lancelot link wrote:
...you retain a classic car status the MEV offerings cant achieve ..yet ...so they work for me !!
Often , the best route is to buy a 'wreck' and refurb it ...you know what you have then ...most MX5's will need a degree of refurb by now too ...
Avoiding IVA and retaining classic car status is priceless as far as I am concerned ...
Under UK legislation the MEV Replicar has to be registered as a 'new' car, just like any other vehicle built up on a new* or modified chassis, so subject to the compulsory IVA test.
*The rules allow for a new replacement chassis
exactly like the original to be used and the car won't need IVA and will still retain its full classic status.
As the MEV uses the major components, engine, gearbox, axles, steering etc, from a donor car, it
can be allocated an age related number plate on registration.
That number plate will be linked to the year of manufacture of the donor though, so reflective plates and 1989 'G' prefix to '05' current style for a mk1, 2 or 2.5 MX5.
You'll also be paying a minimum of £235 per year road tax until at least the year 2029, so that's another £2,820 ownership cost to factor in for the oldest MX5 donor even if the Government
never puts the price of road tax up (they wouldn't do
that, would they?)
Just something else to think about when you're paying a lot of money for a classic replica that doesn't seem to be mentioned on kit manufacturer's sites that use a new or modified chassis as a base, I'm thinking MEV, Chesil, Caterham etc. THAT ALLOCATED NUMBER CANNOT BE TRANSFERRED, YOU'RE STUCK WITH IT.
Manufacturers that use historic vehicle drivetrains, typically old Jag engines like Suffolk Sports Cars and AS Motorsport, are able to have a suitable historic registration allocated as the donor engine will qualify it, and your basic plod isn't going to notice that it shouldn't be wearing black plates unless they're a
very anally retentive traffic cop (there are quite a few of those though).
But again, that plate can't be transferred so you couldn't, for example, pay a million pounds for the registration 'DBR 1' and then transfer it to your (admittedly lovely) AS Motorsports replica -
http://www.asmotorsport.co.uk/index.html
MX5 donors? I had a mk1 MX5 1.8 when it was seven years old. It broke down a lot and was difficult to fix. It was also very skittish in the dry and downright dangerous in the wet as it had far more power than grip.
The motoring press loved them because they spend most of their time going sideways on race tracks, which is exciting.
Unintentionally going sideways on the A17 in winter when there's a truck coming the other way is also exciting, but in the same way that being shot at is exciting. From experience, that is the sort of exciting that only kicks in if you survive. I sold it because it was too exciting.
I'll be sticking with old Triumphs for my donors. Guess I'll just have to put up with the transferable historic registrations, legitimate use of black and white plates, £29.99 annual MOT fee, zero charge historic road tax, huge availability of spares, etc, etc, etc...
eep:
