User talk:Charles01/Archive 8

Language difficulties

Hoping to find something useful I looked up monoglot and the dictionary gave me this recent example of its use:1991 Personal Computer World Feb. 4/2 The day someone invents a car alarm that actually stops vehicles being stolen, I'll learn Latvian. I expect to die a monoglot.

There's enough personal remarks about and by me. I am concerned I may have not understood properly in this discussion about Bentleys and some pictures of an old car with Jean11. I would be grateful if you would cast a diplomatic eye over proceedings. I would hate to learn too late we are talking past each other's shoulders, specially as i'm relying on Google translate. Here's wishing you and yours a sunny summer Saturday. Best, Eddaido (talk) 02:05, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Bedford TA or TD ?

Hello!

(This is about the comment you put in the description of your Bedford TD Tipper truck 4927cc picture)

TA before TJ or TD before TJ? Or was the TD a "single shot"?
As WP is not really clear about the 2 models and Commons has no image of the TD, I had the same problem to ID a similar truck which I suspected to be miscategorized (it was in the Chevrolet Advance Design category). I did some researches (this is how I discovered your pictures), and I think I found the difference between the TA and the TD models. As you said, they look pretty similar to each other but the grille is a lot different. TD front fascia seems to be that way:

• http://www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1322966197
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiefordadverts/7588108252
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/zacks_classic_cars/9606858710
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/46046969@N03/6297868637

(sorry, there is no TD picture on Commons, and no one seems to have one with a Commons compliant licence)

A contemporary advertisement corroborate the TA grille of "your" Bedford:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1954-Bedford-TA-Truck-Sales-Brochure-Dutch-wd4244-7S4G2C-/290876087232

So I think you may delete or rename the "TD version" of your picture, as you already have done the "TA" one
(Why is there a 28Ko difference between the two files?)

Regards,
BarnCas (talk) 09:42, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Bedford TA it is. Many thanks for sharing the fruits of your researches.

I'd really been depending, in this case, on my memory which is dangerous at the best of times, and this one I remembered simple as a "Bedford Truck" - or more likely "Bedford Lorry" because I grew up in England and back then the word "truck" was reserved for railway wagons here. Anyhow, I remember when I took this picture I started googling around and being still pretty unsure after I'd finished about what this one was called, so I am more than happy to accept the fruits of your own more systematic researches. Interestingly all the TDs to which you provided links were photographed outside the UK, and I don't remember that slightly more elaborate front treatment at all. I wonder if they simply badged it as a Bedford for markets (such as Australia, NZ, Rep South Africa...) where truck buyers found the "Bedford" name more friendly than "Chevrolet" but actually shipped these TDs direct from Detroit (where, as you say, the design for all these things originated courtesy of the Chevy division). Sorry to inflict my mental ramblings on you and thanks again for the clarification/correction.

Lots of possible reasons for file size difference. Different pictures? Differently cropped? Now that we use digital cameras and don't have to count the cost of the film, I'm afraid I tend to take 3 or 4 pictures the same and then (if good enough and filling a wiki-need) upload just one of them. Light conditions, level of hand shake, the precise direction in which the camera is pointed ... and at these old timer shows the unplanned appearance of unexpected people into or out of the frame can all make a difference.

Regards Charles01 (talk) 10:18, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

- Sorry for the American words I use: it's hard for us, non-English speakers, to know which word will fit, depending on who read our "prose"... And I must also admit I use the words I read the more often during my researches, as I'm a bit lazy
- About the TD lorries, it's hard to find pictures and specifications about them. Typically the problem one can have while searching for "Export" vehicles, indeed, and I thank you for that hint. But for the moment I won't search further for it: I tried just to find the good category for what was first thought to be a Chevrolet Advance Design. But be sure that this idea is now stored somewhere in my mind, which means it won't get out of it without a solution. That's my curse!
- I thought the two pictures where exactly the same one, but with a different name. In fact, they are made from the same shot, but you gave more light to the TA one (or more darkness to the ex-TB). Hence the 28 Ko difference...
Regards,
BarnCas (talk) 02:01, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

French plates

Hello!

It is indeed a source of sadness for me that with Italian and (more recently) French cars you cannot simply look at the license plate and know where in the country it is registered.

— Charles01

Well, if you look at the new French plates, there is still a (smaller) number for the department on the right of the plate:

For at least most of the vehicles it's mandatory to have the region logo and the department code, but they're not part of the registration. Only the central AA-111-AA is important: you can choose any department you want! One of my uncle lives near Paris, but he bought a plate with 23 as department number. He finds it very funny...

(Me too - tho actually I guess wishing to be associated with somewhere where you DO NOT live is not unique to French people, and on a slightly serious note you cannot condemn politicians and bureaucrats exclusively for the widespread retreat from rationality, both in public administration AND more generally across western Europe, during the last couple of decades. It's part of us all Charles01 (talk) 07:24, 27 August 2014 (UTC))

So with this department number, we have a mandatory (fine of 135 € if not present) and useless gadget. French administration proved once more that it doesn't recruit with intelligence as first criterion...

In terms of getting to the age of the car from the license plate, the Netherlands and Great Britain are both unusual - at least at this end of Europe - in that the same license plate (usually) stays with the car throughout the life of the car.

— Charles01

Same thing in France, now. The new system is supposed to last 80 years (with more or less 278 millions possible numbers), and it's a life-long registration number the cars have now. In 2075, Wikipedians will be able to identify easily the model year of 2009+ French vehicles
Regards,
BarnCas (talk) 00:19, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

That will be useful - maybe before 2075. (I guess it probably applies also in Italy, where the new system appears to be driven by similar thought patterns parmi les "Enarchs d'Italie".) Thank you.

BUT from looking at cars in France I am pretty sure that older cars with older license plates - eg a 2005 car licensed with 999 XXX 75 or indeed 9999 XX 66 - are still getting issued with a new-style plate, presumably when the car changes owners. Or should I be looking more carefully?

Regards Charles01 (talk) 07:24, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I am pretty sure that older cars with older license plates - eg a 2005 car licensed with 999 XXX 75 or indeed 9999 XX 66 - are still getting issued with a new-style plate, presumably when the car changes owners.

— Charles01

I'm not sure to exactly understand what you mean (sorry, I'm not a native English speaker ): some plates with old numbers look like the one with the new numbers, or the plates seem to change from old system to new one?

• First case: last plates of the old system were almost similar to the new ones, at least in color:
  

  

  

  
  But they won't last because:
• Second case: old plates (depending on the owner AND his location) are/will be changed into new ones on the next "move" of the car.
  • If the owner move to another department, he must declare it to Prefecture, and thus will have a new system plate for his car;
  • It the car is sold, the new owner will have a new system plate number for it.

Oui. C'est comme ça que j'avais compris les modalités actuelles en France. Donc, nous sommes d'accord. Aussi en Allemagne ou en Suisse, un changement de région déclenchera un changement de numéro. En Angleterre, ou même dans les Pays Bas c'est fait autrement. N'importe les changements d'adresse ou du propriétaire, la voiture gardera normalement le même numéro pendant la vie de la voiture (à l'exception de "vanity plates" acheté). En NL ça n'a rien à faire avec la région du domicile pour la voiture, parce que le numéro ne te donnera aucune information sur la région du domicile pour la voiture (comme maintenant en France). Mais en Angleterre, avec une voiture d'occasion, ça te donnera beaucoup de voitures qui habitant à Londres, muni toujours avec le numéro d'origine soit de Birmingham soit Ecossais.... Clear as mud? Hmmmmm Saluts! Charles01 (talk) 07:07, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

In any case, the old system is scheduled to disappear in "normal way" (selling or moving of the cars) until about 2020.
For the record, historical cars (i.e with the official special administrative status) can have black plates with a new system number:

Of course, this new system is said to simplify things
Ha

BarnCas (talk) 00:04, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

Kinda weird, these answers inside the answers like in mails. But the last ones were more obvious than the first one about the "joke" of false department
So to summarize, if the registration number is:

• already a new system number, it will never change again, even in case of department/region move, as plates are now nation-wide and related to the car. It's the SIV / Système d'Immatriculation des Véhicules, used since april 2009;
• an old system number (FIV / fichier national des immatriculations - 1950-2009): it will be changed into a new system one on the next move (new owner or new location for the same owner), and thus become a life-long number for the car (and will no more change);
• FIV numbers are expected to be seen only until 2020. So we just have to rack our brain over this only for the next 6 years

See you!
BarnCas (talk) 00:48, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

SS Cars and stuff

Please would you run one of your fresh discerning eyes (synced of course) across my contributions to Jaguar, SS Cars and Swallow in Commons. I may have offended many other editors and its better I find out early. Why does the category Jaguar vehicles contain things like Jaguar vehicles in Baku? Regards and best wishes, Eddaido (talk) 09:36, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

Yes, Jaguars in Baku does look like overkill. Then again, place can be important, and I was intrigued to check out Jaguars in Hong Kong. Maybe we need a sub-grouping under "Jaguars by country/city/location"? - but not unless we have a MUCH more widespread emphasis on place than we yet have for Jaguars in my judgement.) I have never been to Baku but I do occasionally include the place on my own pictures in the file name or in the rubric. It may be interesting for people in 2014 to see how a particular Cambridge street looked in 1975. There was something maybe pleasingly ironic in a picture of a Bentley S3 - quintessentially an English for many English readers - looking at home in the car park of the French national automobile museum in Mulhouse, quite apart from the fact that I could see myself, if still alive in 20 years, coming back to the picture I took of a Bentley S3 in Mulhouse, wondering where the hell that rainy street in the background is.

The Commons categories for SS Cars and Jaguar cars all make sense to me. Thanks for sorting them a bit. But grouping random items or events into patterns is what humans do, and you should not expect the self evidently logical (your version and, in this instance, also mine) to make sense to everyone.

It seems The Union lives to fight another day, hacked away but not yet rent asunder. Not sure what I think about it all, but staying together seems, on balance, a whole lot less dangerous for security and economic survival than the other thing. Lack of imagination on my part? And/or lack of confidence in the undertakings of snake-oil salesmen? All three, no doubt.

Regards Charles01 (talk) 05:46, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, mind on other things and we have just finished a truly weird general election. Thanks for your thoughts. I am never sure if no complaint means what it says, if you see what I mean. This world is full of angry silences. The Scot I hear most from (barber) told me months back he was all for independence and I just thought he was cranky. Now it isn't outlandish at all. Next time perhaps. Australia seemed close to becoming a republic then backed off, Scotland could be like that. Why are we (pop. 5m?) apart from Australia? (Its a Big Country next door) We've always been rather (usually secretly) proud of our indigenous lot, even if until the 1920s we assumed they'd be extinct by 2000 and their artefacts must be preserved. The neighbours not the same. Fighting talk but it has been said there is nothing more racist than a Maori in NSW. Maybe all that's in the past. I did want to point out UK's current first minister was named Cameron and his immediate predecessor talked very funny - for a Londoner. Historically, in the British Isles, David is a Scottish name. Best, Eddaido (talk) 00:59, 21 September 2014 (UTC)

Look what I found!

Corre

More in the category. Happiness! Eddaido (talk) 00:26, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Stylish. Good discovery. I used to think that where they put the radiator behind the engine like that it must be a Renault, but if you go back before 1920 or so there are lots of automakers doing it, not all of them in France. Now I will find out (presumably from wikipedia) what a Corre is, and whether it has to do with Corré La Licorne a few decades more recently about which I am sure I remember reading somewhere. Yes, seems it does. Though I was wrong about the acute accent. Happy days. Charles01 (talk) 06:01, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

de:Siddeley Autocar

Just reporting an anomaly. There is an article in De WP — Siddeley Autocar but none to match it in En WP and there it should be Siddeley Autocar Company (Limited). Nice pictures. Currently swamped. Best wishes, Eddaido (talk) 05:02, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Well spotted. I never heard of Siddeley Autocar, but I'm not THAT old.

Actually, there are lots of British (and indeed French) automakers with their own entries in German wiki that don't have equivalent entries in the language of their homeland. They're mostly started by the same person, Buch-T, who often has started with just a couple of not unfamiliar sources. I think Nick Georgano's compilation may have been translated into French at some stage, and of course many German speakers are reassuringly unself-conscious about using English ..... Some of the entries are more interesting than others, and where they SIMPLY rely on a single source - Nick G isn't always right, but then none of us is and anyhow, often he's the only source to hand - well, I think one needs to proceed with a certain amount of caution. Culshaw and Horrobin trigger the same sentiments, wonderfully commendable project though it is. But yes, there's plenty of scope for going through the German categories covering French and British automakers, trying to cross check with additional as far as possible trustworthy sources where available, and building British wiki a bit in the good direction. Actually, I've done a bit over the years....

Swamped sounds good. I hope. But we all get quieter days. Success Charles01 (talk) 07:15, 17 November 2014 (UTC)