Dangerous writer talking about our cars. Look at this!

[Guest Galaxie63]

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/watchdog/all-5dog0921.6592257sep21,0,4055090.story

I already wrote the paper and pointed out the obvious discrepancies in the story, but I'd encourage everybody to do the same. Thanx, Phil

[Peter Gariepy]

link to article link to article

[1937hd45]

Thanks for the post, you beat me to it, the HAMB website is all over it.

[Bhigdog]

The Morning Call is my local paper. I used to read it every morning at the diner. It was bought out by Sam Zell and the whole format has been dumbed down to appeal to the lowest common denominator. You can write all you want but you have to understand that the paper is a rag and it's doubtful they will even understand your letter if you use "big" words.

I've switched to the Reading Eagle newspaper for my morning fix of murders, rapes, corruption, and crime. And so it goes..........Bob

[Shop Rat]

In W. Va. we do not have to have vehicles with antique plates inspected either. I am honestly more afraid of the POC rattle-trap vehicles that come through here from Ohio where they do not inspect ANY of their vehicles from day one. The ones that pull up behind you and you can hear the brakes riding on the rivets are very scary.

The safety inspection on our everyday vehicles here is a good one. We do not have the emissions testing here.

[Steve Braverman]

While this writer may not be totally correct (I don't know the laws in PA), he may have a good point. In New York everything gets a safety inspection, and anything less than 25 year-old gets an emissions inspection in my part of the state. While I keep my stuff safe, I know not everybody else does. A few years ago on a tour, a guy had a blowout in a brass-era car. After examining the tire, it was determined that it was made prior to WWII! He got an ear full from a few people. Somehow, this escaped the NYS inspector. I think that everything should have at least a safety inspection annually.

I was in VA last year, and I saw the biggest POS Chevette with antique plates. It probably would not have passed any sort of inspection.

[charlier]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Bhigdog</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've switched to the Reading Eagle newspaper for my morning fix of murders, rapes, corruption, and crime. And so it goes..........Bob </div></div>

Bob, I cannot comment about the Morning Call. I can however caution you that when reading the Reading Eagle do not believe everything you read. The Eagle has been my daily paper for 40+ years. Some things they report correctly while other things are not nearly as accurate as they could/should be.

I have read some reports in the Eagle and wondered if the so-called "reporter" was even at the same event that I was.

The lack of accuracy and facts simply blew my mind away. Don't get me wrong, the Eagle does have some good reporters.

I have dealt with the good and not-so-good ones over the years. That is why, when reading the Eagle, I tend to take it with a grain or two of salt. Unfortunately, others in Berks County take it as Gospel which makes for interesting discussions around town.

[Guest Skyking]

What the states should be doing is inspecting the drivers, not the cars.

[Bhigdog]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> when reading the Reading Eagle do not believe everything you read. </div></div>

Roger that, Charlie. I've already picked up a certain slant to the Eagle. It's still better than the Call though which has morphed into a piece of fluff.......Bob

[Bhigdog]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> he may have a good point</div></div>

If, as he quotes, there have been a grand total of 2 accidents involving antiqed plate cars since 1994 (in PA) what exactly would his point be? That there is one accident every 7 years involving an antique? It strikes me as a HUGE waste of resourses trying to fix what ain't broken.......Bob

[rocketraider]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I was in VA last year, and I saw the biggest POS Chevette with antique plates. It probably would not have passed any sort of inspection.</div></div>

Were you by chance in Danville? a licensed inspection station has a POS 1978 Chevette with a push bar on it, used to push non-running vehicles around the lot and LICENSED AS AN ANTIQUE. You would think they of all people would know the requirements on antique license plates.

I turned the plate in to DMV who told me to contact the local PD. They effectively said it wasn't a priority.

Then the local House legislator apparently thought it was a priority and stirred up all kinds of caca in Richmond, "at request of local law enforcement and commissioners of revenue". I still think all he was trying to do was raise revenue.

Back to this article, unfortunately more people than not have the same feeling about old cars- that they're slow, unsafe, inconveniencing <span style="font-weight: bold">them</span>(the <span style="font-style: italic">nerve</span> of that old car driver...)- which is why I never hesitate to blow by some self-righteous ass in a Honda/Volvo/whatever at speeds that my Oldsmobiles were designed for. I can easily keep up with modern traffic, as most 1950s-later cars can.

I'm sure the writer never considered that the vast majority of drivers in their modern plastic are borderline incompetent, which is the real concern about older cars mixing in with modern traffic. Fools that speed 10-15 over what traffic is doing, constantly braking and zipping in and out of traffic openings no sane person would attempt- those are the real concerns about older cars in modern traffic. About any car, actually.

[ex98thdrill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">In New York everything gets a safety inspection, and anything less than 25 year-old gets an emissions inspection in my part of the state</div></div>Yup, never knew anything different. The inspections I can deal with, what I wish New York would do is come up with the one time registration fee for antique cars like Pennsylvania. We pay the same price to register our old iron than what someone else pays to drive 50,000 miles a year. The only deciding factor is the weight of the vehicle.

I put more miles on my motorcycle every year than what we put on all of our old cars combined, yet we pay more to register one old car than what I pay for my Harley.

With all of the road salt that New York puts down on the roads, there isn't a daily driver out there that will make it past 25 years of daily driving. If it did, it would never pass inspection.

[Guest elmo39]

here in New Zealand all vehicles that are to be used on public roads have to be licenced and pass a 6 monthly saftey check if they don't pass the can not be liscenced. it does not matter whether it is a daily driver truck camper ,motor cycle or a antique they all have to pass the saftey check , although ther is a bit of leeway with brass era cars especialy with there lighting although they can be restricked in the hours the can be driven. i have been driving since 1955 when i first got my drivers liscence , and first car at 15 ( the car was a 1930 model A ) and personally i am quite happy to put my cars through the test( which costs $ 30 NZ i think that equates to $US 20.60. at least after the test i know that my car is safe to drive on a public highway , and that any car i meet should be the same

[Bhigdog]

The biggest joke of all is the writer of the article is speaking of Pennsylvania safety inspections. Here in PA the "inspection" stations are not State run but are local gas stations or dealers. With a bit of shopping around it's easy to find the "right" station where the car has to do little more than arrive and leave under it's own power, not dragging it's muffler on the street, to get a sticker....Bob

[Reatta Man]

This article is, at best, very irresponsible journalism.

To bury the premise of the article in the 13th paragraph, and then admit in the 14th paragraph that the premise for the article may not even be true is absurd.

That would be like saying "Thinking of Voting for McCain (or Obama)? Think again; He MAY be a Communist" in the headline and then admitting almost at the end of the article that there is NO evidence either candidate is a Communist!

One more piece of evidence that truth in this country is loosing out to political correctness.

[alsancle]

A vehicle inspection is nothing more than a usage tax.

[Durant Mike]

Here in Florida many years back they did away with inspections, except for South Florida and the Tampa area that has a vehicle emissions inspection test that you must take your modern cars to. The Inspection stations were run by the counties and many people would take their maypop tires off, go through inspection with a used or borrowed set and then put the maypops back on. Also you could go to whatever inspection station you wanted and many knew what ones were easy on brakes, tires etc. If you had a problem and knew that that inspection station was tougher on that particular issue, you'd just go through the one down the county, or wait another day when another employee was on duty. Also many old cars had damage done to their wooden wheels due to the inspectors using a bar to test front end alignment. There were cases of broken spokes. I personally don't believe inspection works. I think the local gas station inspection stations like in West Virgina etc just breed corruption. If you know the guy who owns the station, he'll take care of you. I would venture to say that most antique car owners know their cars and know their car's limitations. I don't think a reasonably smart person is going to drive an antique on these fast past highways that is not safe, and especially to take their family and friends out for a ride. Like Bhigdog said earlier, I bet if statistics were pulled they'd see that very few accidents are caused by "antique" cars.

[Matt Harwood]

From the article:

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It's also not fair.</div></div>Waa waa waa! It's not fair that I have to pay to have my 6000-pound 120-MPH-capable SUV inspected and these guys who drive their cars on weekends in parades and on back roads at slow speeds less than 500 miles a year don't! Waa waa waa!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The reality is, though, after Pennsylvania gives you an antique license plate, the government doesn't monitor your vehicle at all. </div></div> Yes, let's have the government inspecting 1910 Stanley Steamers. "Sir, you ain't got no muffler on this thing." Lord knows what would happen if they inspected, say, an Owen Magnetic or a car with tiller steering. What about the very early cars with smooth, white, unvulcanized tires?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A man wrecked his 1974 motorcycle on Route 309 in South Whitehall Township after blowing a tire. The accident left the driver critically injured and tied up traffic. </div></div> Oh, horrors! A motorcycle accident injured a man and--gasp!--<span style="font-style: italic">traffic was tied up!</span> What an inconsiderate jerk!

And a 1974 motorcycle is hardly an outdated antique liability on the road. Most of the motorcycles Harley Davidson builds today are remarkably similar to the ones they were building in 1974--that's why people love them.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It makes me nervous as a motorist, though, that there are some vehicles out there that aren't required to have their tires checked yearly.</div></div> Sure, because the guy in the clapped-out pickup truck running 80 MPH on the highway next to you has brand new Goodyears instead of a mismatched set of used Pep-Boy tires he got for $15 each.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">By now, I've probably put you antique car owners in a lather.</div></div> Translation: I have an inkling that I'm a moron, but I'm even more timid and self-righteous than I am stupid.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Still, it takes just one mechanical failure in one vehicle at the wrong place and time to hurt others, or at the least inconvenience them by stalling traffic.

</div></div> As if new cars can't have mechanical failures at the wrong place and time. Yeah, I've never seen a new car by the side of the road with the hood open, or with a flat tire blocking one lane of traffic at rush hour. Nobody has flat tires anymore. I've never seen a group of guys pushing a late-model car to the side of the road when it gave up the ghost. No, my 4-year-old Saturn's engine didn't really seize on the highway at 70 MPH, leaving 150-foot-long skidmarks and stranding the car in the center lane at 5:30 PM. And how in the world do tow truck companies stay in business with all these new cars that never break down!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I found only two other reports of antique car accidents in The Morning Call's archives since 1992, with neither mentioning a cause.</div></div> 2 out of 122,000?!? Seriously, that's a crisis? My calculator doesn't even have enough decimal places to display a number that small: 1.6393e-5 (that's 0.0016393%) of the old cars on the road have been involved in accidents over the past <span style="font-style: italic">16 years!</span> I bet more people get hit by lightning while being eaten by a shark than are involved in anything negative with old car on the road. How does this dope find the courage to even leave his house each morning if this is the kind of thing that frightens him enough to write an op-ed about it?

Was the old car even at fault in these accidents, Muschick? Why not put your investigative reporting hat on and do some research? Oh, wait, real investigative reporting is hard. Fearmongering is easy and fun and can be done with a 10-second web search!

Nevertheless, <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">"Attention citizens! Be terrified of that old car! It's a ticking bomb that will kill your children!"</span></span>

What about soccer moms using cell phones and putting on makeup? What about the douchebag I saw the other day reading the newspaper on his steering wheel at 60MPH? What about the kid in the SUV with 20 television sets inside watching "The Price is Right" on his way to lunch? Nope, they're OK because they get their cars inspected. What about their brains?

If you read the follow-up, you get this gem:

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That's what journalists do - we point out inequities that people who are benefiting from don't want exposed. We expect to be insulted for our work. So thank you. Your response proves I did my job.</div></div> What a smug, self-satisfied a**hole. I wonder if he ever hurts his elbow patting himself on the back like that?

Paul Muschick is myopic, fear-mongering moron. I can see how he got the job at a powerhouse publication like "The Morning Call."

[1937hd45]

Well said Matt!

[Peter Gariepy]

whats "maypops"

[Barry Wolk]

They may "pop" if you hit a chuckhole!

[charlier]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Matt Harwood</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

What about soccer moms using cell phones and putting on makeup? What about the douchebag I saw the other day reading the newspaper on his steering wheel at 60MPH? What about the kid in the SUV with 20 television sets inside watching "The Price is Right" on his way to lunch? Nope, they're OK because they get their cars inspected. What about their brains?</div></div>

What about commercial trucks that come from states without safety inspections???

This "journalist" ought to be more concerned about 80,000 lb tractor trailer trucks on the roads with bald tires, bad brakes and a host of other mechanical problems. Vehicles like these can do a LOT more damage and kill a LOT more people every year than antique cars EVER could.

The township I live in conducts periodic (ie monthly) truck inspections. It is fairly common for them to cite 70-100+ trucks for mechanical & safety violations EVERY time they do these inspections. Sometimess they run out of space to park the rigs that fail so badly they cannot be driven away from the inspection.

[Steve Braverman]

My dad was chatting with a cop once at a parade where he was driving his 1910 Sears. The conversation went something like this:

"Where's your inspection sticker?"

"It's on the windshield."

"Where's your windshield?"

"It's at home."

-Blank stare

[ex98thdrill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What about commercial trucks that come from states without safety inspections???</div></div>The railroad is just as bad or worse.

[Guest Skyking]

I bet if half of the people here on this forum inspected most any state vehicle, they'ed flunk.........It's all bull crap!

[Reatta Man]

Matt,

Thanks for remembering to throw the children in there! (sorry, no pun intended) Just remember, (insert tears here) we MUST do this to protect the children!

You've discovered the ugly secret of today's so-called journalism: if you can inject fear into the storyline, it will get published.

NEXT UP ON THE 10:00 NEWS: People with mortgages they can't afford and had no business getting in the first place face loosing their house and HAVING TO RENT AN APARTMENT!

If you think it is bad now, wait 'til November (sweeps month).

[Guest ZondaC12]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Steve Braverman</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My dad was chatting with a cop once at a parade where he was driving his 1910 Sears. The conversation went something like this:

"Where's your inspection sticker?"

"It's on the windshield."

"Where's your windshield?"

"It's at home."

-Blank stare</div></div>

HAHAHA niiiiiiiiice. Now that's funny.

[Dandy Dave]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">"maypops"</div></div> .....haa ha haa. I haven't heard that term in years. We use to use it on the farm all the time when I was a kid. Especially on old tires we used on hay and self unloading silage wagons. Dandy Dave!

[novaman]

Zonda, that’s like the episode I had with a co-worker one day about my Jeep CJ. Went like this:

Co-worker: Hey, it's raining. You better put your windows up.

Me: Why? They already are up.

Co-worker: No they aren't.

Me: Yes they are.

Co-worker: How can they be up? Your doors aren't even on!

Me: The doors are home, in the carport, and the windows ARE UP!!

Returning to your regularly scheduled program.....

[Guest rbl2]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Peter Gariepy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">whats "maypops" </div></div>

Old tires. They may pop now or they may pop later but they will pop

[MarkV]

This guy is full of it, one of those people who think that government has all the answers, anything can go out on any car at any time old or new, and just because something is 'inspected' does not mean it is safe, a tire can blow out w/o warning a master cyl. can go out, brakes can fail, etc. on brand new cars, and dont even get me started on an alternator! I am going to e-mail him tomorrow!

[MarkV]

http://blogs.mcall.com/watchdog/2008/09/car-nuts-going.html

[Bhigdog]

Hey guys. The Morning Call newspaper recently fired a large percentage of it's experianced news reporters to cut costs. They replaced them with relatively inexperianced kids. This article's absurdity speaks for itself. By responding to his ignorance all you are doing is "feeding the troll" and inflating his perceived relevance. He is a lightweight, just ignore him.

[Reatta Man]

Maybe we as classic car owners should ask to be part of the Wall Street bailout?

I mean, after all, the cost of bringing my classic cars up to meet the safety standards of pseudo-journalists like this one could cost me money that I don't have! And isn't that the secret to getting a government bailout these days?

[imported_ktm858]

I disagree with the whole article actually. The part about the motorcycle tire blowing out causing an accident really gets me! Accidents happen every day and I have investigated accidents where vehicles with new tires have failed due to someone running something over, low inflation, and also worn out tires. I really dont think that the reporter checked to see if the tire was old or new. I can say one thing for sure though. I make sure that my antique registered vehicles are just as safe as my everyday vehicles. I can also say that everyone that I know is the same way because it cost less to maintain the car properly then to repair it if it's damaged due to something that could have been replaced.

[Dave@Moon]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">He is a lightweight, just ignore him. </div></div>

I disagree. Ignoring semi-informed lightweights with bullhorns and an audience has brought this country nothing but grief for years now. I think given the proximity to Allentown (<span style="font-style: italic">The Morning Call</span>'s published there for those who don't know), I think an official response from the AACA might be in order.

Personally I've never seen anything of worth in the entire PA inspection program. Those experienced fired reporters were likely some of the news media members who over the years filled page after page of exposes on this moronic program. Rarely in Pittsburgh did a year go by when some news organization or other didn't tart up some POS with deathly flaws and get it inspected all over town,....or do the same thing with a perfect condition car that mysteriously needed exactly the kind of work that each inspection garage they took it to specialized in--no matter what that happened to be.

(<span style="font-style: italic">BTW, in the 1990s the magic number, as it was known, was $400. That's the figure garages would use to pad the bill to get a car to pass inspection that really didn't need anything. Above that the risk of having the owner go elsewhere was too great.

Yes, there actually was a figure used as a standard in the service industry for this. That's how pervasive the corruption of this program has become.</span>)

Worst of all, people like this kid (I looked him up, he's about 30 years old.) come to trust those stupid stickers on the windshield. Here in Ohio people know how to check their own brakes/tires/ball joints/etc. in numbers far greater than in PA. People feel about their daily drivers the way ktm858 feels about his antiques. Some very few don't do their responsibility, and there are occasional tragedies that result. But nobody's giving Mr. Goodwrench and extra C-note (minimum) every year to do things we all should be able to do.

[Bhigdog]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Ignoring semi-informed lightweights with bullhorns and an audience has brought this country nothing but grief</div></div>

In the case of this guy I have to disagree with you. The Morning Call has regressed to a back water rag that is losing reader ship daily. No one would have even noticed what this guy wrote if we hadn't risen to the bait. An "official" response from the AACA would just spread the deception and add gravitas to his position. Mae West once said "There's no such thing as BAD publicity, just spell my name right".

Now, if your quote above was is in reference to Al Gore, Michael Moore et. al. we are finally in agreement on something. 8-)........Bob

[MarkV]

Davemoon: "Worst of all, people like this kid (I looked him up, he's about 30 years old.) come to trust those stupid stickers on the windshield."

Well, it is not that he is a kid it is because he is a Democrat! LOL! But, seriously, it is all a part of the Nanny government that our Democrats out here are pushing. Everyone thinks that you need government to save us and help monitor us...But, what people should realize is that the government is a pathetic body right now, and why anyone would want it to control more, I dont know....

[Guest Bluesky636]

Old Chinese proverb: Never mud wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.

No matter how reasoned a response we my provide, the author will just turn it around to prove that we are the morons. He has already done so.

[Dave@Moon]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">In the case of this guy I have to disagree with you. The Morning Call has regressed to a back water rag that is losing reader ship daily. No one would have even noticed what this guy wrote if we hadn't risen to the bait. An "official" response from the AACA would just spread the deception and add gravitas to his position.</div></div>

That's as may be, but getting swift-boated is still getting swift-boated. Not responding to <span style="text-decoration: underline">that</span> fringe-element crap made it truth to those who wanted to believe it. <span style="text-decoration: underline">This</span> crap will become truth too.

Bear in mind that 20 years ago some manufacturers had begun selling radios with no AM band because AM's listener base had become so small as to be dismissible. Today it's a powerhouse, and largely what's shaping opinion in many parts of the country.

We lost our power in Hurricane Ike for 3+ days and were reduced to listening to Cincinnati's only AM "news" channel for information (<span style="font-style: italic">KYW, they call themselves news but really just another talk-radio station--albeit one with the largest transmitter in the U.S.</span>) on the transistor radio. It was the only radio station that had any news content at all, the rest barely modified their programming at all (<span style="font-style: italic">as nearly all were owned by the Clear Channels Inc. as well and so couldn't/didn't compete</span>). In the middle of listening to a list of school closings with my kids their main drive-time DJ, who has introduced the current President at several events (such is his stature), began spouting about the "coming race war" should Obama win the election.

I'm listening to this spew with my kids, on almost the largest audience radio station here, and at the time with no where else to turn.

<span style="font-style: italic">(What I wouldn't give for a simple 1010 WINS-type news station here.)</span>

Newspapers can progress down the same path. Newswriters often have, even on a National scale. Do not dismiss this kind of "journalism" lightly, no matter where it shows it's ugly head.