Cizeta seized by federal agents in Orange County

Every time I hear or read a brainless nincompoop of a civil servant uttering things about "health and safety risks" on American roads, I have to laugh out loud.

Not only are the U.S. roads the most dangerous ones in the Western world, but many of the vehicles there wouldn't even pass a minor technical inspection here, not to mention the unexisting skills of many of the drivers.

Sometimes I really wish that people would be forced to look over their own edge of the plate, e.g. looking at how things are down in other countries, before they get a paid job with the authorities. But that would include admitting that not everything in the USA is "world leading" and therefore seems to be an impertinence.

Sorry for the sarcasm but that wanted to get out of my brain and into my fingers with brute force.

Having said that: The Cizeta Moroder is a phantom car, like the Vector. It got huge attention by the press back then but actually never convinced anyone.

Yeah, except for the minor little fact of just who it was who convinced the US government that international standards weren't good enough for low volume or individual imports. That would be MERCEDES. You know, German firm, got pissed off that people were bringing over large numbers of cars that they had decided not to sell in the US because they were idiots?

Failmerica. It can't POSSIBLY be more dangerous than than their own first gen Chevrolet Corvair which lack a suspension stabiliser bar...

See above. Mercedes convinced the US government that anything not built to US standards is unsafe, unhealthy and probably will kill puppies and kittens in a 30 mile radius when started.

Seems like I put my finger into an open wound there :mrgreen:

But I admit I'm grumpy today. I have a cough, headaches and didn't sleep for more than 3 hours last night.

And your usual tactic of laughing things off when called out on a statement appears.

Since we're talking about roads it's actually nine times larger, not a trillion :p

Technically in this case it's your goverments fault for making up their own asinine standards over there instead of conforming to international regulations (for no other reason than simple NIH) in the first place ;)

We used to allow 'international standards' cars in. Then Mercedes got pissed that people were buying Gelandewagens in Europe and shipping them over for either personal use or huge profits when Mercedes hadn't deigned to import them themselves. (I believe it was because Mercedes had determined that nobody would buy them.) Rather than admit they were wrong, Mercedes decided to lobby the US government and get the law changed. They did an excellent job of convincing the Feds that 'international standards' were far too loose and unhealthy/unsafe.

So, now we get the results shown in the article.

Yep NIH and NTTB I am afraid.

Not really. Some of our standards have a damn good reason - like our emissions standards. The stupid part about the law is that it makes no exceptions for one offs or individual imports.

We used to have the same emissions standards as Europe. They made Los Angeles look like this:

la_smog_440.jpg
 
Geography prevents the crap from floating away from the city.
 
:cry:

And I just posted these in the awesome thread a few days ago

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcb4iJ0ZHIo[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5NgGQr2u4I[/YOUTUBE]
 
Geography prevents the crap from floating away from the city.

Yes, I know that fact well - but it also is true that stricter emissions standards cleaned it up considerably. It also cleaned up other cities as well as reducing actual respiratory illness causing death. No problem with the initial stages of pollution controls at all in my view.

The current idiotic state? Problem.
 
Yes, I know that fact well - but it also is true that stricter emissions standards cleaned it up considerably. It also cleaned up other cities as well as reducing actual respiratory illness causing death. No problem with the initial stages of pollution controls at all in my view.

The current idiotic state? Problem.

Heh I was responding to another, now deleted, post. I should quote more.
 
And your usual tactic of laughing things off when called out on a statement appears.

Isn't that better than breaking into a fight over inanities?

You might have noticed, that I'm very well capable of argueing -- when I consider it worthy spending part of my lifetime on it...
 
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Isn't that better than breaking into a fight over inanities?

You might have noticed, that I'm very well capable of argueing -- when I consider it worthy spending part of my lifetime on it...

No, I haven't. You make a serious statement, then when you get called on it, you say that you were joking and try to laugh it off. Mostly unsuccessfully.
 
We all react differently. Some of us ride a dead horse, until it is completely decayed.

I'm not that type.

And I still see nothing wrong with my "serious statement", because I clearly indicated it as sarcasm. When it comes to my rants, I have a rather Jeremy-Clarkson-like approach on criticism.

Come to think of it: I find it strange, that you criticize my sarcasm, instead of the Nazi comparison done by another forum member. Very strange.
 
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We all react differently. Some of us ride a dead horse, until it is completely decayed.

I'm not that type.

And I still see nothing wrong with my "serious statement", because I clearly indicated it as sarcasm. When it comes to my rants, I have a rather Jeremy-Clarkson-like approach on criticism.

Come to think of it: I find it strange, that you criticize my sarcasm, instead of the Nazi comparison done by another forum member. Very strange.

I didn't mention it because it is very odd for a German to complain about excessive and stupid bureaucracy with that in the not-so-recent past.

"I vas only followink orders!"
 
If there is one thing I learned on this forum, it is that German bureaucracy is overvalued. There can be examples read here -- especially in the policital discussion forum -- that make our german bureaucracy go pale in shame :D

And about all that Hitler/Nazi comparisons: I still think they are less embarrassing than this clich?:

119107fmgif.gif


:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Why did you post a picture of a German tourist? That didn't help your cause...

:p
 
Am I the only one who thinks the govmint did the right thing? I mean, what kind of idiot imports a supercar without checking if it's actually legal or not? Sounds to me like the whole "import for service, keep it 'accidentally'" scheme was just to get it into the country illegally anyway.
 
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That is not the point. Of course it has to be punished, if it is illegal.

The point is to justify it with "health and safety" reasons. With a car that was obviously parked in an exhibition and was not licensed for the road anyway.

There could have been a more pragmatic way of solving this. Make him pay a fine and that's it.
 
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I think the issue here is with the law itself, not the government's actions on the guy who broke it.
 
Am I the only one who thinks the govmint did the right thing? I mean, what kind of idiot imports a supercar without checking if it's actually legal or not?


Lots of idiots, apparently.

That said, what we're complaining about is the byzantine and stupid laws about importing cars here - for which Mercedes is to blame for instigating them.
 
It's new to me, that Mercedes played a role in that, btw.

However, I'm quite sure they didn't ask the officials to switch their common sense off.
 
It's new to me, that Mercedes played a role in that, btw.

However, I'm quite sure they didn't ask the officials to switch their common sense off.

Mercedes created and funded some fake grass-roots organizations to lobby Congress, then swamped them with "studies" and "data" supporting their position.

Let's face it, when you're a government bureaudroid that knows nothing about cars and one of the world's leading manufacturers tells you that 'cars we sell elsewhere are unsafe as is everyone else's, you should ban them,' and provides reams of 'evidence' you might reasonable be expected to believe them. Incorrectly, as it turns out - but reasonably.

Also, I don't know why this is new to you. We've been telling you about this since you joined, yet you refuse to believe it. Perhaps you should seek mental help; denial of objective reality is a sign of mental illness.
 
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