Do i need to SVA or just MOT ??

[ROOSTER]

Hi Folks,This is my first post,I hope its not too heavy....Im looking for some info on whether my Bulldog needs an SVA.
Im new to the Kit car scene after many years of owning classic cars and fighting a loosing battle with rust.
I have two Bulldogs,both the same colour, one on the road and one an unfinished project.the road legal one is based on a 1972  1300cc morris marina,its taxed and motd but the log book says morris marina. The second has been built using a 1979 1600cc for cortina mk IV,its nearly done just putting a new set of dials in at the moment.
The question is, when its ready do i just stick the plates from the cortina onto it and stick it in for an mot ? It is built using the full cortina, i have the V5 for the cortina and the chassis plates have been riveted on,i have heard all i need to do is teap the chassis numbers from the log book onto the kits chassis, is the true or do i have to go down the SVA route ?? there seems to be a lot of different opinions on this, im sure someone will know on here....cheers guys  i look forward to yoiur replies..

[istreatf]

Hi Rooster and welcome to the forum.
The law regarding registration of a kit car is quite clear and unambiguous on this matter. The "new" ford based car that has just been completed has to be IVA tested (previous test to this was the SVA - superceded a very few years ago), and after having passed this test the DVLA will have to inspect the car and allocate an appropriate registration number to it, which in your case should be an age-related plate with the same year related prefix or suffix as the donor Cortina. There is no other legal way of using the car on the road, and the system which you describe was superceded a long time ago.
Your other Bulldog is another matter altogether. Although it is incorrectly registered, and as such illegal, there is apparantly some leeway given to cars with a proven history and as such a unique "identity". If you can prove that the Bulldog has been on the road for, I believe 10 years or more, then the DVLA may issue you with a replacement log book showing it as a Pilgrim Bulldog rather than a Morris Marina. MOT certificates describing the car as a Bulldog I understand will be taken as suitable evidence. It is possible that, in the event of an accident or incident that your insurance company might refuse to honour any claims because the car is incorrectly registered possibly leading to further legal infringements. You can understand the logic in this perhaps from the Police point of view - imagine when a patrol input your registration number and it comes up with with Morris Marina when the car they are following is obviously not.
I would suggest that you attempt to have your Morris Marina Bulldog documents altered, however the IVA test option for the Ford based car is not to be taken lightly. Have a look at the DVLA website at the current IVA regulations and if you decide to go for an IVA test, then read the regulations until you understand them, then try and translate them into a list of jobs that you need to do on the Bulldog in order to satisfy the regulations. Basically the bodywork is fine, but so many details like the fixing of cables, brake lines and fuel pipe, proving the age of the engine, required marking on windscreen, required radii on the bottom of the dashboard, markings on warning lights, accuracy of speedometer - the list goes on and on - but it is doable. For the record I built a Pilgrim Hawthorn that came out of the factory in 1988, had been stored, unbuilt, in garages and in fields for almost 20 years, and got it through the SVA test a couple of years ago so that is how I know all this stuff!
I do appreciate that this is not the answer you were hoping for, but regulations have changed in the last 20 years progressively to make it harder to put a new kit car on the road. Please let us know how you get on and what you decide to do.
   

[ROOSTER]

Hi there Istreatf, thanks for your help,i was hoping that IVA was not the answer but not to worry. Ill phone the DVLA and try to get the marina one sorted out but im afraid i dont have any old documentation to prove its been on the road for a while ? Is this quite common for kit cars to be registered as the donor car ? i have spoken to a few people who have them and quite a few are still on the donor car V5
I went onto the DVLA site to have a look regarding the rules and regulations on owning a kit car, seems very complicated and in double Dutch to me !

[istreatf]

There are a number of kit cars that are incorrectly registered still showing the donor car on their registration document. These people seem to have been getting away with it for years and it is totally against the letter and spirit or the law. Legally speaking, they are not insured as the insurance company are withing their rights to say that the car is not correctly registered therefore they have no liabilty, however this appears not to bother them, whether in ignorance or not. All you have to do is wander around any kit car show and just look at the tax discs. At one such event I gave up counting at the number of incorrectly registered vehicles.
Is there any chance you can get hold of duplicate MOT certificates, Insurance certificates etc? Even an old photograph with a suitable means of dating might help.
Unfortunately during the middle to late 1980's when the kit car market was booming, the DVLA could not get their act together and you could satisfy one local DVLA and another local DVLA office 10 miles away would throw their hands up in the air and do something totally different. It was all down to personal interpretation of the regulations. Hence the total abandonment of that set of non-rules and replacement with a nation-wide set of more stringent regulations - SVA which are almost deviod of any mis-interpretation. Double Dutch is close. The IVA regulations have to be read, read again, then read again and again until you understand every single part, if you are going to get a car never designed to take the test through.