Back on the road again

[steve.thomas]

My Plus 2 passed the French Controle Technique (MOT equivalent) this week, so I'm back on the road after a brief lay up to replace all the suspension bushes and rubber mounts on gearbox and diff, and fit new tyres. I was I a little apprehensive as the test has been significantly tightened up recently and I have heard tales of cars failing for minor issues. The only slight problem I had was the emissions level, where the tester asked me if I knew how to adjust the carbs. I answered yes, expecting him to pass me with an advisory, but instead he passed me a screwdriver and said 'go on then'. Weakening the mixture on each carb allowed us to reach the right level and it passed. It's actually a bit too lean now as there is a very slight popping on the overrun, so I'm gradually going richer until I can just eliminate it.

In France the Controle Technique is valid for 5 years for classic cars, so I'm good until 2024!

Steve.

[nmauduit]

Bonjour,

glad to read you got an understanding technician...

beautiful car - and interesting color.

keep it on the road !

[el-saturn]

steve - congrats and lovely car. here we get 6 years plus a year, due to not enough workers sandy, next doors

[stugilmour]

Congratulations Steve. Hopefully getting towards spring in your area. That is a wonderful looking Plus 2. The colour reminds me of a BMW Bronzit.

Stu

[Frogelan]

Looks very good Steve.

I'll now give an "senior anorak update" for those who are really fascinated...

With regard to the Contr?le Technique, the 5 year period applies to cars which have been registered as voitures de collection which is a type of registration which is French specific. It is perfectly possible to have a sixties Elan with a normal registration...

The new European legislation (applicable in France since May 2018) takes the checks up to 610 different items which are broken down into "minor" (get told off), "major" (2 months to rectify)) and "critical" (no driving - fetch a trailer) and quite a few are non applicable to older cars.

With respect to petrol engined cars there are no emission tests for cars built before September 1972. Other checks on safety gismos like seat belts are only applicable if you car was built after the date of application of seat belts (which varies across EU28) or if you have had the strange idea of fitting them at the time of the test...

[69S4]

I'll now give an "senior anorak update" for those who are really fascinated...

With regard to the Contr?le Technique, the 5 year period applies to cars which have been registered as voitures de collection which is a type of registration which is French specific. It is perfectly possible to have a sixties Elan with a normal registration...

Does the voitures de collection classification result in use restrictions? I seem to vaguely remember there being some talk a while back that if you went down that route you were only able to use the car in your department plus a few neighbouring ones. Doesn't really affect me as my stuff is UK registered but if we were to start spending more time in France ...

[nmauduit]

Does the voitures de collection classification result in use restrictions? I seem to vaguely remember there being some talk a while back that if you went down that route you were only able to use the car in your department plus a few neighbouring ones. Doesn't really affect me as my stuff is UK registered but if we were to start spending more time in France ...

Don't take my opinion as baring probing value, I'm not a lawyer, but my current thinking is that

- foreign registered car would not be subject to any limitation (unless say imposed all over Europe by the EC: not for tomorrow), so a German veteran registered car is like a modern car on french roads
- former range limitations have been voided quite a few years ago (no longer needed to have a driving voucher per department not touching yours)
- one limitation remains , that is the car should be reserved to personnal use - this may be interpreted differently, but it already means that commercial use of a "vehicule de collection" is not permitted (which includes renting said vehicle)

then there is always the risk of being singled out as an "old, unsafe, polluting" vehicle category, which obviously exposes one to the whim of the next politician willing to show proof of action with a nearing election, no matter how absurd or irrationnal...