February 2021

S o, we made it through Christmas, just, and thence out of 2020, and back into the almost-real world we are currently living in. Or is the problem that everything has gotten too real? I’m not sure anyone knows. I can’t say last year was easy, and I’m not sure this one is going to be any better. 2021 though, honestly. Remember when 20 years was a long time? Back in 2001, a 20 year old car would be an early Austin Metro, and those initial cars were already rare sights then. By the end of the year, an early BMW-era MINI will be the same age. You don’t see many Y-reg examples, or even 51 plates, but I expect many are in a better state than some of those old Metros. 1981, 2001, then there was 1991. We had a young mechanic working here then. He liked his rock music. I remember him counting the days until the monstrous, long-awaited Guns ‘n Roses albums ‘Use Your Illusion 1’ and ‘Use Your Illusion 2’ came out on the same day that September. He wouldn’t shut up about it. Then he was able to hear it, and he thought it was ok. For some reason, I listened to him when he talked about this stuff. I guess it was better than having to actually pay attention to Simon Bates or Bruno Brooks or whichever soon-to-be- pushed-out Radio 1 D.J was babbling away about some rubbish they read in the paper that day. Anyway, a year later, as far as he was concerned it was all Nirvana. Turns out, their album came out a week after the L.A bad boy magnum opus. “It changed the world.” he said. I didn’t notice, but I was a bit busy dealing with Vauxhall Calibras and the like. I stand by my choices. At the end of last year, the government announced that the new petrol and diesel car sales ban was being brought forward to 2030. With my mind drifting around on dates, it made me wonder if in 2040, the Arthur Parkit of the next decade-but- one will agree that this announcement in late 2020 was the day the world changed, or if he will end up telling the young mechanics (who at this point, haven’t even been born yet – woah, blows your mind, man!) that it was some other declaration, or product introduction, that actually shifted the paradigm. Where am I getting these words from? It’s certainly not Aftermarket. I mean, the Editor clearly swallowed a dictionary very early in life, but even he makes sense to me occasionally. Anyway, the point is, like when Dylan went electric (ask your father, grandfather or consult Wikipedia), sometimes the world takes a leap all of a sudden. There has been plenty of talk about it within these pages too. Every issue it seems, someone is saying “get ready for EVs” and somewhere, somebody listens. Of course, like everything we deal with, it’s not a single leap. There are 100 things to do in the workshop in terms of safety equipment, procedures, training and all that. Then there is the actual work, and keeping up with the tech never ends. PARKIT GOES ELECTRIC 50 AFTERMARKET FEBRUARY 2021 TEABREAK: MEMOIRS OF A MOTOR MECHANIC www.aftermarketonline.net Nevermind EVs & hybrids 2030 ban Illusion? Change @?!