DVLA and Modified Cars

[Stuart Giles]

Well that seems easy enough, and is what I was thinking of doing, change of engine first then go for the body change but it looks as if the less they are told the less they want to know, the only problem I can see is that the V5 will still state saloon, but I would bet there are quite a few specials out there in the same boat!

Like all these things, it's all OK until it isn't. 

Some modern rebodied cars have had their registration cancelled by the DVLA because whoever did the rebody from, in one example, a Reliant Scimitar to a 2 seat special didn't go through the DVLA's process.  AFAIK, the DVLA hasn't allowed anyone to go through the rebody paper process retrospectively. With the result that the car in question would have needed to go through a BIVA inspection to get a new V5C issued.

In Jamie's case he is proposing to keep it as a Austin Seven saloon, so it can be argued that it still meets with the DVLA's requirement that the V5C reflects the car's appearance; whereas the car below, which is based on an unmodified  Triumph Spitfire chassis needed to go through the DVLA rebody process I outlined earlier in the thread because it no longer looks like a Triumph Spitfire even though the "before and after" versions of the car have 2 seat sports bodywork.



This car is now registered as a "Triumph Swordfish" as with any DVLA rebody, the car keeps it's original manufacturer's name but cannot use the original or any copyrighted model name.

This image came from another internet forum I'm a member of, and this photo is a tribute to Paul L's (who built this modern special) imagination and workmanship