14 replies to this topic

[mab01uk]

"Almost 340,000 vehicles over 40 years of age are still owned by registered keepers, according to data held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency - but not all of them are technically still on the road. Of these, around one in eight are declared off the road by keepers. The volume of classic cars still in ownership in the UK has been uncovered by LeaseLoco. Responding to a Freedom of Information request from the leasing comparison site, DLVA records (correct to 15 December 2023) show that 338,697 classic cars are still retained by motorists in Britain. Of these, 12 per cent are not actually being driven on the road by their owners. To the date the FOI was lodged, some 41,217 classic cars have a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) declared by the owner, meaning they're off the road. Many of these are likely projects, rebuilds or treasured vehicles that aren't being used by their keeper in a bid to retain - and inflate - their future value. While there are various different definitions for what makes a 'classic' car, the term is best used to describe motors that exceed 40 years and therefore qualify for a number of 'historic vehicle' benefits.
Among the classic that still on the road today, the DVLA claims there are 28,311 MGBs, 10,393 Morris Minors, 5,575 Rolls Royces and 4,508 Triumph Stags."
https://www.thisismo...road-today.html

Edited by mab01uk, 03 May 2024 - 08:24 AM.

[Quinlan minor]

Wonder how many Minis?

[stuart bowes]

you can check 'how many left' but the problem is all the work involved in checking the various different types and all the different manufacturers over the year, BMC, Austin, Rover, there's so many different categories it would take forever

 

maybe there's other resources where someone already did it though ?

Edited by stuart bowes, 03 May 2024 - 10:49 AM.

[Shooter63]

If you can be bothered to sift through the " How many left" site you will find a surprising amount of thrashed and crashed in period Mk1 Cooper S have survived while the well looked after and kept in a garage Mk1 850 automatics seemed to have vanished. Funny that.

Shooter

[mab01uk]

If you can be bothered to sift through the " How many left" site you will find a surprising amount of thrashed and crashed in period Mk1 Cooper S have survived while the well looked after and kept in a garage Mk1 850 automatics seemed to have vanished. Funny that.

Shooter

 

Yes, back in the 1980's when Mini enthusiasts first really started to restore 'basket case' or crashed Mk1 Cooper S rather than just scrap them, it was common practice to search the local paper small ads for a typical 'little old lady' one careful owner, low mileage and garaged Mk1 850 Automatic as a donor for its shell....shame really because as said a Mk1 850 Auto is now a very rare Mini.

Edited by mab01uk, 03 May 2024 - 10:14 PM.

[Shooter63]

If you can be bothered to sift through the " How many left" site you will find a surprising amount of thrashed and crashed in period Mk1 Cooper S have survived while the well looked after and kept in a garage Mk1 850 automatics seemed to have vanished. Funny that.

Shooter

 
Yes, back in the 1980's when Mini enthusiasts first really started to restore 'basket case' or crashed Mk1 Cooper S rather than just scrap them, it was common practice to search the local paper small ads for a typical 'little old lady' one careful owner, low mileage and garaged Mk1 850 Automatic as a donor for its shell....shame really because as said a Mk1 850 Auto is now a very rare Mini.

Yup I will admit I was one of those, it was called " ringing " then and still called that today, I had a Mk1 auto at one time, if I'm honest it was quite fun to drive, especially if you used it in manual mode.

Shooter

[Mr.greenPullover]

Wonder how many Minis?

 

 

you can check 'how many left' but the problem is all the work involved in checking the various different types and all the different manufacturers over the year, BMC, Austin, Rover, there's so many different categories it would take forever

 

maybe there's other resources where someone already did it though ?

 

Somebody already did the work Please check https://www.theminif...left/?p=3748833

Edited by Mr.greenPullover, 04 May 2024 - 10:12 AM.

[Quinlan minor]

Interesting.

I would think there must be 3-4 Minis for each MGB. They certainly appear to be the most numerous classic on the roads, round here .

[sonscar]

Probably due to the costs of MGB restoration and more complex construction,I have done three,Steve..

[Homersimpson]

I had a 37K from new 1967 Auto which had a great body shell althought it had a fair few dents in the doors from the previous elderly owner and the wings were starting to get a bit frilly.

 

It had every MOT from its first one and drove fantastically, it even had the original cardboard box the jack came in.

 

I let it go because I wasn't using it and it had to live outside.

 

After I sold it the car vanished from the roads and was never taxed again, sad to think what almost certainly happened to it, even more sad that someone out there probably paid a lot of money for a ringer.

[mab01uk]

Back in the day their were no DVLA rules on swapping parts over to another good secondhand shell if it was not from a stolen car and you owned the donor car. It was only in the 1980's that the DVLA rules were introduced to only allow using a new factory replacement bodyshell. Therefore the early restorations into donor car shells were legal and officially not ringers UNLESS the donor shell was proven to be from a stolen car.

The issue is also slightly confused by the fact that in years gone by no chassis number/VIN was stamped on the shells (pre-1980 in the Mini's case), so you could swap body shells with no legal implications, unless of course as stated above the donor car was stolen.

Edited by mab01uk, 04 May 2024 - 06:16 PM.

[coopertaz]

regarding vin numbers what a great idea of rover to stamp them into the scuttle panel drainage rail, how many minis have had the scuttles replaced. my 1982 had a plate welded to right front floor panel, no wonder so many cars 'may' not be on original shell. is the only other vin on metal tag riveted to inner wing or does anyone know anywhere else?

[sonscar]

It possibly only became a big deal when new cars were stolen and ringed.I remember seeing totally burned out hulks being sold at a local car auction.When I enquired I was told"not recorded"make up your own ending.Steve..

[mab01uk]

regarding vin numbers what a great idea of rover to stamp them into the scuttle panel drainage rail, how many minis have had the scuttles replaced. my 1982 had a plate welded to right front floor panel, no wonder so many cars 'may' not be on original shell. is the only other vin on metal tag riveted to inner wing or does anyone know anywhere else?

 

Pre-1980 the VIN/Chassis number was only on a riveted plate, early Minis had it positioned on the inner wing radiator cowl, then when the cowl was deleted the bonnet platform above the grille, then later on the other inner wing. Late Minis also had an additional visible VIN at the base of the windscreen like other modern cars and some late/export Minis had the VIN plate on the boot floor.

 

Minimail in link below have some good info on the various Mini chassis plates, etc:-

https://www.minimail...sis-vin-plates/

Edited by mab01uk, 07 May 2024 - 01:14 PM.

[coopertaz]

cheers for that turns out to be a body plate on floor.