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Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:34 am

You guys living somewhere there in Southern hemisphere don't know the feeling of not having chance to drive your beetle. 180 days of darkness, snow, cold, etc. means a looong winter. But now there seems to be some signs of Spring - my green split is breathing fresh air and enjoying sunny days again :-) Life goes on!

Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:34 am

Beautiful car !! Cant wait for summer

Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:54 am

Most of our snow has melted, but we just ended 3 days of biblical rains. A good thing as the salt from the roads has been washed away. As long as it doesn't snow again, we will start our driving season early too.....!

Tue Mar 16, 2010 12:02 pm

Seppo, You were the first in Finland who took split outside of garage! At note new nice running boards with correct rubbers :D

We still have some snow in Finland: http://www.visitfinland.com/fi_FI/web/guest/finland-guide/travel-facts/weather/snow-depth

Tue Mar 16, 2010 12:03 pm

Nice split. I am embarking on a two week straight stretch of driving my VW(bus) as my daily. Heck, I might just sell my Golf after this. :wink: Cant wait for spring and the show/swap season.

Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:25 pm

There is no way I could live that far north. Our driving season is Jan 1 through Dec 31st. :lol:

Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:33 pm

We can blame our ancestors to choose this direction, when they followed their prey and decided to STAY here! This morning situation is still this :shock: :

Mikkeli airport

Recent weather observation: 17 Mar 2010 5:00 local time
Temperature -25.9 °C, humidity 79%, dew point -28.5 °C (4:50), calm, pressure 1013.0 hPa, cloudiness: sky clear, visibility over 20 km.

And in fact, our museum registration for those over 30 years old vehicles allows only 30 days of driving during one year. Yesterday I used one, so 29 left... The good point is - its controlled only by my flexible consience and jealous neighbours. The benefit for such a registration is low insurance, no annual road fees and inspection only every fourth year instead of annual

Wed Mar 17, 2010 2:28 am

Sepi wrote: And in fact, our museum registration for those over 30 years old vehicles allows only 30 days of driving during one year. Yesterday I used one, so 29 left... The good point is - its controlled only by my flexible consience and jealous neighbours. The benefit for such a registration is low insurance, no annual road fees and inspection only every fourth year instead of annual

:shock:
What is the penalty for driving 31 days? Is it heavly enforced? I couldn't imagine having to ration my driving days per year. I realize that different countries have varying rules and regulations but damn that one would really suck.

Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:51 am

There is not a penalty as this is just like an agreement of gentlemen.
Some crooks have a 30 years old clean original inspected MB or Volvo and they use it like a daily driver with a minimal costs comparing normal registration vehicles. :evil:

Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:31 am

Although not as far north I understand "VWinter Blues". Here in North Dakota we have 9 months of winter and three months of bad snowmobiling. It was warm enough to take the 67 out for a spin..unfortunately this early thaw has caused the Red River to raise it's angry head once again and folks are sandbagging the banks to prevent flooding....sort of a annual water fest.

Beautiful car Sepi, 30 days? I would love to drive a car like that just one day.

Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:16 am

ZwitterND wrote: Although not as far north I understand "VWinter Blues". Here in North Dakota we have 9 months of winter and three months of bad snowmobiling. It was warm enough to take the 67 out for a spin..unfortunately this early thaw has caused the Red River to raise it's angry head once again and folks are sandbagging the banks to prevent flooding....sort of a annual water fest.

Beautiful car Sepi, 30 days? I would love to drive a car like that just one day.
As would I. Sepi That is one very nice split. A day's driving it would indeed be something to savor! 8) , Well said Bill. Nice "water Fest" quip. too. As a MN native a familiar phenom.)
Hope the Red River holds its banks and you enjoy a nice season driving your cars. :arrow:
Grant
"In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:18 pm

That's nut's. I live in Illinois and I'm sick of how cold and rainy it is, and it was 60* today. Can't wait to move and get back to over 6 months of t-shirt weather a year. 8)

Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:36 pm

Weather in expensive and crowded California has been balmy. I'm planting sunflowers this week. And I've been driving my '54 ragtop for the past 2 months. BTW Sepi, that's a beautiful car! Enjoy the sun......

Thu Mar 18, 2010 3:27 am

It has rained for about 40 of the last 65 days in the East Bay.... having moved here from Arizona where I am used to maybe.... 5 days of rain, it's been a system shock... but last 4 days. sun and blue skies..... the garage opens up and it's time to drive. :)

Thu Mar 18, 2010 4:02 am

Sepi wrote: And in fact, our museum registration for those over 30 years old vehicles allows only 30 days of driving during one year. Yesterday I used one, so 29 left... The good point is - its controlled only by my flexible consience and jealous neighbours. The benefit for such a registration is low insurance, no annual road fees and inspection only every fourth year instead of annual

Here in Belgium we also have some restrictions for use of our classic cars. All vehicles older then 25 years can be registered as “oldtimer”, they will receive a numberplate starting with an “O”. There’s no 30 days rule as in your country, but some other restrictions: we’re only allowed to make ‘testdrives’ with our classics in a radius of 25km from the location where the car is garaged, and only between sunrise and sunset. These rules do not apply when travelling to an event. In that case we just have to prove that we’re on our way to (or coming back from) an event.

Needless to say, we have a lot of events here in our small country… :wink:

Regards from Flanders, Belgium
Paul

PS: We have a mild 17°C today, so definitely some signs of spring here 8) :D

Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:20 am

as being eastern European... here nothing's good for our oldtimers. cars are still abused and heavily modified. bad roads, stupid people, stupid laws make the cars slowly get into scrapyards.
for example now there is a law that tries to get old cars off the roads. take the old car to scrapyard and receive 1000euro discount for buying a new one. the result: local cars got crushed, prices went up. if you find a beetle for sale the owners say" 1000euro or it gets to the crusher as discount..." and that happens even to a rotted shell with papers..

about laws, i pay more for my split than for a 2010 car. insurance (calculated just by euro pollution classes) road taxes, local taxes.. and when i get to drive my cars i get the "poor man that can't afford a 2004 vw golf /take it to the scrapyard" look... :lol:
if i drive my car somewhere i must not be surprised to find something missing from the car (like emblems :P ) or a scratch in the paint, a foot kick in a fender.. :? kids use my blue beetle's rear bumper (fat chick) as a bench while playing football in the parking lot, and i can't be angry as they have means to make me regret if i do something stupid like kicking treir asses. not to mention i found a kid taking a sun bath onto my bug's roof.. :lol:
the oldtimer status here only allows me to avoid the local taxes (some 20$/year :P) but have no other advantages. and the car must be 100% original or restored ( if it's original paint and has scratches must be repainted, as it does not looks brand new :lol: ). the oldtimer club that issues these oldtimer certificates asks that the car is driven only to events, or a limited nr of km's/year. so, if i'd have one of my cars certified as oldtimer, i'll pay more taxes doing 5000km/year than a 2010 vw polo driving 50.000kms/year as normal vehicle... and that's the reality in eastern european countries that try to be modern like the western euro countries.. :x

spring is here too but i got home from the night shift and went straight to bed.. could not take weather measurements.. :D

Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:42 am

DAMN! That sucks!!

Come live in Holland!
All pre 1960 cars are free of MOT checkups and all cars older then 1985 don't have to pay roadtax!
Insurance? 60 euro...... a year! (85 usd)
That's it! Slam it, narrow it, paint it pu...no: BURPLE!... do what you want!

Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:49 am

i'll move to Holland if you teach me the language! i guess i am now... un Dutch able ? :lol:

but i can do French and English...

Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:45 am

In the state where I live, vintage VWs are fairly inexpensive to run. They are exempt from certain emissions testing, but still require annual inspections ($29). Registration renewals are annual also, $45-$75/yr depending on what kind of plate you have. And collector car insurance is inexpensive also, I think I pay about $210/yr for my '50 for a high "agreed value" coverage.

In theory I can only drive it on weekends or other days "to places of public interest" like shows, cruise nights etc. The agreement I have with the insurance company has no mileage restrictions, but I am not allowed to use it for a "daily driver".

Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:49 am

Nice to see this John, here if i get my split crashed ot totaled i get some 100$ for it TOPS from the insurance company. and if the car is repairable, maybe, just maybe some change to buy cheapest repro parts available.

full insurance is not available here for cheap cars like my split... just because its old. there are some guys with lots of money to fully insure their cars.. but we're talking about old lamborghini or rolls...