Re: Mini Petrol Powered Corvette 'Go-Kart' For Sale (7ft Long) On UK Ebay

"Dean Dark" <ddrake@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>International VIN standard?  Why does any international standard matter?

>>As
>>long as it's recognised by the dealer network of the manufacturer of
that
>>particular car, then that's all that matters.
>
> Well, what some little local shop does is a moot point, seeing as all
> the significant car makers in the world have been using the same basic
> VIN standard for quite a few years now.  It *does* matter because all
> the major car makers are now global companies selling their product in
> that same global marketplace.  Think about the economies of their
> manufacturing scale, and the need to sell the least possible
> variations of product.  That's what drives then, and is why you can
> buy cheap new cars.

I don't believe it's anything to do with economies of any one company's 
manufacturing scale, though I can see that a basic VIN standard would be 
worthwhile from the point of view of computerised record-keeping (i.e.
DVLA 
and other countries' equivalents).  You do realise that a VIN doesn't
record 
every single detail of a car's specification, don't you?  It doesn't
mention 
that it's the minor 1997 facelift with a slightly different dash switch
for 
the heater fan and other similarly im****tant **** like that - it mentions 
the main points like plant where it was made, colour, year of manufacture 
etc etc.

Also, I don't know what the relevance of "some little local shop" is,
unless 
you count all of the Ford/[insert other car manufacturer here] dealers 
across the world collectively as "some little local shop".

> It also matters because national governments need a common baseline
> from which to regulate and legislate.  Why would a modern car company
> want, or need, to spend money adapt to a relatively small individual
> market's idiosyncrasies and peculiar legal requirements?  They don't,
> and they won't for any longer than they have to.

I didn't say they did.  The point I was making, is that a VIN is, in
theory, 
perfectly adequate to get parts from the dealer network of any particular 
car's manufacturer, and that the dealer network for each marque only needs

to recognise VIN plates from their own brand cars.

> Here's another point to ponder.  The fact that Japan drives on the
> left is likely to delay the UK's switch to driving on the right by
> some small number of years.  Just think about that for a little while
> before you move your mouse pointer to the 'reply' button.  There's a
> good debate to be had there, but it may take someone with better than
> your blinkered view to have meaningful input to the discussion.

To be honest, you've been boring me with your wittering on for quite long 
enough, and I've got better things to do than to enter in some other 
long-winded debate.  I go on usenet for a bit of light-hearted banter and 
discussion on stuff that interests me, not to have supremely long-winded 
debates all day and night.  If I wanted that, I'd do that face to face
with 
people IRL, thank very much....

>>> You still need to convince me that
>>> "Mk V Escort" is a more accurate descriptor than "1995 Escort."
>
>>Well, I'd call it a Mk6 myself - for me the Mk5 was the new model around
>>1992, that was fairly well known to be monumentally ****e.  Anyway, 
>>calling
>>something a Mk5 as opposed to a 1995 model is a much better idea simply
>>because it actually related to previous models.  If you call something a

>>Mk5
>>then people know that it's the one after the Mk4 (the previous shape). 
>>1995
>>doesn't neccessarily mean a lot, especially if you consider each
facelift 
>>as
>>a new model.
>
> Whatever.  You're a dinosaur.

[Checks mirror]  ****ing funny looking dinosaur.

-- 
"For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."