SHOP TALK
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• Date: Immediate release. Title: NEW BRITISH STANDARD FOR "MAINTENANCE FREE" BATTERIES.
Actually, commences this press release, there is no such thing.
"When manufacturers refer to batteries as 'maintenance free,' they mean the sealed-for-life variety. No battery is as yet totally 'maintenance free' and it is a known fact that the conventional battery, kept regularly topped up, should have a significantly longer working life than its sealedfor-life counterpart. However, things are about to change."
What they're on about is the introduction of British Standard Specification BS 3911 — "the next stage in the development of the ultimate maintenance free battery. Part II of the Specification, introduced in July, provides for a minimum water loss in batteries and sets the standard which manufacturers must now achieve if they're to continue to refer to the product as 'maintenance free'.
"One manufacturer in particular, CBS of Liverpool" (yes, it's their release), "perhaps best known for their worldbeating 'TURBO' battery with its exceptional cranking capacity, has already committed itself to the early introduction of a product that meets the new specification."
Bill Brock has been looking at CBS, Britain's largest independent battery manufacturer, for Workshop this month; in 1988 CBS celebrates its Diamond Jubilee Year, and it looks as though they'll have something new for Bill then.
• Zero Products of Maldon, Essex, has :old us that Essex police are now fitting ts new ice detector, and that the company is preparing to expand into markets for trucks, buses, military vehicles and ?yen (a first, this?) motorcycles. Sounds like estimable forethought on the part of the Old Bill, but for ourselves we'll make a Zero assessment in a feature on cold weather preparation later in the year.
• Workshop readers visiting the Automoive Trade Show at Earls Court, London, September 26-October 1, may care to Keep an eye open for the Australian Trade Commission's stands (215-224) where 10 Australian companies are exhibiting. Mardian Truck Wheel Align sounds fairly self explanatory; so do After Market Spedalists, Automotive Components and Delow Automotive. Then there are ApacClyde jacks and ramps, Selson International axle stands, Unasco anti-seize compounds, Conveyor Company of Australia turntables and Holden's Engine Components (units from a Vauxhall Cavalier through to a powerful V8).
• Operators of its Royale Superwash have been known to take £55,000 in a rear, says Wilcomatic, which will have this and smaller models at the Automotive Trade Show. "Special show prices will be 3ffered." it says.