What happened to all the q plate cars?
What happened to all the q plate cars?
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Discussion

dirky dirk

Original Poster:

3,456 posts

201 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
quotequote all
New thread started With readers on now. Lol


Wasn’t it stuff they couldn’t actually be sure of what it was previously?


How come you don’t see them anymore
When did the legislation change and what to?

Louis Balfour

28,176 posts

253 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
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There is a Q plate jag that knocks around locally.

Doofus

34,607 posts

204 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
quotequote all
dirky dirk said:
New thread started With readers on now. Lol


Wasn’t it stuff they couldn’t actually be sure of what it was previously?


How come you don’t see them anymore
When did the legislation change and what to?
IVA and the lingering death of the kit car industry.

tribbles

4,175 posts

253 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
quotequote all
Q is still valid, however quite a few people don't like Q plates, so try to get the car registered without a Q plate.

I have a kit car, and due to it being built mostly out of new parts, it wasn't on a Q plate.

Also, many of the Q plates tend to be, let's say, ropey, and have probably fallen apart by now!

I was wondering if the clamp-down on incorrectly registered cars would've had an effect, but I think most of them were kept on their original plates, so wouldn't have been Q.

Turn7

25,775 posts

252 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
quotequote all
Doofus said:
dirky dirk said:
New thread started With readers on now. Lol


Wasn’t it stuff they couldn’t actually be sure of what it was previously?


How come you don’t see them anymore
When did the legislation change and what to?
IVA and the lingering death of the kit car industry.
I’m not sure it’s a lingering death as much as nil by mouth today sadly

Doofus

34,607 posts

204 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
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Turn7 said:
I’m not sure it’s a lingering death as much as nil by mouth today sadly
Fair enough. But it took a few years of decline to get to this point

Turn7

25,775 posts

252 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
quotequote all
Doofus said:
Turn7 said:
I’m not sure it’s a lingering death as much as nil by mouth today sadly
Fair enough. But it took a few years of decline to get to this point


Oh yeah, I agree. Different age customer with increasingly difficult legislation to fight against ….

End of an industry pretty much

rockandrollmark

1,181 posts

254 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
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As it happens I saw a series III landy on a Q plate today.

Turn7

25,775 posts

252 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
quotequote all
rockandrollmark said:
As it happens I saw a series III landy on a Q plate today.
Most likely a S3 on a coiler chassis…

sixor8

8,649 posts

299 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
quotequote all
I've seen a few but not many recently. The Quantum, Vindicator and Westfield kit cars used to be built quite near to me.

The otherwis 'normal' cars with Q plates were often stolen recovered cars where the scrotes had ground off the chassis numbers in preparation for creating a ringer or chopping for parts. If the age can't be determined, it gets a Q. I once built a Robin Hood 7 kit car and because there were enough parts from the donor car, it got a B plate from the Sierra. There used to be 5pts for the axle, 2 pts for the diff etc with a certain number of points required. This was over 20 years ago though so it may have changed. smile

There's a TVR on a Q plate knocking about somewhere. I also read about somebody ending up with a Q plate Lotus Elan because he informed DVLA of a new chassis instead of just stamping the new one with the original no. OOps!

pistolpedro

271 posts

198 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
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Strangely a Q plate A Class (W176) drove past me the other day, I would say it’s been over twenty years since I’ve seen another on the road.

Fast Fords from the 80’s are my first thought when I think of them

230TE

2,506 posts

217 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
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One of my customers has a Defender on a Q plate. It was stolen and recovered at some point in its earlier life, but its original identity had been completely obliterated (numbers ground off everything including axles) so there was no way to determine the date of manufacture. Hence the Q plate.

Q registered vehicles are deemed to have been manufactured in 1975 for MoT emissions testing purposes. That is rather handy with an old Land Rover.

dhutch

17,919 posts

228 months

Saturday 2nd July 2022
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This was todays job. Q-Plate from new in 1991 due to mixed age parts. No worries or issues.


Chubbyross

5,011 posts

116 months

Sunday 3rd July 2022
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rockandrollmark said:
As it happens I saw a series III landy on a Q plate today.
Ex-military, possibly. I used to have an ex-army lightweight Landrover on a q plate.

230TE

2,506 posts

217 months

Sunday 3rd July 2022
quotequote all
Chubbyross said:
Ex-military, possibly. I used to have an ex-army lightweight Landrover on a q plate.
So did I. Q330 JWU, back in 1987. It's not on the DVLA system any more, so either been scrapped or re-registered on an age related plate. Most of those ex-military Land Rovers should never have been Q-plated in the first place.

rix

2,963 posts

221 months

Sunday 3rd July 2022
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A question that just popped into my mind - do q plate cars ever benefit from historic (exempt from) VED or MOT rules? E.g. the date the Q plate was assigned could be assumed to be the minimum age of the vehicle?

m3jappa

6,950 posts

249 months

Sunday 3rd July 2022
quotequote all
I've thought this as well.

I remember in the late 90's early 2000's there were quite a few about. I thought they were q as there were parts of unknown origin on them which couldn't be proven to be legitimate.

I suppose the police maybe used to look at these things? It seems now all they look at is speed and not a lot else.

Doofus

34,607 posts

204 months

Sunday 3rd July 2022
quotequote all
m3jappa said:
I've thought this as well.

I remember in the late 90's early 2000's there were quite a few about. I thought they were q as there were parts of unknown origin on them which couldn't be proven to be legitimate.

I suppose the police maybe used to look at these things? It seems now all they look at is speed and not a lot else.
Q plates were issued where the age of a vehicle couldn't be determined because the major components came from different sources. It's not that they weren't 'legitimate'.

Court_S

14,815 posts

208 months

Sunday 3rd July 2022
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Nothing more to add other than I’ve not seen one for ages, in fact, I can’t remember the last time I did see one.

m3jappa

6,950 posts

249 months

Sunday 3rd July 2022
quotequote all
Doofus said:
m3jappa said:
I've thought this as well.

I remember in the late 90's early 2000's there were quite a few about. I thought they were q as there were parts of unknown origin on them which couldn't be proven to be legitimate.

I suppose the police maybe used to look at these things? It seems now all they look at is speed and not a lot else.
Q plates were issued where the age of a vehicle couldn't be determined because the major components came from different sources. It's not that they weren't 'legitimate'.
You learn something new everyday smile i thought it was when parts had numbers ground off etc.