It must be ok - they did it on the television . . . .

[restoman]

Watched the first episode of the new series of 'Salvage Hunters - Classic Cars' last night. They went to look at a Fiat 500 that had been off the road for 4 years having failed its MOT on 'significant corrosion'. They took it for a test drive and the commentator explained that this perfectly ok as the car was now MOT exempt . . . . . . . .

Edited by restoman on Thursday 9th January 17:39

[williamp]

Shouldnt the Ro80 have white/yellow plates too??

[Ardennes92]

markymarkthree said:

williamp said:

Shouldnt the Ro80 have white/yellow plates too??

Depends how old it is.

Reflective plates were optional from 68 and compulsory from 73, the NSU was on a P plate but don’t think they mentioned actual year of manufacture, unfortunately “historic status” has muddied the waters as it is now possible to have vehicles with “silver” plates that weren’t allowed when new!

[markymarkthree]

williamp said:

Shouldnt the Ro80 have white/yellow plates too??

I guess it will be fine as the NSU RO80 ceased production in 1977 so they should all be ok for B&W plates.

[Jagmanv12]

williamp said:

Shouldnt the Ro80 have white/yellow plates too??

I thought that as well.

Regs state : "Vehicles manufactured after 1 January 1973 must display
number plates:
•
made of a reflective material
•
with a white background at the front of the vehicle
and a yellow background at the back of the vehicle
•
with black letters and numbers."

[markymarkthree]

Ardennes92 said:

markymarkthree said:

williamp said:

Shouldnt the Ro80 have white/yellow plates too??

Depends how old it is.

Reflective plates were optional from 68 and compulsory from 73, the NSU was on a P plate but don’t think they mentioned actual year of manufacture, unfortunately “historic status” has muddied the waters as it is now possible to have vehicles with “silver” plates that weren’t allowed when new!

If the vehicle is over 40 years old then B&W are ok, it rolls along like tax exemption. It wont be long till Sierra owners can have black and white plates if they fancy.

[shovelheadrob]

restoman said:

Watched the first episode of the new series of 'Salvage Hunters - Classic Cars' last night. They went to look at a Fiat 500 that had been off the road for 4 years having failed its MOT on 'significant corrosion'. They took it for a test drive and the commentator explained that this perfectly ok as the car was now MOT exempt . . . . . . . .

Edited by restoman on Thursday 9th January 17:39

Sounds legit, they're obviously not concerned about construction & use regs then.

[mbwoy84]

The 500 was checked over and a couple of parts changed before they drove it on the road. They don’t actually just turn up with a full camera crew without having bought the car and checked everything out thoroughly first. So physically it was fine, but as an advert to send out it does still look bad suggesting it might be ok just to wheel out a car that failed its MOT some years prior and just drive it on the road.

[droopsnoot]

Oh, I hadn't realised there was a new series. Not sure whether I regret missing it or not, the previous ones weren't that good, but every now and then there was an interesting bit.

[Jimmy Recard]

markymarkthree said:

If the vehicle is over 40 years old then B&W are ok, it rolls along like tax exemption. It wont be long till Sierra owners can have black and white plates if they fancy.

It’s a real shame. It looks so wrong on cars that wouldn’t have had it new.

I saw a T-reg Range Rover with them. Obviously earlier ones could have had it so the car itself looked fine, but seeing a black and silver T-reg jarred

[Keep it stiff]

markymarkthree said:

If the vehicle is over 40 years old then B&W are ok, it rolls along like tax exemption. It wont be long till Sierra owners can have black and white plates if they fancy.

Really? I thought that the B&W eligibility date was fixed in line with the date that yellow was originally introduced.

[Jimmy Recard]

Keep it stiff said:

Really? I thought that the B&W eligibility date was fixed in line with the date that yellow was originally introduced.

Unfortunately it seems to have been more recently pegged to the tax and MOT exemption

[Wooda80]

restoman said:

Watched the first episode of the new series of 'Salvage Hunters - Classic Cars' last night. They went to look at a Fiat 500 that had been off the road for 4 years having failed its MOT on 'significant corrosion'. They took it for a test drive and the commentator explained that this perfectly ok as the car was now MOT exempt . . . . . . . .

Edited by restoman on Thursday 9th January 17:39

I wouldn't take it at face value that the programme's scenes are shot in the same order that they are broadcast.

The pre-purchase test drive always seems to take place on similar rural roads irrespective of where the car was found.

I doubt they send a full film crew out on all of Drew's ( or that Mike Brewer's ) buying expeditions unless the purchase has been agreed in advance and they probably only do the test drive scene after the car has been delivered to the workshops and made reliable / vaguely roadworthy.

Similarly with Homes Under The Hammer, can you imagine if they did the pre-renovation walk around speculatively, then went to the auction and found that either the property didn't sell or the purchaser didn't want to take part.

Edited by Wooda80 on Thursday 9th January 19:14

[restoman]

mbwoy84 said:

The 500 was checked over and a couple of parts changed before they drove it on the road. They don’t actually just turn up with a full camera crew without having bought the car and checked everything out thoroughly first. So physically it was fine, but as an advert to send out it does still look bad suggesting it might be ok just to wheel out a car that failed its MOT some years prior and just drive it on the road.

That may or may not be the case. The point is, they gave the impression that what they appeared to do was perfectly ok.

[grumpy52]

Wooda80 said:

restoman said:

Watched the first episode of the new series of 'Salvage Hunters - Classic Cars' last night. They went to look at a Fiat 500 that had been off the road for 4 years having failed its MOT on 'significant corrosion'. They took it for a test drive and the commentator explained that this perfectly ok as the car was now MOT exempt . . . . . . . .

Edited by restoman on Thursday 9th January 17:39

I wouldn't take it at face value that the programme's scenes are shot in the same order that they are broadcast.

The pre-purchase test drive always seems to take place on similar rural roads irrespective of where the car was found.

I doubt they send a full film crew out on all of Drew's ( or that Mike Brewer's ) buying expeditions unless the purchase has been agreed in advance and they probably only do the test drive scene after the car has been delivered to the workshops and made reliable / vaguely roadworthy.

Similarly with Homes Under The Hammer, can you imagine if they did the pre-renovation walk around speculatively, then went to the auction and found that either the property didn't sell or the purchaser didn't want to take part.

Edited by Wooda80 on Thursday 9th January 19:14

On Homes under the Hammer often the "experts" doing the after valuations aren't even in the housing game.

[singlecoil]

Jimmy Recard said:

markymarkthree said:

If the vehicle is over 40 years old then B&W are ok, it rolls along like tax exemption. It wont be long till Sierra owners can have black and white plates if they fancy.

It’s a real shame. It looks so wrong on cars that wouldn’t have had it new.

I saw a T-reg Range Rover with them. Obviously earlier ones could have had it so the car itself looked fine, but seeing a black and silver T-reg jarred

I think the people who rejoice n B&W plates on a car that would not have had them when new are too young to remember them when they were new. I am not too young and I think they look awful.

[Dogwatch]

singlecoil said:

I think the people who rejoice n B&W plates on a car that would not have had them when new are too young to remember them when they were new. I am not too young and I think they look awful.

As has been pointed out on previous threads, once reflective plates came in they rapidly became standard on new cars as the B&w ones were so 'yesterday'. Then of course, as with LEDs today, people wanted to upgrade their existing plates to the new style. The ones left behind were often old heaps with maybe one or more of the riveted characters having fallen off and been badly rewritten in white paint!

[AMGSee55]

Jimmy Recard said:

Keep it stiff said:

Really? I thought that the B&W eligibility date was fixed in line with the date that yellow was originally introduced.

Unfortunately it seems to have been more recently pegged to the tax and MOT exemption

Indeed - law changed in April 2019 seemingly.

[droopsnoot]

AMGSee55 said:

Jimmy Recard said:

Keep it stiff said:

Really? I thought that the B&W eligibility date was fixed in line with the date that yellow was originally introduced.

Unfortunately it seems to have been more recently pegged to the tax and MOT exemption

Indeed - law changed in April 2019 seemingly.

No, it was before that, it's just that it gets updated every April with the jumping point of the VED exemption. I believe that the two were linked while VED was stuck on the same eligibility date, wording was changed which linked them together as there was no prospect (at the time) of the VED cut-off date changing. When it did, it brought the plates date with it.

[texaxile]

droopsnoot said:

No, it was before that, it's just that it gets updated every April with the jumping point of the VED exemption. I believe that the two were linked while VED was stuck on the same eligibility date, wording was changed which linked them together as there was no prospect (at the time) of the VED cut-off date changing. When it did, it brought the plates date with it.

That's cleared it up, cheers.

I would hope to think that a lot of us classic enthusiasts and owners are purists in the sense of numberplates. Just because they can be black doesn't meant that they should be. When mine rolls over to 40 years old next year I'll keep the original dealer plates it has with it. A 79 Datsun for example would look gash with black plates, but they suit stuff like early Rover P6's.