RE: Importing non-us models, reply from congress woman

[Joe Elliott <jee@domain.elided>]

At 12:10 AM +0000 10/11/02, alfa-digest wrote:
> Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 12:49:56 +1300
> From: White Anthony <anthony.white@domain.elided>
> Subject: RE: Importing non-us models, reply from congress woman
>
> Only it doesn't.  You're quite free to own any car you want, so long 
> as you meet the appropriate safety and emissions regulations.  The 
> only thing that is limiting you is your desire and (presumably 
> financial) ability to undertake to meet those regulations.

That might be an accurate statement if meeting the requirements meant 
spending a few grand to put your car through a dynamic emissions test 
to prove its cleanliness, and faxing a copy of the Euro NCAP's crash 
test data (seemingly much more comprehensive than what we have in the 
USA).  But that's not it--the actual performance of the car isn't the 
issue, it's the inclusion of specific features--they don't want your 
car to be environmentally-friendly, they want it to be 
environmentally-friendly with their (OBD-II) software.  They don't 
want it to withstand a side impact, they want it to withstand a side 
impact with their intrusion beams.  They don't want the headlights 
provide night-time visibility with minimal glare, they want the 
headlights to provide night-time visibility and minimal glare with 
their bulb and their lens design.  Etc, etc.  I believe that this is 
in fact a repressive limitation of freedom, especially considering 
that minivans, pickup trucks, SUVs, kit cars, and homebuilts don't 
have to meet many of these regulations.  George could even go so far 
as to point out that his nextdoor neighbor can pollute more than the 
rest of the state if his vehicle of choice is a '60s American V8, but 
George can't drive his vehicle of choice because of emissions rules. 
Regulating what manufacturers can sell in volume is great, but 
spending regulatory dollars on individuals that will never have an 
impact on anything is a waste, in my humble opinion.

I guess it's all a matter of priorities--in the USA we can buy 
gasoline for less than $2/gallon and own handguns, but in Europe they 
can drive new Alfas and use naughty words on TV.  I guess I should 
just move to Europe or shut up.

Joe Elliott
'82 GTV6
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