Project car, is it worth it?
Discussion
My 1990 cooper ideally needs a respray and the odd bit of rot sorted out, i'd like a webber air box, lighten it a bit more, sort the wiring etc. For a long time i've wanted to go for a tax exempt shell and do the work to that instead, mainly to get round emission regs, do away with the repeaters and fog light etc, use black plates etc and generally finish preparing it as a hillclimber.
Ive found a car with no mot, 1970, dry suspension and probably less rot than my shell. Its fairly tatty, but would be ideal for a resto job. The seller is adamant he wont take less than £300, and rejected my offer of £150.
Ive got access to a good workshop and some welding expertise so doing the work isnt a problem. The plan is to complete the shell then transfer all the running gear, engine and bits from my car. Looking on ebay, non exempt shells are easily as much, but i havent really got a spare £300 at the mo.
Just looking for some encouragement or wise words.
Ive found a car with no mot, 1970, dry suspension and probably less rot than my shell. Its fairly tatty, but would be ideal for a resto job. The seller is adamant he wont take less than £300, and rejected my offer of £150.
Ive got access to a good workshop and some welding expertise so doing the work isnt a problem. The plan is to complete the shell then transfer all the running gear, engine and bits from my car. Looking on ebay, non exempt shells are easily as much, but i havent really got a spare £300 at the mo.
Just looking for some encouragement or wise words.
If you have the time to wait a while, I would hang on until a really good shell comes along. I made the mistake of spending a lot of time transferring parts from one diabolical shell to a marginally better one which still needs a lot of work to get it right. On the other hand, by brother picked up the genuine "one lady owner, garaged from new, 30,000 mile" immaculate car that was traded in against a Micra. He got it for £100.
Just my $0.02
Just my $0.02
I was given a 998 car, 1971, about 3 years ago. The shell was not too bad, but I couldn't be bothered to do the welding. I scrapped the shell, but still have SORN declared and have given the V5 and associated documentation away to a friend (who posts on here!).
He is going to use the identity on a completely re-built car in 'as new' condition.
Hang in there, you'll find one at the right price if you keep on looking. I'll ask around down here.
Peter
He is going to use the identity on a completely re-built car in 'as new' condition.
Hang in there, you'll find one at the right price if you keep on looking. I'll ask around down here.
Peter
And if you get caught 
with the identity of a car, the authorities are liable to shag you up the ass. Read the back of a V5. £2000 fine and max 2 years in prison. Everyone buggers about with V5's and gets away with it. If it can be proved that you are a repeat offender, they will root you something chronic.
I would stay away from ebay V5's. I know for a fact that the DVLA are clamping down on this.
with the identity of a car, the authorities are liable to shag you up the ass. Read the back of a V5. £2000 fine and max 2 years in prison. Everyone buggers about with V5's and gets away with it. If it can be proved that you are a repeat offender, they will root you something chronic. I would stay away from ebay V5's. I know for a fact that the DVLA are clamping down on this.
healthy and emphatic advice there love machine. I was just curious if you can get hold of vin plates, i thought dvla had made that difficult, i know theyve tightened up on number plates now. It would be extremely stupid if i were to bang a dodgy set of plates on mine particularly as the insurance company have photos and do cross referencing to clamp down on fraud. In that light a £300 shell is not such a bad prospect. Isnt there plans to tax cars even if declared sorn?
haynes said:
healthy and emphatic advice there love machine. I was just curious if you can get hold of vin plates, i thought dvla had made that difficult, i know theyve tightened up on number plates now. It would be extremely stupid if i were to bang a dodgy set of plates on mine particularly as the insurance company have photos and do cross referencing to clamp down on fraud. In that light a £300 shell is not such a bad prospect. Isnt there plans to tax cars even if declared sorn?
Getting a VIN plate is easy with the V5 - there are a couple of companies who will make new ones up for you as long as you show them the V5, and it's not remotely illegal to re-shell a car - what the DVLA are pissed off with is people juist swapping V5s onto complete cars that already have identities IIRC. Reshelling and re-building a wreck is not going to get you into trouble.
If you have a V5 and a load of bits, including the chassis plates, then you buy a new Heritage shell and re-build it, there should be no problem. Just don't take the piss that's all.
The car for which I gave away the V5 has a continuous history and was declared SORN 2 years ago and re-SORN'd each year. Thus, when tax is applied for there should be no problem. Th re-built car will be identical in colour, have a new shell and be otherwise fully restored.
The DVLA have no problems with the use of Heritage shells for Minis or MGB's. I think the problem is where you use a collecton of spare parts to build up a car with the intention of defrauding them into believing the car is pre-73 (so tax exempt) when in fact it's a much later car. A 'ringer' in fact.
I've built many historic rally cars and never had a problem registering them, even when I've used different shells, as all the numbers matched, Mk 1's had Mk1 shells (see how many Mk1's now have Mk3 shells, but early reg docs.).
If you have a 1971 V5 for a 998 and a better shell, don't start off changing to a 1275 engine and painting it a different colour, that invites suspicion. rebuild it as a 998 in the same colour. Change the engine details later, but stick with the original colour and, if possible, trim.
So, play the game and you'll be OK, take the piss and expect a problem.
The car for which I gave away the V5 has a continuous history and was declared SORN 2 years ago and re-SORN'd each year. Thus, when tax is applied for there should be no problem. Th re-built car will be identical in colour, have a new shell and be otherwise fully restored.
The DVLA have no problems with the use of Heritage shells for Minis or MGB's. I think the problem is where you use a collecton of spare parts to build up a car with the intention of defrauding them into believing the car is pre-73 (so tax exempt) when in fact it's a much later car. A 'ringer' in fact.
I've built many historic rally cars and never had a problem registering them, even when I've used different shells, as all the numbers matched, Mk 1's had Mk1 shells (see how many Mk1's now have Mk3 shells, but early reg docs.).
If you have a 1971 V5 for a 998 and a better shell, don't start off changing to a 1275 engine and painting it a different colour, that invites suspicion. rebuild it as a 998 in the same colour. Change the engine details later, but stick with the original colour and, if possible, trim.
So, play the game and you'll be OK, take the piss and expect a problem.
What's the deal with registering the car if you buy a new bodyshell from Heritage? Can you swap the identity from either the '90 or '70 vehicles onto the new shell or does it have to registered as a whole seperate vehicle?
Anyone got a guess-timate of how much it would cost to build a brand new Mini from a Heritage shell using new bits (engine from a reputible building, fresh subframes, brakes and standard-ish but new interior)? Could you SVA it as a new vehicle (ie. '54' number plate)?
Anyone got a guess-timate of how much it would cost to build a brand new Mini from a Heritage shell using new bits (engine from a reputible building, fresh subframes, brakes and standard-ish but new interior)? Could you SVA it as a new vehicle (ie. '54' number plate)?
Building from scratch would be very expensive and time consuming. You would have difficulty in sourcing some parts which are NLA from rover and not re-manufactured by anyone else. In theory you could do this and, except for the shell, I think I have virtually done this with my 1990 Cooper rally car.
I have not costed it yet, but at list price for all the bits, and without shell, glass, suspension bits, trim set, carpets, front sub-frame, nuts & bolts, etc, I reckon I've spent about £4,000. This includes certain parts for rally use, like the Brantz trip Computer, sump guard, roll cage, Super-Oscar spots.
Remember, if building from scratch you will find silly little shortages, like trim clips, odd bits of rubber seal, nuts and bolts, etc. My advice is to always use a donor car as the basis.
If you did build from scratch, I don't really know what the registration rules are, but I suspect you would get a 'Q' plate. That's after a comprehensive vehicle examination by the 'appropriate officials' who would be looking for the scam, if there was one.
I have not costed it yet, but at list price for all the bits, and without shell, glass, suspension bits, trim set, carpets, front sub-frame, nuts & bolts, etc, I reckon I've spent about £4,000. This includes certain parts for rally use, like the Brantz trip Computer, sump guard, roll cage, Super-Oscar spots.
Remember, if building from scratch you will find silly little shortages, like trim clips, odd bits of rubber seal, nuts and bolts, etc. My advice is to always use a donor car as the basis.
If you did build from scratch, I don't really know what the registration rules are, but I suspect you would get a 'Q' plate. That's after a comprehensive vehicle examination by the 'appropriate officials' who would be looking for the scam, if there was one.
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