Spotted in Croydon

[chubbyschum]

Ideally then it will be best for me to restore vehicle and transfer plate and sell seperately.

[CHR15E]

It hasn't been taxed/sorn in quite some time according to DVLA.

Date of Liability 01 06 2007

[Very Tall Brad]

Ideally then it will be best for me to restore vehicle and transfer plate and sell seperately.

I agree, providing that you are happy to potentially pay out quite a sum to restore the car to the road and not recover that money when you come to sell the car. And, more relevant, that you will be ALLOWED to transfer the plate. I think the fact it has been untaxed and not SORN'd either for the past 4 years not only leaves the current owner open to a fine from the DVLA but also means that any rights to transfer appear to have been forfeited.

I sincerely hope that this isn't the case for you and hope other Forum members will now step in to give their advice about this. Does anyone know more than me about the entanglements of unlicensed cars and transferring number plates?

Brad

[schuwolf]

I am afraid that I know very little about transfer of number plates, but I have just paid out nearly £900 to have my main fuse board re-soldered, diagnostic check carried out on the ABS, wheel speed sensor changed, new rear calipers, discs and pads, service and MOT. The garage I use is, I believe, reasonable regarding costs and standard of works. Last year I had a new cat and stainless steel exhaust and 2 new tyres fitted, total cost of about £520. Unfortunately I no longer have the space (garage) to carry out works myself.

My point is that, although my car is used regualrly, and looked after, it still costs a lot of money to keep it legal and roadworthy. Something I am prepared to bear as I feel it is worth the effort to me. But, without knowing what actually needs to be done to the Sterling, something which a MOT test for example would show, it is difficult to estimate cost of recomissioning the vehicle. Possibly best left to an enthusiast with a stock of spares and the passion and ability to carry out the work required.

BTW John, I hope your Mother is well

[Very Tall Brad]

Nice points, Brian.

An unused car will immediately need a set of tyres and discs (due to pitting). There's £500 straight off before tackling anything else like seized calipers, rusted out radiator, rusty sills. The 45 mile car I bought last year (which has now done 54 miles) has had £1500 spent already just to get it safe again (tyres, discs, radiator, cambelt, water pump) and that was dry stored for 20 years in a heated environment. Under use, as Richard Moss has said in the past, kills cars quicker than over use.

In my experience, this car would need the same £1500 spent before even looking at cosmetics, paintwork, wheel refurbishment and cleaning

[Very Tall Brad]

And then only be worth about £600 to £1000 fully recommissioned with a years MoT. That's cars for you!

[schuwolf]

I agree, Brad. Although superficially it looks ok, the fact that it has stood for 4 years, in the open, without any attention (or very little) would seem to infer the matters you mention would need addressing.

As an aside, my car has covered a tad over 43K, but I still need to re-furbish the wheels and compound the entire bodywork before Bromley.

[chubbyschum]

Thanks for the enquiry about Mum she is still very active although now safely in a home... the Bungalow became too much for her and she kept losing her keys and locking herself in and eventually it just became too much of a problem and we all worried when she was alone and not answering door or telephone. It was her 88th birthday last wednesday (23rd) so she has not done too bad, She always liked powerful cars and used to drive dad down to my brothers at some incredible speeds. She used to have a Capri 3.0 Ltr Ghia I think it was a 1973 L Reg in red and it was a shock not to see a boy racer in it.

[Nuts4my827]

Glad you made it to the site John. It really is a nice car, and should you need any help/info getting it up to spec, dont hesitate to ask. Brad who you have spoken to is a real (biggest??) enthusiast for this car, and it has him or myself I was thinking of when i came to see you last year.

1st Thing I would recommend doing is getting that window up!!

As said, Brian and I are local, and more than willing to help if Brad doesnt take this on.

If you need to contact me, PM me with your No...


Cheers. Phil B

[schuwolf]

Thanks for the update on your Mum John. I was getting worried as there was no reply on occassions when I went round for another chat and cup of tea. We had an interesting natter about cars etc. I got the impression that she was a 'bit of a girl' in her days. She did misplace her keys when I was there, but found them in another door. I hope she has settled in the home. Wish her a belated happy birthday for me.

As Phil has said, we can help but Brad has a passion for these cars.

[Richard Moss]

I think that there is a lot of guff talked about reg plate values, and this is why.

Given that a plate can only be transferred if the donor car is MOTed and taxed (or recently SORNed), then the value of a plate on a car which has no MOT is precisely: £0 (in my opinion).

I say this because the cost of getting the car MOTed (and then taxed if the last disc expired more than 12 months ago) is unknown.

If the objective is just to get an MOT then the old tyres may well be road legal (if not really safe), you may get away with freeing up the brakes and cleaning off the calipers (I did on the mk1 Sterling that I bought from Brad) and if you're handy with your spanners then you may be able to get an MOT quite cheaply (perhaps less than £200). In fact, I spent about £100 to get the mk1 through the MOT but it took a lot of hours labour by me, too.

Add insurance (£200-300 probably), tax (£120?) and you're now talking £500 minimum, maybe quite a lot more. However, of course, once the plate has been transferred then the donor's tax and insurance can be surrendered for a partial refund and the MOTed donor car is now a saleable commodity.

On the down side, there is a good chance that a mk1 of this age will need the rear end of the sills welding, a couple of balljoints and a lot of time consuming electrical diagnostic and repair work. If it has been standing a while and just being started every now and then the exhaust may be shot, too.

So, in my opinion, once the donor car is MOTed and taxed then the plate has some value but until then it does not - a prospective buyer may as well go to a DVLA auction and pay £300-400 for a plate from them. Along those lines, I know a chap who bought a non-age related plate last year (HIG ****) for under £100 from a registration dealer - HIG are the first 3 letters of his name and he is chuffed to bits with his bargain.

[Very Tall Brad]

Although I haven't seen the car, I trust the opinion of the lads that have, trust the vendor (John) and have agreed to buy the car complete as it stands.

It'll be a potentially big investment for me but should work out okay. If not, I only have myself to kick up the jacksee.

After collecting it, first thing will be a hot steam, jet wash, check over and a shopping list. I am hoping that I have everything I need already, including tyres. I bought 25 litres of Unipart engine oil and 15 litres of Hondamatic this week - I had better get some more.

[mjc9967]

Brad to the rescue! Well done (yet again). Too nice a car to not be brought back to life.

Feel free to consider planning a tea stop in North London when you pick her up

[schuwolf]

Well done Brad, glad it is going to a good home. I hope you do like it. I'll be back home on Friday, so shout if you want a hand loading her up. I live just round the corner from her present home, so a cuppa is on offer

[mjc9967]

You'll be needing an empty water bottle for the way home...

Measuring life like Prufrock