Classic Car Insurance - Change Your Lifestyle and Save Money

Change your lifestyle and you will be eligible to apply for all sorts of non standard specialist car insurance that is tailored to a particular genre or lifestyle group or club. The lifestyle factor is more predominant in the calculation and issuing of policies for classic cars than in any other form of specialist motor underwriting.

Classic car insurance policies are now based primarily upon usage limits and consequently tend to reflect the fact that classic cars are used differently than a normal everyday car, although the types of use social, domestic, pleasure, business and commuting, or for hire and racing, will still apply. Many a beloved classic motor will stay under wraps in the garage for many a month and is only brought out and paraded for special occasions and events.

The range, length and risk of these events will undoubtedly determine the level of price for a specialist classic car policy. Such events can be as innocuous as local classic car club meetings at predetermined destinations, fun runs, treasure hunts, vintage runs, air shows and displays, national classic rallies, film shoots, motor shows, trade shows or as extreme and heavy premium carrying as classic car racing or hill climbing.

Most specialist motor underwriters therefore appreciate that you may need a more tailored and flexible type of car insurance for a classic car, one that allows you to fit the policy around what is effectively your lifestyle risk. Your risk levels are calculated upon the way you use the classic car and the number of miles distance you cover in that car each year. These so called rating factors are adapted to play a much larger role in the calculation of a classic car insurance premium than the traditional factors that weigh heavily in standard car insurance premium calculation, such as Age or Gender.

Price has tended in the past not to be a large driver in the classic car insurance market, where quality of cover for cherished vehicles has always been seen as the primary marketing message. Underwriters have appreciated that the classic car is quite often considered as a 'baby' within the family unit and may in the past have taken advantage of the irrationality when considering price. However the introduction of many classic car insurance comparison websites on the Internet means that premium levels can no longer be ignored and that customers now rightly demand service and cover for their specialist car insurance lifestyle vagaries, at the right price.

It is now possible to obtain tailored online cover for even the most obscure car marque and the introduction of online underwriting has introduced a welcome level of competition into what had become a stagnant market. Group and affinity market buying power has also helped stimulate growth and push premium prices down through bulk buying power schemes. Whatever aspirations you may hold as a classic car owner it appears that with technology you are more increasingly likely to be judged financially by your lifestyle than its trappings that you must insure.

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Meat Chickens - Out an About

Well the meat chickens are out and about and loving it.

They have their own yard separate from our egg laying chickens but within the same large enclosure.

Before we ordered the meat chickens I removed a large section of the grass from what would be their yard and planted out a patch of Clucker Tucker that I ordered through a local company Green Harvest.  Clucker Tucker is a mix of barrel medic, bok choy, buckwheat, forage chicory, clover, cocksfoot, linseed, lucerne, millet, forage plantain, silverbeet, subclover and sunflower. Most have vigorous root systems that will quickly regrow leaves that are eaten and will tolerate a bit of scratching once established.

You can see the patch of Clucker Tucker planted out on the left of the below photo.

The chickens like to lie in the sun amongst the Clucker Tucker.

They do scratch in the dirt a bit but not like our other chickens.

The next two photos were taken about a week ago when the chickens were six weeks old.  As you can see they are huge for their age and very un-attractive.

My best friend visited today and she had not seen the meat chickens before but she summed them up quite well.  She said they look inbred.  I think that pretty much sums them up.  

There is something just not right about them.  They sort of look like chickens and sort of behave like chickens, but anyone who has has a flock of laying chickens would see straight away that they are are just not normal chickens.

This has been quite a learning experience so far and the final tests will be at the end of the process when it comes to butchering and eating.

We will do a tally at the end to see exactly how much it has cost us to produce each bird but we are almost  100% convinced we will choose a heavy heritage breed for meat in the future.  So now we are looking at which breeds might be suitable.

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Slow Living - June

Linking up with Christine again this month although I am again running behind.

Nourish -Make and bake as much as possible from scratch. Ditch over packaged, over processed convenience foods and opt for 'real' food instead.
There has been bread making this month as well as pesto and big batches of muffins divided into small portions and frozen.  We have been eating the small number of eggs we are getting and have been eating silverbeet, bok choy, coriander, cabbage and kohl rabi  from the veggie garden.
I have been using up the limes, lemons and oranges that we picked a while back too.

Lime Spice Syrup Cake (recipe later this week)

Prepare - Stockpile and preserve. Freeze extra meals or excess garden/market produce. Bottle/can, dehydrate or pickle foods to enjoy when they are not in season.
I have made some batches of pesto and there are the extra muffins mentioned above.  I have also made a big batch of BBQ sauce (recipe yet to be posted).

BBQ Sauce

Reduce - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.
We have been having a big clean up around the house and yard and have been sending lots of stuff off to the tip.  We also made the decision to sell out tractor.  It was old and needed a lot of work.  In the 3 years we had been here we had only used it twice so it made sense to get rid of it and put the money in the bank.

Green - Start (or continue!) using homemade cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies. The options are endless, the savings huge and the health benefits enormous.
I also made up another batch of liquid soap and made some bi-carb paste.

Grow - plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden?

It has all been about harvesting winter veg this month. And I have got some tomatoes in to see if I can get them through winter for a late winter/early spring crop.  We have just harvested our second bunch of bananas and these were much riper that the first ones.

Create - To fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others.
I have been knitting more dishcloths and so far have made 5.  I might have to move on to something a bit more challenging soon, a scarf might be in order before winter ends.

Discover - Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests.
I have been reading books about bee keeping and raising pigs even though it is unlikely we can do either of those things in the near future, one day maybe.

Enhance - Community
I am the event director for a classic car show later this year so that is taking up a bit of time.  I am also still involved in the anti sand mining group for my local area.  Then there is fund raising for the local chaplaincy with monthly sausage sizzles and I  am involved in the social planning for our community.  The note on my message board in my office makes it very clear.  NO MORE MEETINGS OR COMMITTEES.  Yes my time is stretched thin on top of work and home and Hubby has laid down the law.

Enjoy - Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment.
June was a busy month and it was not until the last day of the month that we had time to catch up with friends.

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Injured Hen Update

It looks as though Mrs Chicken will make a full recovery after her run in with Jessie.
She is eating, drinking and pooping (important since the skin tear was near her vent) as normal and was very partial to some curl grubs that I dug out of the compost for her.  The were a few clucks of appreciation which I am sure is a good sign.
She is enjoying her stint near the fire during this cold snap we are having ( frost for the last 2 days and it was still 0 degrees at 7.50 am yesterday) but will go back to join the flock on Saturday all gong well.

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Birthday Ups and Downs

It was my birthday this week and there were highs and lows.

I woke in the morning to the following gift from the cat. Nothing like a dead mouse on your birthday to set the mood. : )

I was lucky enough to speak to my parents, grandparents, siblings, in-laws, friends and cousins both here and in NZ where all of my family live.
I received some lovely gifts including magazine subscriptions and the below book full of tips about growing different fruit and veggies and then ideas of how to use them.

So for most of the day it was great.  Then late in the afternoon I heard a commotion from the chicken pen.
Our dog Jessie had scaled the 5 foot  fence and had ripped out some of the feathers of one of our hens.
I was furious!  So I got her out of the pen and tied up and then I went back to find out exactly how bad the damage was and how many chickens had been involved.  I found the poor hen hiding in the long grass the grows around the fence and took her inside so I could have a good look at her.
I was home by myself and so the whole process of trying to look over a stressed out hen was not the easiest process.  I checked over her wings, head and body from the top then I wrapped her in a towel flipped her over and tried to get her to relax with some chicken hypnotism.  Now for those who might think this is a joke  it is actually a very good way of getting your chicken to to remain still while you look it over.  The method I use is to flip the chicken on its back, cover it's head with a cloth so it is dark (although this will still work even it you don't) then you take your thumb and index finger and run them down each side of the chickens breast bone.  Do this over and over and hey presto sleepy chicken.
Now it would have been much easier if I had a second person to keep stroking the chicken, but I didn't so I was not able to spend too long inspecting the hen.
I was able to see she had had a number of feather yanked out and was bleeding around her vent.  But it was hard to see how bad the damage actually was.  So I washed the area with some sterile irrigation solution from  our first aid kit (there goes some plastic in my plastic free month) and put the chicken into the small cage we have with so water and a clean but old towel to sit on and decided to keep her inside over night.
I rang hubby at work and told him what had happened and I hinted that I might take her to the vet.
Hubby then told me not to be so silly taking a $5 chicken to the vet for a $50 consultation and asked me to wait till he got home.  I understand his logic but I just felt really bad for my chicken.
Any way she has been in the cage for a few days and I have given the damaged area another wash and trimmed away the bloody feathers and it looks like it will heal up.  She is eating and drinking and pooping normally and today she even ate some of the chickweed I put in her cage so I think things will b ok.  I do not want to put her back with the other chickens too soon  as I would hate them to peck her or the rooster try and have his way with her, I am not sure she would tolerate that at the moment.  So we are back to having chicken(s) in the house but hopefully not for too long.

The next issue is securing the pen against Jessie as I do not want to go through this again.  That will wait for another post though.

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Where to Find the Best Classic Car Hire

Classic Car Hire is for that special occasion such as a wedding or a celebration of all kinds. Classic cars are truly at the top of the market with luxury and sophistication as standard. These cars were first manufactured before world war two. Many of the post war models are now collector's items, not only as show pieces but also investments.

These cars became more popular after 1945, in that year the launch of the MG TB which was the classic sports car which everybody wanted. It was in America that this car had its biggest impact. It started a craze for British sports cars this craze lasted for around 35 years.

Classic cars also include the great classic Porsche introduced in 1948 and was still in production until 1965 with many different manufacturers over the years. Classic cars were mainly manufactured in Italy by Enzo Farraiti, they had a V 12 engines with a five speed gearbox, and these cars could reach 120 mph easily, it was the ultimate racing car of the time. Classic cars and sports car took the world by storm with the British Jaguar Mark V11.

One of the cars which could surpass the Jaguar in terms of performance and comfort was the Bentley Continental which costs four times much as the Jaguar. They were very popular in the sixties, the Silver Shadow and the Rolls Royce. In the seventies they introduced the elegant Corniche convertible which was based on the Silver Shadow.

Classic Cars soon followed with Jaguars X J 12 saloon, this car was voted best car in the world by a panel of judges appointed by a car magazine. The only problem with the X J 12 was its thirst for fuel, it became more serious with the worlds first fuel crisis in 1973.

Classic cars continued to improve with Lamborghini bringing out it's greatest car; the fantastic Countach, an equally stunning car is the Lagonda which is made by Aston Martin, which is one of today's most attractive classic cars. Lagondas could not be produced in large numbers as they are very expensive to buy and make.

Classic Cars were also being made in America. Chevrolet introduced a corvette in 1953, Ford then built the Thunderbird, which was more like a convertible than a classic car it could reach 113 mph.

The Ford Mustang made a big impact on the car industry by selling half a million cars in the first 18 months when it was launched in 1964, because of its high performance and low price.

Classic cars were also built by the Japanese who in 1970 launched the Daston 240 Z which sold very well in America, because of their high performance, cheap price and reliability. It is extremely easy to hire a classic car.

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R.I.P. - Sergio Sergio Pininfarina 1926/2012

It has been a harsh for classic cars fanatics lately, but I guess demographics was supposed to take its toll sooner or later.

After Sergio Scaglietti Carrol Shelby and others, 

yesterday night we lost Sergio Pininfarina at the age of 86.

Addio Sergio, grazie per tutti i sogni che ci hai regalato.

Sergio Pininfarina

Turin 8 September 1926 / 3 July 2012

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