Date first registration/year manufacture query

Ant555

I have what some describe as a classic car and some as a money pit - a Mark 1 MX-5.
I noticed when checking something on the DVLA web site that the year of manufacture is different from the date first registration as follows:

Date of first registration 27 November 1995
Year of manufacture 1991

The car has a personalised number plate but the original reg number is etched into the windows and shows it was 'J' reg at some point in its past. That seems to fit with 1991 so can anyone think of the reason why it would be showing first registration later on? I could understand it the other way around. Its not an import.

I am sure there is nothing wrong as I know its provenance for the last 18 years but just curious.

Thanks

Silver-Surfer_2

Ant555 wrote: »

I have what some describe as a classic car and some as a money pit - a Mark 1 MX-5.
I noticed when checking something on the DVLA web site that the year of manufacture is different from the date first registration as follows:

Date of first registration 27 November 1995
Year of manufacture 1991

The car has a personalised number plate but the original reg number is etched into the windows and shows it was 'J' reg at some point in its past. That seems to fit with 1991 so can anyone think of the reason why it would be showing first registration later on? I could understand it the other way around. Its not an import.

I am sure there is nothing wrong as I know its provenance for the last 18 years but just curious.

Thanks

Manufactured in 1991 and imported and registered in the uk in 1994.
It'll be a Eunos.

Ant555

Thanks for the reply - It could be but i'm fairly sure its not a Eunos - a pal has a 1992 Eunos and they have some different features like his has air conditioning, speedo in Km and the number plate recess at the back of his is square.

I'd not really paid too much attention to the V5 however i'll dig it out tonight when I get home.

droopsnoot

Can't you tell the build year from the VIN? It's normally possible. A quick search suggests the final letter before the seven-digit number would tell you what model year it was:


L=1990, M=1991 and so on.


Also, you can send the DVLA a fiver and a V888 form, and they'll send you copies of previous history of the vehicle, which is usually copies of any older V5s (for owner changes) and the application for first registration. The latter might give a clue.

JP08

Of course - some cars just "fall through the net" and never get registered at the time :

eg - from a couple of years ago : http://justbritish.com/1980-mg-midget-smashes-sales-estimates/

AdrianC

Ant555 wrote: »

I'd not really paid too much attention to the V5 however i'll dig it out tonight when I get home.

I'll bet you there's two first-reg dates on it.

First Reg - 1991
First Reg in UK - 1995.
There'll also be a note saying "previously used in another country".

So, yes, imported and UK reg'd 1995, after being used somewhere else in the world for four years. It might be Japan, or it might have been somewhere else RHD. KPH speedos can be changed to MPH ones easily. When imported, it was given an age-related plate, 1991 - so J prefix.

But that's almost certainly what'll have caused that discrepancy. The online vehicle enquiry behaves exactly as you describe in any query for used import.

Tammykitty

Imported from Northern Ireland?

molerat

Maybe even British Forces in Germany.

Turn_to_Grey

My car has this too. First registered in Spain in 2005, date imported and re registered in the UK 2011 and mine has an age related plate too, --05---

dacouch

Mike Brewer gave a tip on one of his programs recently, if you're not sure of the date of manufacture, check the label on the seat belt which will have the date the seat belts were installed

tim9966

It will be a import, but could be somewhere like the Channel Islands, or Isle of Man which could mean it's UK spec, but not registered with DVLA until 1995 when it returned to the mainland.