Late registration madness

[JeeExEll]

 

Another two or three years and the SD1, Citroen CX, and Renault 30 were out on the roads.

Still love these big old straightforward Vauxhalls though. If ever there was a UK car just gagging for a lazy factory V8 version with autobox then this was it.

[JeeExEll]

[chaseracer]

Crestas were probably pre-1981 re-imports.

[JayW]

My '99 registered Phase 1 Cabby.

 

Change over was '97. This must have sat around for a while.

 

You could even own it for £SOLD!

[adw1977]

1972 was the last year of Cresta production, so L reg would be the last. The cancellation of the PD Cresta project led to the PC Cresta staying in production longer than intended.

[Tamworthbay]

My '99 registered Phase 1 Cabby.

Change over was '97. This must have sat around for a while.

You could even own it for £375!

Is it red or pink? Pic is a bit unclear on here.

[JayW]

Is it red or pink? Pic is a bit unclear on here.

Very Red. And metallic. And muddy.

[Tamworthbay]

Very Red. And metallic. And muddy.

Pm me some details, I may know someone who would be interested.

[Bianconeri]

Another two or three years and the SD1, Citroen CX, and Renault 30 were out on the roads.

Still love these big old straightforward Vauxhalls though. If ever there was a UK car just gagging for a lazy factory V8 version with autobox then this was it.

Agree, they missed a trick. The Viscount variant would have been ideal for a V8. Didn't GM SouthAfrica try that?

[Guest Hooli]

Check this out!

 

14138009_10208397393987342_4141675895173416230_o.jpg

 

Was it on coils by chance? There must be one out there somewhere registered correctly when rebuild on coils.

[flat4alfa]

Saw this yesterday outside Moss Europe (I was in Screwfix across the road, don't get excited about me buying stuff for the Triumph).

 

IMAG0398.jpg

 

Dooovla have it down as year of manufacture 1987.

 

Screenshot_20170402-104959.png

 

Could be a cock up if it was imported from Jersey or summink?

 

Its certainly late though.

 

 

First registered on the road

9th July 1987

[RWL2012]

I saw Vauxhall Corsa B FC02HWX in Derby in May 2017. I didn't get a photo of it, but as it turns out another user did post a photo of it in this same thread in 2015.

[quicksilver]

Not quite as strange as the D-reg LE but here's a Y-reg MGB in ordinary flavour. A 1981 car apparently, it looks even stranger as it's had a chrome bumper conversion.

1981 MGB Roadster by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

[Guest Lord Sward]

Why Reg?

[mk2_craig]

What would you all do with a "late reg" car that turned out to be a pre 83 secondhand import given a then-current year letter? Keep as-is and enjoy the interest from others at car shows and suchlike, or go back to Swansea and get a correct age plate?

[Pillock]

I'd make up some bollocks about how it was the personal car of who paid a massive amount of money to have it built up from spares, and they fired the presses up just to make one more body shell. There would be lots of detail about the serial numbers of the bank notes used to pay for it etc.

 

I'd then hammer the story out on a typewriter, make a stand for it out of mahogany offcuts, place it next to the car at shows and sit in a deckchair with my flask of weak tea glaring at people.

[Bianconeri]

I'd make up some bollocks about how it was the personal car of <really famous person> who paid a massive amount of money to have it built up from spares, and they fired the presses up just to make one more body shell. There would be lots of detail about the serial numbers of the bank notes used to pay for it etc.

 

I'd then hammer the story out on a typewriter, make a stand for it out of mahogany offcuts, place it next to the car at shows and sit in a deckchair with my flask of weak tea glaring at people.

 

You need quite a few "I am told..." in there.

[quicksilver]

I'd make up some bollocks about how it was the personal car of <really famous person> who paid a massive amount of money to have it built up from spares, and they fired the presses up just to make one more body shell. There would be lots of detail about the serial numbers of the bank notes used to pay for it etc.

 

I'd then hammer the story out on a typewriter, make a stand for it out of mahogany offcuts, place it next to the car at shows and sit in a deckchair with my flask of weak tea glaring at people.

Don't forget to mention that you found it in a barn in a forest in the middle of a swamp in Outer Mongolia or some such bollocks.

[Bianconeri]

Don't forget to mention that you found it in a barn in a forest in the middle of a swamp in Outer Mongolia or some such bollocks.

 

And while you are at it why not prefix the whole thing with a potted history of the car - "In 1957 Justin Flangemonger was suffering from a nasty case of Montezuma's revenge and while sitting on the bog came up with the idea for a flat-seven two-stroke engine cooled entirely by sheep vomit. At around the same time the Utterly Bolloxed Car Company had a design for a nine-door convertible that was ideally suited to this engine. As a result the UB-40 Laudelette was born".

 

If you can get in some nonsense about this being a "unique model" with only 47 surviving examples of which only 9 are neon pink then so much the better.

[Bianconeri]

Not quite as strange as the D-reg LE but here's a Y-reg MGB in ordinary flavour. A 1981 car apparently, it looks even stranger as it's had a chrome bumper conversion.

1981 MGB Roadster by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

Best look and best colour for a B in my humble.

[Pillock]

I think the only way I can better that is to throw in some obscure references to the state of the world when it was made.

"In 1973 the Bee Gees were at number 1, Margaret Thatcher had just won silver at the Grantham All-Girls Turtle Hurling Championship, and Yugoslavia was still known as New Croydon. As Geoff Scruttock walked to work at the Austin Thyroid factory, little did he know he would be affixing a wiring loom to this - the last known remaining Austin Thyroid Super Six in Nonsense Blue with Bruised Scrotum trim and the optional brass wheel embellishers. Later, as he walked home - probably to a dinner of Mashed Sprouts, as was the rage in the early 70s, he would find a 20A fuse in his pocket which probably explains a letter from the dealer, dated the 9th October, apologising for the fact that then number plate lamp had been found to be non-operational and enclosing a box of Cadbury's Chocolate Trout Flakes as by way of apology. It's well documented that Chocolate in 1973 was still considered a luxury item, as was freshwater fish, so this was indeed a suitable recompense. "

[keef]

Here's my 1974 Vanden Plas Princess.

[quicksilver]

Here's one that caused a massive double-take. How in the world did this 1941 Bedford end up on a B-prefix?

Bedford O type B150 SDC by Gyles Carpenter, on Flickr

[RayMK]

Registration policy was more flexibly interpreted by the authorities back then and the rules were different.  Vehicles which were rebuilt from several donor vehicles did not get a Q plate prior to 1983.  Instead, subject to various rules and requirements, they either retained the registration of the donor chassis or monocoque or, if no registration was known, a registration from spare numbers in a vaguely appropriate sequence was awarded. 'Vaguely' because sometimes the authorities awarded a number relevant to the rebuild date, while at other times the number was from spare numbers in a sequence 'close' to the vehicle manufacture date.  As mentioned in an earlier post, my 1961 Reliant Regal had its original number sold by a previous owner in 1982 and was given a replacement number from a 1963 series i.e. LCM66 was sold and DFH596A was awarded.  Incidentally, LCM66 was sold and put on an Audi Quattro - this amused me  .  Later, it was transferred to a RangeRover and more recently it has been stuck on an IVECO van (still is).

[quicksilver]

A bit of digging suggests this one is a bit different as it only got the B-prefix as recently as 2013. It had obviously been off the road and wasn't on the DVLA system, then it was restored and put back on the road in 1984 under its original reg DWP 40. That reg was transferred off in 2013 (and is now on a Golf) and when issuing a new one the DVLA goons looked at the date of first registration (1984) instead of the date of manufacture (1941) and gave it B150 SDC. It just looks so wrong and I'm surprised it hasn't been re-registered with an age-related mark - I guess it's a talking point as it is.

 

Here it is as DWP 40 in 1990:

Bedford MLD O Type pantechnicon removal lorry DWP40 by Shaun Ballisat, on Flickr

[Sir Snipes]

Had to be a Doovla mistake. Either that or it was a replica built from an 80s chassis or something (mistake seemed more likely).

[JayW]

A friend imported an 8 wheel crane from Eire a few years ago (2007). It was a 1993 but some goon at DiVLA couldn't read and he was given a 53 plate (2003).

 

He didn't ask and no-one ever noticed! It made his business look a little smarter with what appeared to be a nearly new crane!

[Pillock]

Re the Bedford - actually they've done it right haven't they?

 

4WheeledStool's Polo is on a T plate as it hung around before first reg. Similarly there was that Cortina 80 in TC Harrison's that was destined for a 51 plate as it had never been registered.

 

If I buy a car on the 1st September this year it'll be a 67 plate no matter when it was made.

[sheffcortinacentre]

No the cortina if it was ever raged would get an x reg (81)

 

The others are mostly cockups post 83 is when Q plots started for vehicles of undetermined, since the impish 90s if you can prove a vehicles build date a free (non transferable) age related plate will be issued to rectify this sort of thing.

 

My 76 bakkie was on a T reg as it came over in 78 but I had it changed to P reg, I can if i like buy/fit a pre 76 reg & the dvla will remove the free one but i cant sell it on.

[quicksilver]

How about these then? There are three A-reg TR8s in existence (numbers 8, 9 and 10 of the 18 RHD UK-spec cars built). They were sold unregistered at the 1981 auction of the TR8 experimental fleet and didn't get put on the road until 1984. They're not the latest registered TRs though as there is apparently another TR8 out there on a 1986 D-prefix!

 

1981 Triumph TR8 by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

1981 Triumph TR8 by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

1981 Triumph TR8 by Adam Floyd, on Flickr