Saw some friends over the weekend and immediately noticed his new (second hand) van had my initials on his number plate. That'd be nice for my car I thought.

I'm sure he'd give it to me for nothing so long as I covered any costs for him (and bought him alcohol) but I have no idea what those costs would be.

Can anyone advise on the costs involved? Also, is it lots of hassle for us (changing insurance, tax disc etc.)?

Thanks in advance. Read more

In my time, I have bought two such gauges but found them lacking in their ability in being able to seal quickly and accurately with the Schrader valve.
The problem seems to be that the sealing 'rubber' material in the gauge is too hard and not resilient enough to form an immediated seal without letting out unnecessary tyre air thus having to often input more air than should have been necessary.
I have bought a pistol grip-shaped one and a De Luxe one, both from Halfords but I was wondering if anyone knew of something more reliable - would like one with a digital readout?
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I have just bought anS60 D5 SE 54 plate with 47k with afull dealer history. Can someone tell me when i should change the timing belt?

Hmmm! You've been a member since Jan 2008. I suppose it's asking too much for you to have spotted the 3 separate requests to include the year and engine in the subject header in that short amount of time? Read more

Has anyone heard of a proposal to start a new production of the Cassic Lambretta Scooter in the USA please?

Understand that this is called the L5 and is on its second prototype at this time. It is suggested that this model will have a 250cc four stroke engine.

Any available information/confirmation would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
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I spent a few days in Hongkong at a family reunion earlier this month, staying in a beach front hotel on Lantau Island.

Really enjoyed just piling into the back of those Toyota Crown Taxis (not driving for once) that are running on LPG.
There`s a small mountain to climb between the airport and hotel, near the ferry terminal at the other side of the island and the screaming max revs in second gear (obviously the norm) made me wonder how the engine survived one trip, when it had been doing this route for years.

Every morning we caught the slow or fast ferry to Hongkong Island and the Star ferries to Kowloon.
I can report that the (Christmas present) Casio Pathfinder PRG 80 watch tinyurl.com/2sjztf was able to display the Easterly direction (of the ferry) and also the barometric pressure, that remained relatively stable during our stay.

Pity about that stable barometer and the gentle breeze from the North, as despite efforts to decrease pollution in Hongong such as LPG, a petro chemical smog, cloaked all of the places we visited.
Pollution of course from the factories in mainland China and something not seen since a childhood in a coal burning, Lowrie like landscape, personalised by blackened shirt collars and raw sinuses.

I saw some very impressive looking Chinese cars, but due to circumstances was unable to examine them closely, other than they looked superficially first rate, several with cream leather and very well executed paint jobs.

I found a desire for less pollution amongst my local contacts, but also an amusement that the UK (TB mentioned) had been putting forward as allegedly "Taking the lead" on pollution from cars.

So, as we enter the surreal, (Please run the Outer Limits theme tune through your heads)

The camera zooms in.. we are a little way back in time.. a certain politician popularly caricatured with big ears and flashing teeth is seemingly grandstanding on the world stage about the UK taking the lead... Euro4..Euro5..bla bla..

more sound bites...
further back in time.."England Expects"...time moves on..british battle cruisers circle the world and gunships go up foreign rivers, cordite flashing in patriotic `spasm`.

In our 50`s classrooms a red world map.."the sun never sets on the British Empire"...

Then to 2008, the camera zooms out... sitting on the back of an asian elephant (strolling through the tea garden) is certain well worn flea (with `UK`stamped on its er, back) has the above sound bites running through its head, while it tries to reduce its carbon
footprint....

In Conclusion
On return, I`m still appreciating the clean air coming over the pennines from the Atlantic.
so I think its worth the effort locally (UK) and for our typically down wind EU `confederate` states.

Beyond that and the political perspective, just wait for something like a Chinese interpretation of a Jazz coming in for £4,000 and wiping the floor, as seen with British bikes in the 60`s.

What do you think?

Regards
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