>They are masochists over there, no respect for a fine piece of machinery. >They only want the scrap metal.... Believe it or not, making scrap cars into cubes is the most cost efficient method of recycling automobiles in Japan. Land is very precious, 75% of Japan is said to be too steep to build, to agriculture or to live. Registered vehicles must maintain an overnight parking spot, one cannot purchase a vehicle if there is no space to park. As long ago as I can remember, the law stated such parking spot to be within 500 m from your home, but they changed that in recent years. Some car owners take public transportation to and from their car. Another requirement for registering a vehicle, it must pass tests and inspection conducted by the Department of Transport. Costly inspections are required annually on vehicles that have been registered for over 10 years. (1959 Cadillac imported and registered this year doesn't require annual inspection though,,,,) Once the vehicle's market value (sentimental value maybe different) decreases to a point where maintaining the registration is just not worth the hassle, valuable components are removed and rest is scrapped/recycled as quickly and economically as possible. Engine harnesses and mounts are sacrificed in this process, if they unbolted everything and chased all the threads with tap and die, sealed the hardwares in a labelled plastic bag, cleaned the engine harness terminals, changed oil and filter before they sold the motor, no body would be able to afford it. Sadomasochism has little to do with the economics, them recyclers are good at crunching the numbers too. They know what they are doing, they know that the guy standing behind you would buy the motor with or without the fan or mounts. My little bit, written on behalf of the Japanese gearheads. D.K. aka Chuck --membersozdat------------------------------------------------------- OZDAT Mailing List Please Note:- Send (un)subscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send submissions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] No unauthorised redistribution of this email http://www.ozdat.com/ozdatonline/index.htm http://www.ozdat.com/ozdatonline/listindex.html http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
