1912Staver

The MGA and the Healey are almost certainly worth quite a bit more in the UK. Still a steady stream of them leaving North America destined for the UK or Western Europe. It is very easy to convert the MGA to RHD. MGA's are still reasonably cheap in North America. Healey's can be expensive but mainly the BJ 7 / BJ 8's. So if selling it would no doubt pay to keep them on your side of the Atlantic. The Buick is a popular car anywhere. But once again it is possibly more valuable on your side. It would be worth advertising world wide on that one. They are a bit hard on gas for Europe / UK. However there is always a strong market for 1950's convertibles. Greg in Canada

As always the main determination will be price and condition. After shipping ETC. are factored in is your price going to be low enough to be competitive on the US market ? As well in this case the availability of similar cars already in the US will have an effect as well. No point shipping a 1957 Chevy 210 back to the US, it is no doubt worth more in the UK. What are the cars ? Are they uncommon and desirable enough that a North American buyer might be willing to overcome the location problem ? I am actually contemplating importing a car from the UK at this time myself. I have been looking for a particular make and model for over 2 years, twice in the past 8 months I have found an example only to have a buyer from the UK beat me to closing a deal. A limited production English car from the early 1980's , about 2/3 of production ended up in North America. Ironically I have now found one in the UK that I can afford and am putting a deal together as long as the shipping can be arranged at a reasonable price. Greg in Canada

It's probably just me however Victoria's just never struck me as an appealing body style. Normal roadster or a 5 pas . touring would be my choice. Hard not to like a DuPont however regardless of body. What did the HCS sell for ? Even if Vertical 8's are out of reach for me , an "undesirable " Stutz would sure be nice some day. Greg in Canada

Dooms day Comet's !! that really was the olde days. Rouge asteroids are all the rage these days. But don't worry Musk has a plan for those. SpaceX is more than just a transport contractor, it is potentially the savior of us all. Buy stock soon and often ! Greg

I am definitely not looking for "alternate facts". I must admit I have not made myself familiar with the IEA numbers. I will have to do that. However I definitely don't want to see a IC ban unless there is clear evidence that alternate forms of transport are substantially better for the planet . Entire life cycle/ all aspects. Minimum of 10% to make the exercise worthwhile. Unfortunately this is an area where there are conflicting conclusions . And not just from those who some might call climate denier's. As far as I can see the environmental advantage of electric cars is far from a proven fact. Greg in Canada

My take is that climate change is happening . The various cause's are being identified however each sources overall contribution to the problem is still somewhat unproven / undefined. And I agree completely with Auburnseeker's warning that a legislative "ban " of IC engines could someday be a reality regardless of other modes of transport being any less of a climate change device or not. For old car hobbyist's this is a real concern. I have attempted to illustrate that various cultural green house gas emissions comes from many sources, not just IC Automobiles. And that IC Automobiles may present a easy target for well intended but uninformed policy makers. Once again the threat to the old car hobby cannot in my estimation be overstated. Greg in Canada

A big source of co2 emissions is the manufacturing of concrete. Hard to see what material could replace it in a greener world. Greg in Canada

If the entire world's population was close to a Western mindset then we might have a chance. When I was a young lad in the early 1970's my generation became somewhat environmentally aware. Each Western generation since has expanded to one degree or another on that foundation. The young Western people today are generally quite environmentally aware. But we in the West are a relative minority compared to the earths overall population. The members of the other cultures on this planet are quite numerous, much more in fact than the population of the Western world. And they range dramatically in degree of environmental awareness and action. Overall I am afraid it looks like a definite uphill struggle. At the end of the day it simply comes down to numbers. Population numbers. Some might say there are just too many of us on a over burdened planet. Greg

In general a decent post secondary education gives you the basic building blocks and tools you will use to combine with experience to arrive at a point where your peers will agree that you actually do know what you are doing. In my experience this usually occurs after you practice your craft for a decade or so , assuming you are a reasonably capable learner. Some as Auburnseeker points out never get there , some exceptional cases might reduce the practice stage to as little as 5 years but these people are quite rare. As I mentioned earlier the instant successes are usually more circumstance than subject mastery. Greg

And from what I have seen those problems are gigantic to say the least. And then all the other Asian country's with exploding populations, at least China has some money to work with. Pakistan and Bangladesh have huge environment problems and little money. Greg

A classic case of the right place at the right time. No special "super intelligence " just a decent idea at a very opportune time. Many of us would be in a similar place if the stars and planets aligned at the right time in our otherwise miserable lives .Lots of us actually do know what we are doing, just not with all the other external factors working in our favor. Some of us are destined to simply be cogs in a very big wheel. Greg

And if you bunker in a Asian backwater port anything goes. Toxic waste, and Buda knows what all else. To call it bunker C is a definite complement . Greg

On the 18,000 GT Ro-Ro ferry I recently retired from we also used roughly 3/4 of a barrel of fuel per mile . At 18000 Gt we were quite a bit smaller than a typical box ship. And we spent aprox 3 hours a day pushing into the dock while loading and unloading so raising the fuel burned if calculated on a bbl. / mile basis. We have been burning normal low sulfur highway diesel for several years. However just after my retirement the ship was converted to run on dual fuel, diesel pilot and maneuvering, LNG while underway. I don't know the fuel consumption of the new arrangement. That still added up to a 50,000 litre load of fuel , 5 nights a week. That's a lot of emissions however you slice it. Scrubbers are still a long way off as a retrofit on most existing vessels. And the existing world wide fleet of heavy fuel ships puts a tremendous quantity of exhaust emissions up the stack. Scrubbers would definitely help, however as retrofits they are quite problematic. If nothing else due to their size, not much room in the uptakes of many ships. And they require some maintenance once installed. Many third world ships suffer from lack of qualified engineers and maintenance personnel as it is , just one more system to neglect. World wide the emissions from ships is quite staggering. The future outlook is improving due to newer regulations as you state, however it will be quite a few years at the soonest before a significant number of the existing fleet is retired and "greener" replacements take their place. 2020 is just the projected end of the data gathering stage. The date for full implementation is much further away. Much of the deep sea fleet is on shaky ground financially and emission reduction equipment just adds another cost to an already troubled industry. I know in many parts of the world a 20-25 year old ship is still considered to be a commercially viable proposition so it will be some time before all of todays ships are withdrawn from service. Even with low sulfur fuel and scrubbers ships are far from "clean" Greg

The performance potential of electric's is not in question by many of us. Much more important in my opinion is if they are really better for the environment than non- electric vehicles. And if so how large is the margin ? Enough to justify a substantial change in peoples lives? Slightly off topic but still pertinent is the question of recreations like the ever popular Cruise Ship industry. These things are floating Climate Change factory's. I know they plug in to shore power when berthed in ports that have the plug in facility's but most of the time are consuming many tons of Diesel fuel each day, each ship. How can people expect us vintage car people to stop spoiling the planet if recreations like this are a growing industry ? They accomplish nothing, transport no one anywhere. Greg

Like I said before , I try to keep my life simple. I spent 1/2 my career keeping an aging {built 1992, many upgrades along the way} , heavily automated and electronically monitored and controlled ship sailing. After many 3 or 4 in the morning sessions of trying to figure out why the *&%$ thing wouldn't work I have simply had enough of that sort of "advanced technology". Todays treasure is often tomorrows trash , especially where electronics are concerned. As long as someone else is paying for it why not ? {the taxpayer usually} But vehicles are something that comes straight out of my pocket. Different set of priority's. Also this is a "vintage vehicle " forum, how many on here do you think are really fans of the latest "new tech" ? Greg

Actually the only thing I am trying to show is that in the world of alternative vehicles; I see electrics as simply alternative vehicles as no one seems to be able to show they are superior environmentally or cheaper to use, that there is a vast range of options out there. End of I.C. 's from me. If you don't already know about vintage Lotus products and other "pared down to the essentials" vehicles and all of their charm, you probably won't benefit from this exposure. Greg

As I have yet to see the point of an electric vehicle , or seen the point demonstrated on this forum up to now at least , no. Greg

Longer video, wider smile! Greg

I don't know; I drove my MGA , admittedly a small step up in complexity from a 7 as a daily driver for 10 years. Over 200, 000. miles of use. Had a pretty serious crash when a cell phone distracted driver pulled a Lh. turn right in front of me, a 30 MPH or so front impact. Both the MGA and myself survived although the insurance CO. wanted to write off the MG. I worked at a restoration shop at the time and repaired it myself on a fixed price contract. Once again a disclaimer , a disposable Toyota was substituted each year for the 3 worst months of winter around here. More to save my MG from salt as much as anything else. I have owned it for 40 years at this point and would like another 20 at least before I turn it over to its next keeper. Do any of you think Tesla's will have that sort of appeal? No top up for all that 10 years, just the flat tonneau for parking. Warm and dry is often overrated. You can buy a brand new 7 { Caterham} but yes they are more complicated than the superior original version. Or you can buy a kit that is as simple as the factory Series 1 , but you have to put it together yourself. Or scratch build it yourself, 2 books with full plan's and builders group's on the web around the world. What other car is still being avidly built 60 years after its introduction ? I always wanted to move "up" to a factory Lotus 7 from the MGA, however the word got out about their all round excellence and the prices shot up far beyond my reach. I have had to make do with 2 different home built knock off's over the year's. The first one was sold on to one of the local vintage racing guy's years ago, it was built in the early 1960's so vintage legal. The second one I still have, built in the later 1980's {not by me , builder now deceased] as a pure track car. Can you have this much fun in a Prius e ? Greg

So as I see it the practicality angle is on its way to being solved or at least improved. And will probably get better in this regard over the next decade. At least as long as you live somewhere warmish and don't leave your immediate area much. Or live in a very sparsely populated area. And assuming you are willing to accept something as complicated electronically as say a Tesla as a daily driver. Disclaimer, I personally like vehicles as simple possible. My ideal vehicle is a series 1 Lotus 7. The simplicity of a Model T Ford in a package that has road manners like nothing else. What about the other two questions ? a} are electrics ; whole picture considered , better for the planet than IC ? b} is a typical electric cheaper in overall cost to own and operate than an IC vehicle ? Greg Ideal vehicle below, not much room for a battery pack.

Now that is interesting ! Here in often gray Raincouver B.C. things might take a bit longer to reach the break even point. But long term it definitely would be promising. Greg

I am sure there are people who would take on this truck. Big question is are there any close enough to make it a practical proposition. Texas is a long way away from many forum members. Greg in Canada, ….. 2000 miles away, give or take

Any idea of what percentage of the required power is supplied by the cells ? Practical innovation or window dressing ? Greg

Interesting video statement # 2, we have to sell this concept based on performance. I probably got the quote wrong, however that is the gist of Mr. Porsche converters message. Where is the energy to provide all this thrilling performance coming from ? If self owned solar cells then I don't see a big problem. If plugging in to the grid then not so environmentally friendly. I hope no real 356 Speedsters were harmed in this effort. Intermeccanica ? Personal prejudice, I don't like rear engine {motor} cars at all. Use a 550 replica as a starting point and I could probably be won over. Greg

An interesting statement by the gent doing the Porsche conversion in the video. " you can charge it on solar " . Is this a practical charging method ? How long would this take ? Assuming a solar cell that a less than millionaire's can afford, say an all up cost similar to the cost of the same sort of energy provided by gasoline. Would it take say 200 years of use to amortise the cost of the solar cell ? Greg