TVR as a kit car???
Discussion
Er yes - in the day before VAT it was a common tax dodge, so many cars were offered for home assembly. In the oldest TVR thread http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... Chris71 says his dad built one of the last Vixen Kits. There was a story that one of the M's may have been a kit.
ETA Actually Chris says it was a 1600M not a Vixen!
ETA Actually Chris says it was a 1600M not a Vixen!
Edited by tvrgaas on Tuesday 29th April 13:46
vixen said:
A "TVR kit" was actually a fully built car!
The only thing you needed to do was to place the front suspension
and some small stuff. Everything else like engine,interior,windows etc.
was already finished.
On the picture you can see how the "kit" was delivered to the TVR dealership.
That's a really evocative photo ,very pleasant The only thing you needed to do was to place the front suspension
and some small stuff. Everything else like engine,interior,windows etc.
was already finished.
On the picture you can see how the "kit" was delivered to the TVR dealership.
..tvrgaas said:
Er yes - in the day before VAT it was a common tax dodge, so many cars were offered for home assembly. In the oldest TVR thread http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... Chris71 says his dad built one of the last Vixen Kits. There was a story that one of the M's may have been a kit.
ETA Actually Chris says it was a 1600M not a Vixen!
VAT was intoduced in Feb. 1972 (I think,if not,certainly 1973). Before that we had Purchase Tax (PT). The thing is, PT was levied on complete items such as cars, but not on parts. So by supplying a so-called kit, no tax was payable on the purchase. ETA Actually Chris says it was a 1600M not a Vixen!
Edited by tvrgaas on Tuesday 29th April 13:46
This represented a considerable saving for the impecunious enthusiast who was prepared and able to complete the car himself. IIRC, you could take your new Lotus to the dealer for a free check-over when it was built.
When VAT replaced PT in the UK, it was levied on parts as well as completed items. This meant it was only marginally cheaper to supply an almost completed kit than it was to supply the finished car. Hence the bottom fell out of the kit-car market and the likes of TVR and Lotus stopped supplying them.
I remember adverts in the magazines, urging people to place their orders before the start of the dreaded VAT. Incidentally, this was done to bring us into line with the EEC, as it was called then. Thanks, Brussels!!
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