Michael McAleer answers your queries
From A Lambe:
On a recent trip to south-west coastal Turkey, I was struck by the number of Renault 12s happily purring around the place. These cars are about 30 years old. How do they last so well? Is it the dry climate - but then the sea air would surely make rust a problem. What's the secret?
If they were Renault 12s there's no explanation as to why they could have survived this long. Besides rust problems, they also suffered handling difficulties due to the massive overhangs front and back which made them very tail happy.
We would suggest that you did not actually see 30-year-old Renault 12s, but relatively new Dacias, a Romanian marque which bought the tooling for the car from Renault in the 1970s and has been producing Renault 12 clones since.
Dacia was bought by Renault in 1999 and more modern copies of Renault models will feature in the Romanian car firm's fleet in the future. Dacia has a 50 per cent share of the Romanian market and clearly it's starting to make its mark in Turkey.
From A. Smythe:
Can I use unleaded fuel in my 1974 Jaguar? I'm getting conflicting advice from various sources, some suggesting I can add some lead to the fuel myself while others say I have to get the engine converted. I'm wondering if it's all worth it.
There are a lot of myths you can forget about straight away: dropping special pellets into a tank will not convert a car to unleaded. Likewise getting round the ban on leaded by stockpiling jerry cans of the stuff is plain illegal and not advised.
The use of lead in petrol dates back to the 1920s, when it was found that adding a small quantity reduced a tendency to "knock" or pre-ignite, which leads to "pinking", an engine problem that eventually damages the pistons and head gasket. Lead also had the major benefit of lubricating valves and the absence of it in some engines can lead to valve seat wear.
Leaded fuel, or four star as it's commonly known, was banned in January 2000 and is no longer legally available here. So what are your options?
We've heard conflicting reports, so we turned to a colleague, John Cradden, who is currently running a 1975 BMW 2002. "One option is lead-replacement petrol or LRP, which was introduced as a stop gap when leaded fuel was banned," he says. "The problem is finding a petrol station that stocks it, as many are opting not to stock it anymore as demand falls. It's more expensive too.
"There are lead-replacement additives, such as Castrol Valvemaster, which are based on lead substitutes such as manganese, phosphorus, potassium or sodium. The jury still seems to be out on just how much protection these substances provide.
"Most classic cars can be made to run on unleaded quite easily, and some cars, such as Rolls-Royces, can run happily without any modification.
"Converting to unleaded usually involves fitting harder valves seats and perhaps even harder valves, and would usually cost from €300 to €400 - more if the engine is exotic or complex. However, there are some, usually much older, vintage cars that cannot be converted as easily, so additives or leaded petrol may be the only answer.
"The common wisdom in classic cars circles is that, unless your car is a high performance model or has a very low mileage, converting to unleaded is probably a false economy until the engine needs a major overhaul. It's certainly not worth it for a pre-1990 banger worth only a few hundred euro."
From Peter Judge:
The new dangerous driving rules seem to give a free hand to gardaí to award what will be the maximum amount of points simply on one garda's evidence. It seems unjust to punish someone for not having dipped headlights at the right time with the same points as someone who could have caused a multi-car pile-up that lead to injuries and deaths.
As you will have no doubt learned by now, the Minister for Transport has postponed the introduction of the new rules until this weekend. However, your argument is sound, given the enormous differences between potential offences that come under "careless driving".
It's ironic that such a catch-all offence is being introduced at a time when Britain is planning an overhaul of its points system - those caught speeding by a narrow margin could receive fewer points, whereas the more severe speeders could get more.
Yet one has to understand the principles behind our plan - in particular the terrible driving habits of some motorists who wilfully put others at risk. Until now there was little that could be done, save threatening a drawn out prosecution at the end of which the driver would most likely get just a fine.
From now on the problem can't be sorted out with a cheque book, but will stick with them for three years. The new legislation may even force some to take a second look at that sepia-coloured book under the spare bed, The Rules of the Road.
A major benefit will be prosecutions of cretins who drive with foglights on all the time. It will force them to master those strange symbols on the dash - and understand why everyone keeps flashing at them.
Send queries to Motors Help Desk, The Irish Times, Fleet Street, Dublin 2 - or e-mail them to motorshelp@irish-times.ie