‘Road tax’ video to turn petrolheads

getyourroadtax

No bicycles. No mention that cyclists have every right to be on roads (not) paid for by motorists. Just footage of a rather famous pre-1973 motorcar, as used in a movie and a TV advert.

[iTunes link for getting Chitty road tax video on iPods and iPhones].

‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ is one of the world’s most loved movies and is a lead-in to the video below. There’s then a critique of the DVLA’s 2002 TV advert for ‘road tax’, which used the original GEN11-registered car from the movie. Earlier DVLA TV ads for ‘road tax’ (grrrrr!) said ‘pay your road tax’. However, pre-1973 cars merely have to display a tax disc, they don’t pay for it. Ditto, today, for low CO2 Band A cars. So, the 2002 advert said ‘get your road tax’, perhaps a nod to the fact that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang didn’t have to pay car tax.

The car was built in 1967 and modelled to look like a 1920s car.

Nowadays, the DVLA’s TV adverts call VED by its most descriptive name: car tax. Hopefully there will be no backsliding to the days when Parker from the Thunderbirds could have his strings cut for “not paying road tax.”