Re: Off & Near

[jonathan coates <alfa@domain.elided>]

In message , Will Owen <nashwill@domain.elided> writes
>John wrote:
>"...The other part of the story is that the export
>models were marked "Offside Undo", as distinct from
>the home-market "Nearside Undo", and the common
>presence of both Nearside and Offside hubcaps on the
>same car suggested that British assembly-lime workers
>were just as haphazard (or inebriated) as other
>nationalities."
>
>Then Len wrote
>
>"Well, I learn something new every day. Having spent
>(misspent?) much of my youth around British cars, I
>had always thought that "nearside" and "offside" had
>something to do with driver's or passenger's sides of
>the car..."
>
>Okay - neither of you misspent enough time around'em.
>Offside is the left side of a horse - the side from
>which you dismount - and nearside is, of course, the
>right, or the side you park near the wall or hitching
>post. The knockoff caps on the right side of the car
>would say "Nearside Undo," and those on the left would
>say "Offside Undo," if the threads were differently
>handed on each side (like the lug nuts on older 105
>Alfas; note Alfa content). If not, then caps on both
>sides would undo towards the offside in accordance
>with the generally universal rule of "Lefty Loosey,
>Righty Tighty."
>
>Is all of this goofy enough for you? Shall we get back
>to flapper valves now?
This mixture has possibly come about because the original near side is
the left, except for most foreigners who drive on the right.
The UK car maker would therefore stock RH thread nuts marked offside for
the domestic market and nearside for foreign markets.
When these things need to be replaced the replacements could be the
correct thread hand, but marked wrong, if you see what I mean.
- -- 
jonathan coates

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