Reshell or not?

[VDPFan!]

Longtime no postie!! But I hope to makeup for it now!!

I'm planning to restore my metro VP 500 at some point in the future and have already stated to collect parts I know I'll need. The shell is most likley completey rotten, so i was wondering what effect it would have on the car's real identity if I were to find a suitable replacement body shell? I know the car wouldn't be 100% original anymore, but what difference would it make to the log book and vin number etc??

Cheers
Rich

[MGTurbo]

Obtain a new shell and you can keep the VIN and I.d of the original. Use a 2nd hand shell and your left with the I.D of the donor or a Q plate. Check out the DVLA website for more info.

Gareth

[Mat_C]

To cut a very very very long story very short.

If you use a shell that has previously been registered with the DVLA, then you end up on a Q plate.

If the shell was never registered with the DVLA - you can legally transfer VIN and plate.

The law regarding re-shelling is such an a*se which makes it not worth doing it legitmally! Very short-sighted laws I'm afraid.

[Mat_C]

Sorry to repeat gareth - we posted at the same time!

[matthewsemple]

How come I know of several cars that have been reshelled that still wear their original number plates?

[MGTurbo]

Simple. To retain the I.D the points are as above. You cannot re-use a 2nd hand shell that's been registered in the past. If you use a new shell you must retain a certain amount of parts to keep the I.D./Reg No. And thats it. There are no other ways around it. You cannot transfer the number plate from one to the other either, that would be illegal.

Gareth

[MGTurbo]

Just curious, what cars do you know of that have been 'reshelled' but use the same plates?

To add to this, my car does not fall into this category, as it's rebuild involved the use of a shell that had NOT been previously registered or used on the public highway.

Gareth

[tony]

Originally posted by Mat_C
To cut a very very very long story very short.

If you use a shell that has previously been registered with the DVLA, then you end up on a Q plate.

If the shell was never registered with the DVLA - you can legally transfer VIN and plate.

The law regarding re-shelling is such an a*se which makes it not worth doing it legitmally! Very short-sighted laws I'm afraid.
as quoted if it is a new shell,you can transplant,all the mechanicals over by doing that it is still classed as your orignal car ,just like changing your engine, or gearbox or w.h.y,
if it has been registered before you are cloning your new shell to your registraion and the chassy number will be wrong to your log book
hope it helps

[matthewsemple]

Surely this is quite simple. You put your old registration on a retention certificate whilst you do the reshelling then scrap the old car and then transfer old reg from the certificate to your new car.

This is quite legal but of course it does not enable you to keep your VIN - however if you intend to keep your car for a while and it is not worth much anyway, who cares? In any case the V5 will now show the old plate and new VIN and would match your car and no-one would be any the wiser. When I have moved my "MAT 99V" plate a new plate was assigned to the old car and the V5 does not have any mention that the car was originally registered as something else or that it once carried the MAT99V plate.

Now I've never reshelled a car but if I had this is how I would do it to keep the original plates. The only hitch is that the donor vehicle has to have a valid MOT to enable the plate to be transferred but if you put it on retention whilst its still got an MOT there is no problem.

New bodyshells that have never been used on the road must be almost impossible to get hold of I would imagine taht a few people would consider using an 2.0i to restore their Turbo.

[matthewsemple]

And another thing. A friend of mine bought a recon engine for his car (not a Maestro) and the engine was the same basic spcification and size but not from the same model.

Anyway when he had it fitted by a back-street garage he wrote to the DVLA and told them the new engine number. They sent him back his V5 with the engine number from his recon engine and it had no note or comment to mention that it was not the original engine.

You would have to have a pretty keen eye or access to the manufacturers records to spot that the engine had been changed.

My friend had no intention of deceiving anyone and just wanted a better engine because the old one was knackered and he expected the DVLA to make note of the engine swap.

So the DVLA are actually helping people who do want to deceive by legitimsing potentially dodgy engine swaps and the like. Equally no-one is doing anyone any harm when they replace a rotten shell with a nice solid one - so why not keep your old number plates and engine?

[Mat_C]

Two points regarding just transferring the number plate - firsly, for example, reshelling an turbo into a 2.0i - the resulting car would NOT be registered as an Maestro Turbo on the V5 certificate etc. Secondly, the car would also be a heavily modified 2.0i - insurance companies would take you to the cleaners. Even the Ledbury Maestros are classed as kit cars and attract a 20% increase with some insurers!.

The DVLA rules are intended to stop ringing etc and I can see no reason why an exemption cannot be made if you own both cars. But that involves too muchg common sense unfortunately!

[VDPFan!]

err, I think I'll try t keep the original shell,unless anyone knows where I might find a new one??

[John S]

Hi VDP Fan!

Did you get the air con fitted to any of your Montegos? What's it like?

[D87 SMW]

Air con in a Monty,... brilliant! :)

[threelitre]

Originally posted by M170 RFA
Hi VDP Fan!

Did you get the air con fitted to any of your Montegos? What's it like?

Hi!

Wasn't the A/C for the Metro?

About reshelling: The regulations here in Germany are about the same. But then - if you own both cars, why not reshell and try too keep all the panels with numbers from the old one? I know it is barely legal, but it has been done before and will certainly be done in the future. If you do it properly it will be hard to notice even for experts. The only problem: If the panels with the numbers stamped in are so rotten that the numbers have rotten away, then you'll have difficulties to keep them...

Regards,
Alexander

[VDPFan!]

I'm afraid the air-con Monty hasn't happened since I bought a 1990 Rover Steling with everything fitted, including a/c & electirc rear seats! I've still got all the bits thought if anyone is interested? Of course the compressor, recevier/drier etc will need replacing as they've been open to the atomosphere, but importantly all the mountings and under dash bits are there, in fact it might be easier to hook up the blower and controls to the ready fitted air-con system on a rover 820 engine if anyone is considering a transplant. I think this might work on a maestro too!?

Hi three-litre! You;re right, I've now also got a complete, oroginal and boxed air-con kit for my Metro VP 500 thanks to you and a cross channel voyage! I plan to fit this to the car when I get round to restoring it (hopefully next year).

You might all guess I've got a thing about air-con, but it's particularly useful in car with leather seats like all the VP's and it's great to be able to waft along in climate controlled luxury!!!

[threelitre]

Originally posted by VDPFan!
You might all guess I've got a thing about air-con, but it's particularly useful in car with leather seats like all the VP's and it's great to be able to waft along in climate controlled luxury!!!

Hi Rich!

I know, our 216 GSi has leather and air-con. But it really does not help much for the 10min drive to work or home, when the sun had been heating the driver's seat for hours... And for the winter there is a seat heating :-) On longer journeys, or humid weather, the A/C is very nice to have. I was tempted to take the Metro system and put it in the Maestro, but it would not have fitted anyway...

Regards,
Alexander