Martin Underwood ) gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying :

Ah! I'd assumed that the running lights were conventional 5W sidelight
bulbs rather 21W indicator/brake/fog light bulbs. I presume the
sidelight part of the cluster has a dual-filament bulb: 5W for night
and 21W for day. Maybe UK versions of Volvos etc have been modified so
as to use 5W for both purposes.

On c900s, they were a dual filament - 5w for a switchable "park light"
which stayed on with ignition off, with the 21w coming on with ignition,
unless the fuse was pulled.

of Merkins

Nor do they have MOTs.

I didn't know that. So once you've bought a new car, is there no
requirement for periodic testing of brakes, suspension, body structure
etc throughout the car's life? Bloody hell!

Some states have emissions tests.

cars change their registration number (IIRC) every time the
car is sold to a new owner, which must make it very difficult to trace
the car's history throughout its life

We're actually the oddity in that respect. France has plates which change
whenever it's re-registered into a different department. Germany's similar.

And don't forget that they don't have breathalysers, either - you get
pulled, it's a case of seeing if you can walk down the line and touch your
nose...