Barnacle Bill...

...is what you have to pay to get one of these off your car:

The L.A.Times seem to have got this story first.  They use the word "scofflaws" which is excellent.  The scofflaws in question are people who park their cars illegally and would previously have experienced a Denver Boot (or wheel-clamp as we tend to call them on this side of the Pond)

The new device is being trialled in a couple of U.S. cities and basically uses a strong suction force to obscure enough of the the windscreen to prevent driving.

It is safer for the enforcement officers because they aren't spending a long time kneeling at the side of the road and it is less hassle for the victim because it can be released wirelessly as soon as they pay.

Philly.com got the story next and also used the word "scofflaws" proving how good that word actually is.

New York Post came next.  They quoted the first two articles but dropped the word "scofflaws" in favour of calling the device "a yellow monstrosity."  Fox News then came along and just republished the NY Post story.  I guess the NY Post is another Murdoch mouthpiece.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Britain, and sorry if you don't like the language - I think it's funny:

Is The Jaguar an Endangered Species?

Well, it doesn't appear in the list of 20 most endangered.

The BBC and The Telegraph both pointed me at the Honest John site today where this story can be found.

I must admit that I got a bit distracted by the adverts to the right...

where two different men seem to own the same wallet with the same picture of the same car.

But I digress.

The story looks at the survival rates of mass-produced British cars particularly from the '60s, '70s and '80s.

The car that seems to be faring the worst is the Austin Allegro...

...with 642,340 built and 291 remaining in the UK, for a total of 0.0453% left.

The BBC report concentrates on the 1980s and is particularly worried about survival rates of cars from that decade.  It is quite scathing about the Scrappage Scheme of a few years back and, speaking as someone who didn't get to take advantage of it, I wholeheartedly agree.

This got me thinking about the car I owned from that decade, my 1980 Triumph Dolomite 1500HL in vomit yellow.  The Honest John site lets you look up just about any car right up to modern ones so I checked out The Dolomite and found some nice charts and, basically some good news:

In December 2007, there were 2,373 registered

By December 2011, 2,159 of those were left

On average, 53 were lost each year, or 2.3%

At that rate, it will take 29 years until half of those left today are lost

I guess that once a car reaches a certain age, people will look after them.

I then got distracted by Top 20: Fastest disappearing cars from UK roads.  This list contains a few non-surprises like Daewoos and Fiats, one fairly surprising entry - the Vauxhall Cavalier and car I actually don't remember - the Sao Penza.

In case you're wondering, Sao Penza. Population in 2007: 13, population in 2011: 3, for 23.08% of '07 cars remaining.

I'll alert David Attenborough.