The Conservatives are back. I’m not going to drone about my political orientation, or whether Gordon should have stayed – however it has been interesting to see an old model XJ Jag coming and going from Downing Street. Rumour has it they kept the two generations old armoured (X308?) models and opted to refurbish them rather than shell out £400k for new models. Or is it because aluminium XJs don’t take kindly to grenades or bullets?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8675913.stm
David Cam was seen in a previous gen alloy-cat yesterday, but maybe they hadn’t bothered beefing that up. It seems like there’s a dusty collection of terror-resistant Jags being used in random rotation. You’d think they would stick to their own steed, like truckers. Truckers don’t want to smell another trucker’s stilton stenching Reeboks or guff infused seat fabric. Same goes for politicians, right?
One Twitterer pointed out that Cameron’s XJ looked like it’d seen some repaint work on one door.
Today, however, it looks like the new XJs have finally been drafted in. Thank goodness. According to Pistonheads (http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=21932) the cars were delayed being signed off by the Met, although you can’t help wondering if they saved the new metal for the new powers that be.
More importantly, with the Cons back and Labour out the door, will we see a return of the rolling 25-year old classic car tax exemption scheme. A fine idea indeed, and one that was swiftly halted in 1997. If your car was built in February 1973 then you have to pay full tax, but if your car was built in December 1972 then your windscreen disc is gratis.
Just before writing this I noticed that a pistonheads.com disciple has already put finger to keyboard and asked the Cons whether a 1985 (or previous) car will get free tax:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=847433&d=0&nmt=
It’s funny to look back at articles like this Independent piece, actively encouraging people to take advantage of the tax relief and buy an old motor.
http://www.independent.co.uk/money/the-chancellor-abolished-road-tax-on-old-cars-heres-how-to-turn-that-to-your-advantage-1523718.html