MOT Test Terrors

When I was much younger the annual Ministry of Transport (MOT) test was a big thing. I’d take my decaying Mini down to a garage and watch them chip paint and rust off it, test the lights, steering and the brakes and give the seatbelts a good tug. Then they’d tell me about about the worn bearings, loose steering kingpins and other things I’d been happily motoring around on for the last year. They didn’t mind about the hole in floor though, because apparently that wasn’t structural.

One time I was telling dad about what had gone wrong (in this case the bushes on the rear radius arms that hold on the rear wheels).He looked up from his paper and told me it sounded like a big job, so I should probably find somewhere to get them fixed. At which point I was forced to tell him that my car was in his garage with the rear suspension missing. He shuddered and went back to his paper. I had to go around all the local car dealers until I found someone who could drill out the radius arms and put in replacement bushes.

I got it fixed that time but the following year, when I took it for a test just after I’d replaced the silencer (muffler) because it fell off on the way to a party, I was forced to admit defeat (subframe mounts) and throw the car away. Oh well, at least it had the newest silencer in the scrapyard.

I was reminded of all this yesterday because my car was due for it’s annual test. It seems a lot more relaxing these days. I think cars are just better made (and painted) than they used to be. All I needed was a couple of tyres and a rear windscreen wiper. Good times.