Well, since i am now back up running, and the old 389 seems to be back in shape, i am considering trying to raise the maximum allowable towing weight. Also the new, and sleightly lower, pistons seems to have solved the detonation issue - even when running 95 octane. The danish rules on this point are just as stupid as they get. This also has to do with the type of drivers licence that you aquire, etc.
On my standard lisence i am alowwed to run a total weight (car + trailer) of 3500 kg. Since i got away with a total weight of 2300 kg on the car (only 300 for passengers and baggage) i can get away with 1200 for the trailer (also including loaded baggage).
I am considering a newer trailer for family trips, which requires higher weight (say, 1600 kg) if i want a decent size.
Aquiring a extended liscence is within reach, but the car is only registrered for 1200 kg. Increasing this is a problem, due to new rules stating that you can't tow more that half the cars own weight (1000 kg) unless you can document that the car was designed for a specific weight. This means that if i try to have the allowed weight changed on the papers i risk being reduced to 1000 kg. Compare this to our 16 year old 1.6 litre OPEL that is a small crap car my wife drives for shopping - using that i can legally pull the same weight as the Pontiac - talk about bullshit rules
.
Add to the equation that breaking this rule is considered a liscence violation, and therefore fined by 1000 $ + first time you're cought (same as driving without a valid liscence
).
I have heard that i might get away with any original paperwork, that states that the car was factory approved for a given weight - so the big question is : do anyone here know of such paperwork ?. In case anyone does i will be most grateful for a copy or a scan of this. Even a commercial phamplet which containes some weight rating may be helpful. Somebody must have been towing something back then....
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