Now, you all I know I like my quirky little European rides, right? And I am sure, by now, you all know the next thing on my list after a FIAT 126p to import would be a Piaggio Ape, right? Well, remember when I found out last year that I wouldn’t be able to import and register the other little Italian I really want for no sensible reason...i.e. a Piaggio Ape?
WELL, I knew they were revamping the Nova Scotian ‘Motor Vehicle Act’ completely in the next year or two (it has been pushed back a bit with COVID, unsurprisingly) and replacing it with the new ‘Traffic Safety Act’ and I had been hoping they would modernize the vehicle classes and definitions. This would allow me to import and register an Ape here as 3-wheelers are legal in a lot of other provinces...(a note...Apes are legal to IMPORT here to Nova Scotia, but NOT legal to road-register currently). The current ‘Motor Vehicle Act’ is pretty much the same document that’s been around since the early 1900s that’s just had bits and pieces grafted to it as the years go on, so some parts of it are woefully dated and vague considering modern circumstances. The reason most 3-wheelers weren’t road-registerable here (though, bizarrely, a few are!) is because there is literally nothing in the current act to DEFINE them as vehicles that could be registerable, as ridiculous as that sounds!
I had contacted the office of Nova Scotia’s Transportation Minister while back and had vaguely inquired if they would be adding subsections for low-speed-neighbourhood-class vehicles and 3-wheelers in the upcoming Traffic Regulations revamp...this was the response:
Oooo, that sounds promising....OK, so no low-speed stuff like Torch’s Changli...I can live with that...but things were sounding good for 3-wheelers!
Well, the new Act hasn’t yet gone into effect, but sections of it are now rotating through for public commenting right now as of a month or so ago and the section on Vehicle Definitions/Regulations just went live for Public viewing today! When I came home, I checked it out to see if they’d kept their word. When I did, I found....
Yippee! :D
OK, OK....so...they will be a ‘thing’...BUT...will I be able to operate one without needing additional training and a motorcycle license...? A quick look at the Vehicle Licensing overview that also went live for Public commenting today reveals...
Excellent! That seems to mean I could drive it on my current license class! :D
Welp, I already have money saved up for a 126p and am still saving bigtime for a house....maybe I should start hitting Italian used car websites to check out Ape TM P703V prices...hmmm...anybody know any Italian auto export brokers? :P
