Using a broken car's reg plate on a restoration - legal?

[chriscoates]

Not sure where to put this - mods move it if necessary.

I have been looking at a Classic Mini which has been fully restored by using parts from two cars, one of which has been broken and scrapped and the other one is the restored donor car that is now for sale. One of the Minis was a 1978, the other (which has been scrapped) was a 1972. The donor car was the 1978, although it has been re-shelled and fully restored. However, it has now been registered using the plate from the scrapped 1972 car which makes it tax-exempt. My question is this - are you allowed to use the plate from the 1972 broken car on the restored car which was originally a 1978? Hope that makes sense!

Any replies greatly appreciated as the car is mint but this issue is worrying me slightly.

Thanks

[chriscoates]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It has already been taxed and MOT'd which surely means that the DVLA have accepted the car as legal and above board?

[rallycross]

It's fine until you get stopped and they decide to thoroughly check the car and then decide to impound it.

The sad thing is loads of mini's are getting stolen, never to be seen again, whilst lots of scrap mini's are being bought simply for their ID - take a guess what happens in between?

[davepoth]

It wouldn't be too much of a problem if there was no gain, but of course a 1972 mini is tax free. I doubt the seller's story; it's most likely he bought a V5 rather than a rusty car.

[Chicarito]

It's amazing how many 1275 EFI Mini Coopers were made in the early 70s....

Same as those prototype Land Rover Defenders which were released around the same time

[Nick3point2]

Providing it had an MOT at the time you could have transferred the plate onto any car. But, it wouldn't be tax exempt. It would only be tax exempt if the car was fraudulently passed off as a 72 model, not a 78 model on a 72 plate.

[TallPaul]

Its legal to reshell a car with a newer bodyshell and retain the older registration, its illegal to reshell with an older bodyshell and use the newer registration.
Interprete that as you wish!

[chriscoates]

TallPaul said:

Its legal to reshell a car with a newer bodyshell and retain the older registration, its illegal to reshell with an older bodyshell and use the newer registration.
Interprete that as you wish!

So on that basis the seller would not be breaking the law as he has used the 78 bodyshell but parts from the 72, and then registered the car as a 72.

What is bothering me the most is that I have seen pictures of the 1978 car before restoration which was on an old T reg, it has then been restored using a broken 72 car and re-registered with an old L plate from that car.

[LooneyTunes]

What does it claim on the V5 as date of first registration?

If it's a 78 car that has been restored then there's no way it can legitimately be before 78, even if it has been re-shelled?

[duncancallum]

Its really common, look on ebay at tax exempt minis. About half are wrong

[Vocal Minority]

I was under the impression that the reigistration plate no. lived with the chassis/monocoque?