adrobinson1969
Member
- Posts
- 14
- Location
- Chesterfield
Right from being a little boy I’d always wanted an old Series Land Rover.
We ran our old Skoda Octavia for 12 years. By the time that it finally came to the end of its life we’d saved enough cash to buy our first new family car outright! My good lady didn’t want me filling the new car with horse manure for our allotment nor did she want me fetching logs for the stove, so I finally got permission to use the cash left over to purchase an old Landie.
I did some research and began looking for a project that was both cheap and could be got running quickly, so that I could use it whilst continuing to make repairs and improvements. I fell in love with a nice little 88 project on Ebay and thought nothing of buying a 1963 vehicle that looked like a Series 3, I was relishing the challenge of refitting the engine to a vehicle (the original engine was in the back). Foolishly I didn’t go and look at the vehicle (the chap had got excellent feedback). The Landie was purchased, delivered, the V5 signed and work began. The tub floor was knackered and I didn’t want the prehistoric gas system. The engine number was located and parts acquired, once running the engine went back in and one happy Land Rover owner was making progress! Then it all unravels, you see I’m the kind of person that naively trusts other folk until they let me down. I need to develop a distrust of folk till they prove trustworthy. Anyway I decided to locate all the serial numbers (VIN, transmission, axles, and chassis). The vehicle has had a replacement chassis fitted and of course there is no chassis number and I have no receipt! Worst still the bulkhead VIN plate didn’t match the V5.
I ponder what to do and eventually decide that honesty is the best policy and I informed DVLA of my vehicles identity crisis. Upshot is DVLA now want to put it on a Q plate and it’ll have to go through an IVA test. The stumbling block is the replaced chassis and my lack of any receipt and proof that it matches the original spec for a Series 3. What I can’t understand is my vehicle has series 3 body work, engine, transmission, and axles, is clearly on leaf springs, so how can the chassis be anything other than to spec?
I have found a four digit number of the chassis, armed with this I contacted Richards Chassis, Designa Chassis, GKN and Marslands Chassis. All of which I will say were has helpful as they could possibly be! I thought for a moment Marslands were about to save my bacon, apparently many years ago for a brief spell they did number their chassis. Unfortunately after a search they called me back to say that the records hadn’t been kept.
I am about to send form V888 to DVLA requesting all info pertaining to my vehicle. I’m going to write to the previous keepers in the hope that someone out there could be sat on a large pile of receipts! I’ve also asked DVLA for a copy of the SGS inspection report. The inspector implied that I had screwed a different VIN plate onto the bulkhead, however am I correct in thinking that Land Rover did screw them onto the bulkhead prior to 1979?
Before my Landie dream comes to an end and I decide to break the vehicle for parts “Does anyone have any helpful suggestions?” Does the Land Rover Club undertake vehicle evaluations and do they have any clout with DVLA?
Finally if you are contemplating buying a Landie don’t be naïve like me, go and see it! Make sure that the V5 matches the vehicle. If it has a galvanised chassis make sure that the chassis number has been stamped on the chassis and that the receipt is amongst the paperwork! AND BE SURE TO TELL DVLA NOTHING.
We ran our old Skoda Octavia for 12 years. By the time that it finally came to the end of its life we’d saved enough cash to buy our first new family car outright! My good lady didn’t want me filling the new car with horse manure for our allotment nor did she want me fetching logs for the stove, so I finally got permission to use the cash left over to purchase an old Landie.
I did some research and began looking for a project that was both cheap and could be got running quickly, so that I could use it whilst continuing to make repairs and improvements. I fell in love with a nice little 88 project on Ebay and thought nothing of buying a 1963 vehicle that looked like a Series 3, I was relishing the challenge of refitting the engine to a vehicle (the original engine was in the back). Foolishly I didn’t go and look at the vehicle (the chap had got excellent feedback). The Landie was purchased, delivered, the V5 signed and work began. The tub floor was knackered and I didn’t want the prehistoric gas system. The engine number was located and parts acquired, once running the engine went back in and one happy Land Rover owner was making progress! Then it all unravels, you see I’m the kind of person that naively trusts other folk until they let me down. I need to develop a distrust of folk till they prove trustworthy. Anyway I decided to locate all the serial numbers (VIN, transmission, axles, and chassis). The vehicle has had a replacement chassis fitted and of course there is no chassis number and I have no receipt! Worst still the bulkhead VIN plate didn’t match the V5.
I ponder what to do and eventually decide that honesty is the best policy and I informed DVLA of my vehicles identity crisis. Upshot is DVLA now want to put it on a Q plate and it’ll have to go through an IVA test. The stumbling block is the replaced chassis and my lack of any receipt and proof that it matches the original spec for a Series 3. What I can’t understand is my vehicle has series 3 body work, engine, transmission, and axles, is clearly on leaf springs, so how can the chassis be anything other than to spec?
I have found a four digit number of the chassis, armed with this I contacted Richards Chassis, Designa Chassis, GKN and Marslands Chassis. All of which I will say were has helpful as they could possibly be! I thought for a moment Marslands were about to save my bacon, apparently many years ago for a brief spell they did number their chassis. Unfortunately after a search they called me back to say that the records hadn’t been kept.
I am about to send form V888 to DVLA requesting all info pertaining to my vehicle. I’m going to write to the previous keepers in the hope that someone out there could be sat on a large pile of receipts! I’ve also asked DVLA for a copy of the SGS inspection report. The inspector implied that I had screwed a different VIN plate onto the bulkhead, however am I correct in thinking that Land Rover did screw them onto the bulkhead prior to 1979?
Before my Landie dream comes to an end and I decide to break the vehicle for parts “Does anyone have any helpful suggestions?” Does the Land Rover Club undertake vehicle evaluations and do they have any clout with DVLA?
Finally if you are contemplating buying a Landie don’t be naïve like me, go and see it! Make sure that the V5 matches the vehicle. If it has a galvanised chassis make sure that the chassis number has been stamped on the chassis and that the receipt is amongst the paperwork! AND BE SURE TO TELL DVLA NOTHING.
