[TusharK]

The transport department of Maharashtra has handed over the responsibility to conduct fitness tests of vintage cars to the Western India Automobile Association (WIAA). The transport department in a resolution said that it lacked the knowhow to conduct fitness tests on vintage and classic cars and hence have authorized the WIAA to conduct these tests.



The WIAA will be conducting the tests according to the rules laid down by the government. According to the resolution, the person conducting the assessment must be familiar with the Motor Vehicles Act and at least have a diploma in automobiles or a degree in mechanical engineering with 5 years of experience in repairing cars. He / she must also have a driving experience of 5 years. The test facility must have equipment to conduct pollution checks, engine tuning and testing, brake and speedometer testing and wheel alignment.

Reports suggest that there are over 1,500 vintage and classic cars in the state with nearly 400 in Mumbai alone.

Link to Team-BHP News

[Jeroen]

Interesting development!

In western Europe most countries have some sort of mandatory safety/emission test in place. E.g. the UK has its MOT, the Dutch have their APK.

Whereas the actual requirements do vary a bit country to country. The main principles are very similar.

New cars coming into a European market need to comply with a whole bunch of legal requirements of course. So each new car gets some sort of type approval.

For the first few years, usually there is no mandatory annual testing. The MOT-like testing usually starts after 3-5 years. Depending on car/age/country from there on the mandoary annual testing start. Until the car becomes a classic/vintage car of 30-40 years. The MOT like regime might still apply, but the frequency of the testing becomes less. (E.g. my classic cars only require a bi-annual test). In some countries (E.g. UK) the MOT requirement is lifted completely once a car reaches a certain age (40-50 years old)

Garages are certified to carry out MOTs and authorities check the quality of testing. Here in the Netherlands, we call it APK, it works as follows:

The mechanic carries out the APK. When everything is ok, he will go online to a huge vehicle registration data base, maintained by the authorities. He will pull up your car, by registration and submit his PASS for the APK. He will get an instant approval and you are good to go. Or he will get a notification that the authorities will come and check his test result. Default 8% of the APKs get checked! Garages that do well, will get their check percentage reduced over time.

Again, it differs a bit country to county, but the basic MOT requirements tend to be that the car complies with all safety and emission regulations as per the year it was manufactured.

Here is where the problem starts. The emission is not a big thing. 30-50 years ago the emission requirements were very relaxed and any well maintained classic car will easily pass. Look at my 32 year old Alfa Romeo Spider that recently passed it’s MOT, or APK as we call it.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do...ml#post4398000

Check out the images of the emission analyser. My Spider is showing 0.2 Vol% CO whereas the legal requirement is less than 4%!

The challenge is typically around which parts are allowed to have how much play. Part of the problem is that this sort of stuff was often not regulated in the days the car was manufactured, or very loosely at best.

E.g. on modern cars typically no play, or very little, is allowed in the prop shaft and it’s various couplings. Unless, recently overhauled, most cars over 30 years will always show some play. Cars were designed differently in those days, with much more tolerance for wear and tear. Whereas in a modern car it can be a problem, the same play in a classic car might not.

We have seen cases where MOT inspectors fail vintage car, because they are simply not familiar with older cars and only know modern cars

In order to do fitness testing you need two things:

- Test requirements (i.e. what does the car need to comply with)
- Competent inspector
- Common sense and experience to make up for what is not written down in the requirements

In India, are the test requirements on vintage cars different from modern cars?

Personally I think the requirements they put on the assessor as they call it are not adequate. No matter what, if you are going to test/assess vintage cars you need to have a lot of practical experience working on/with vintage cars. A bit remarkable they did not work that into the requirements.

Jeroen

[KartikeyaL]

The best course of action would have been certain exemption from these tests for all vintage and classic vehicles, I believe UK now has certain exemptions for vintage cars.

I personally do not know how WIAA operates and would they be just to all vintage car owners or just their members ?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by KartikeyaL

The best course of action would have been certain exemption from these tests for all vintage and classic vehicles, I believe UK now has certain exemptions for vintage cars.

?

Yes, in the UK and other European countries there are certain exemptions. It is either the frequency of the test (less frequent) or no test at all. The latter is quite contreversial, even amonst the vintage car community.

Yes, by and large these cars are well maintained, they tend to be driven cautiously and usually don't do much mileage per year either.

One of the challenges is that even within the EU there is no common definition on what makes a car vintage/classic. Every country has it's own definition, usually age, which could be anywhere between 25-50 years across Europe.

My personal thought is that all vehicle on the road need to be tested for safety at least on a regular basis. Vintage cars can be tested a bit less frequent. And of course, as I pointed out before, you need to test them against the original specifications for which you also need a competent and experienced tester.

Jeroen