if not billions ) of dollars on restoring, modifying, and enhancing vehicles.

Its a difficult sell, to want the right to be able to put a twin turbo big block in a tube chassied Escort and then say its not about speed.

Society has no issues with a new Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini or even AMG Benz, but modify your falcon to within a fraction of this and your a hoon.

Maybe the Association of motoring clubs needs to have some stand for the senate. They probably won't get in, but in these days of hung parliaments you would become a voice and just imagine the power if you did.

[flappist]

The primary problem with this is that almost all car organisations get overtaken by little hitlers whose prime purpose is revenue and power rather than the original purpose of the organisations, which is always looking after drivers.

RACQ, RACV, NRMA, ANDRA, CAMS, ACU et al. seem to be all about NOT doing this and NOT doing that and BANNING the other while increasing their own size and power.

Look at some of the blatant anti car enthusiast statements in the public media from RACQ/RACV/NRMA "experts" over the last few years.

If an organisation was formed for this purpose there must be in its constitution provision for all directors to have limited terms and all employees to be on contract for the period of time between elections with no employee eligible for endorsement for at least 5 years after ceasing employment. No office bearer can ever be employed by any other organisation that has ties with this one.

This should prevent the building of factions and powerblocks that have subverted all political groups and the infiltration of supporting groups by fifth columnists.

[noflac52]

Alan Hay is a patron of the ACMC and is also standing for election to the senate on a motorist platform. He is a member of the National party. Vote for him.