Hi,
New Zealand probably isn't too bad an option. We don't seem to be getting
any of the police state stuff happening and not too much legislation
interfering with things. Car clubs are strong here and Triumphs (esp 2000
& 2500 saloons) are still fairly common daily drivers.
If you want to see what New Zealand looks like, go & see the Lord of the
Rings movies. Everything was shot in New Zealand, some of it only a few
minutes from where I live.
Downsides would be:
New Zealand dollar is worth about 57 cents US. Once you put freight on as
well, parts are expensive.
Top income tax rate is 39% and you don't have to have a very large income
to hit that. We also pay a standard 12.5% 'Goods & Services Tax' on
virtually everything.
Petrol is slightly over $1 per litre (that's NZ $ - so say 60 cents US).
Better than UK I think but more expensive than the US. However it's all
unleaded. I use a lead substitute with each fill.
Cars have to have a 'Warrant of Fitness' check done every 6 months. These
have recently been getting much tougher - for example, one of my Triumphs
has holes in the seats to mount headrests although it had never had them.
Instead it had plastic blanking plugs over the holes. One of those plugs
was missing so the car failed on the grounds that an open hole indicated a
possible missing headrest. Basically, if your car had it new, it must have
it now & it must work.
Regards,
David Robertson
1961 Thunderbird
1978 Triumph 2500S
1974 Triumph Spitfire
<<< Life is too short to drive boring cars >>>
http://www.robertson.org.nz/David1.htm
owner-triumphs@autox.team.net wrote on 10/06/2003 00:34:59:
> Dear All,
>
> I have just watched the lunchtime news from the BBC. In addition to
> the existing tax on owning a car, and the huge tax on petrol, and the
> tax on driving into London, central government is now considering a
> proposal to fit every vehicle in UK with a bug that can be tracked by
> satellite, to enable them to tax all road use by the mile. (The same
> news bulletin included a piece on a proposal to tax fatty foods at
> 17.5%, for the good of our health.)
>
> This country has gone completely batty. Is there anywhere in the world
> where the ordinary pleasures of life - driving a car, smoking a
> cigarette, drinking the odd glass of wine, or eating a packet of crisps
> - are not seen as viciously anti-social behaviour, and are not subject
> to ridiculous legislation or swingeing taxation? I am informed by
> American friends that the US is rapidly turning into a police state in
> the aftermath of 9/11. Continental Europe is disappearing up its own
> digestive tract as far as intrusive legislation is concerned. What
> about Australia? New Zealand? Anywhere else? I've got to get out
> before it is too late...
>
> ATB
> --
> Mike
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