Most European countries have some kind of mandatory yearly check-up. In the UK
it's called MoT (short for Ministry of Transport), Germany has the TuV, here in
The Netherlands we have something called APK. It is mandatory for all cars over
3 years old.
It is done by specially appointed garages, a fact that has caused some
controversy, as the same garages make their money by doing the repairs if a car
is rejected. In Germany the TUV check-up is done by independent companies for
that reason.
The check is purely safety- en environment related. Condition of the engine is
not taken into account, as long as the exhaust fumes are within limits. Main
points are brakes, lights, steering and suspension. A car that passes an MoT is
not necessarily in good condition, all you can tell is that it is not unsafe to
drive. Your rusty door sills wouldn't be a problem, as long as they don't
undermine the structure (and thus the safety) of the car.
As the Spitfires door sills are a very important part of the cars structure,
rusted sills could definitely mean an MoT failure!
Marc
Ken C wrote:
> I'm sure this has been explained before, but what is 'MOT'. I know it's an
> inspection program, but is it every year ? And from some of the
> descriptions, it is fairly intense. Why would anyone, other than the owner
> be, be concerned with rusty door sills ? Do they, (MOT), go over the entire
> car with a fine-tooth comb ? How worn can something be and still pass ?
> After all, we're talking about 20-30 year old cars.
>
> Just curious,
>
> Ken C
> '72 Spit
>
> >
> > As promised, I am reporting back with the reaction of the MOT people to my
> > gasket-less exhaust. Well, I gave the nuts an extra tighten before I
> bought
> > the car round - they seemed to have loosened a little since I did away
> with
> > the manifold-to-downpipe gasket. Went along for the MOT, no concern over
> the
> > exhaust at all (although I didn't exactly draw their attention to the
> missing
> > gasekt...)
> >
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