On Mon, 28 Nov 2016 00:32:12 +0000 (GMT)
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

In article ,
wrote:
On Saturday, 26 November 2016 11:43:15 UTC, Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:
In article
,
tabbypurr wrote:

If you learn a bit more about cars you'll find there are lots
of old cars with no provision for a battery clamp. They tend to
be prized rather than called silly. I have no problem with
having driven some pieces of history, and far from your
assertion that such is a danger, classic cars in fact have a
better safety record on the road than modern ones. It appears
that paradox and its explanation are things you know nothing
about.

Please give an actual example of a production car supplied with no
battery clamp. Should be very easy for you since they are so
common in your experience.

Lada Riva.

I find that even harder to believe - a car made specifically for pot
holed roads. Lead acid batteries don't take kindly to being bashed
around.

Commer walkthrough.

I did say production car.

The first car I owned was a 1954 MG Magnette. Which had a battery
clamp. And all the many I've owned since have a method of
securing the battery too.

But older ones don't, and some post 54 ones don't.

I personally have never seen any car where the battery isn't secured.
All it would need is one accident where the car rolled over and the
battery started a fire to convince even the most stupid maker it was
essential.

But luckily they wouldn't be on the road these days anyway because it
would never pass an MOT.


Back in my student days, so circa. 1970, we bought a Bradford van from
a scrapyard. After massively shimming the very worn kingpins, we took it
a garage which was reputed to be friendly to older vehicles, for its
MOT. One rear light didn't work, so we hit it, and it came on. The
tester put his Tapley brake meter on the passenger seat, then drove
across the forecourt and braked, and the seat folded up and threw his
meter on the floor. He set it up again on the floor, repeated the test,
and as he walked back to the office, we saw battery acid dripping onto
the concrete, as the unsecured battery had shifted as he braked. While
we righted the battery, he wrote out the 'Pass' certificate.
The van was almost lethal to drive, but the engine, a
horizontally-opposed twin, was phenomenal, it would run so slowly that
you could count the firings, and still pull.

Them wuz the days.

--
Davey.