18 replies to this topic

[b.e.a.n.y]

Evening all!
I just found my Registration Certificate thingy for my 1983 mayfair, and in the Special Notes bit, it says:

"Declared new in GB by independent importer"

Does this mean that my mini used to live in a different country? Is she a foreigner?
Can anyone help with what that means?

Beany.x

Edited by b.e.a.n.y, 03 December 2007 - 06:36 PM.

[DOOGLE]

Evening all!
I just found my Registration Certificate thingy for my 1983 mayfair, and in the Special Notes bit, it says:

"Declared new in GB by independent importer"

Does this mean that my mini used to live in a different country? Is she a foreigner?
Can anyone help with what that means?

Beany.x

oooh beany it could be a jersey mini,,bring it back lol

[Bungle]

is your steering wheel on the wrong side ?

[Dan]

Yes it means the car was previously registered in another country. It is most likely to still be from Longbridge though as there weren't many other factories left by '83 I think. Mine is the same. Over the years I have found many leftovers from an amatuerish LHD to RHD conversion including still having a LHD clutch pedal which meant your clutch foot was way off under the heater unit and having a LHD steering rack fitted upside down instead of a RHD rack, they aren't the same. I think mine was built as a German Mini from what I have discovered. What was once a very common way to get cars cheaply in Britain was to buy a car that had spent 6 months as hire car on Jersey. There were whole importing operations built around moving cars from Jersey back to the mainland. Nothing criminal about it, it just meant that you avoided certain taxes and duties and got a cheap car. If yours shows no sign of once being a left hooker it could be a former resident of the Channel Islands.

[THE ANORAK]

my red cooper, Dominic, was first used on jersey

the V5 says "first registered in UK on ?th June 91" when all the dates on the car and his VIN number suggest that he was made in October/ November 1990.

his service documents also show that he was serviced at the main rover dealer on jersey when he had just over 1000miles on the clock.

another cool thing is to look up where he was first registered in the UK, mine was in Portsmouth (OT), straight off the boat i guess

take a look here to de-code your reg number

[b.e.a.n.y]

Ooooh, I just looked and the last two letters 'GN' say that she was first registered in SW London Hmm.
How do I find out what date the VIN number etc relate to?
I don't have any service documents for Sidney, as I'm something like her 16th keeper! Eeek.

Beany.x

[Dan]

Various components are stamped with their date of assembly. The easiest one to check is the boot lock. There are stickers on some electrical parts with dates (some instrument packs for example) and some electrical parts will have a batch date cast into them. It all gives you a rough idea of when the car was built. There is almost no documentary evidence of early '80s car builds by British Leyland, they were terrible at record keeping so finding the esact date of your VIN will be tricky.

[b.e.a.n.y]

Erm, the mini doesn't have a boot...
Beany

[Dan]

Erm, the mini doesn't have a boot...

WHAT? (that was said with maximum derision incidentally). We are talking about Minis meaning the small cars produced variously by BMC / BL / Rover on this site. To what are you refering?

Edited by Dan, 03 December 2007 - 07:59 PM.

[THE ANORAK]

i think he means his boot lid is missing

some of the washer bottles have a date stamp clock type thing (same method used on sandwich boxes).

i only know the rough date from my VIN number because the mainstream coopers ran for a very limited time and the start and finish VIN numbers are well recorded. i can cross reference this with the dates dotted around the car and get an approximate build date.

the closest reference i can find to a 1983 Mayfair is the change from Mini HLE to Mini Mayfair in September 1982. the VIN number was XL2S1N10 V147144 but this wont help you much

[jayare]

Assuming it's the original part, the wiper motor is quite an easy part to date - there should be a month/year stamped in the tin-plate cover. Lots of the plastic parts have date marks in them too.

JR

[imabitnaughtyxx]

hubbys bmw touring was first registered UK in 2006 and has a 2006 plate however the car is a 2004 model. The car was re-registered from northern ireland in 2006, the log book states imported new vehicle to GB in 2006 by independent importer. very confusing but basically instead of bmw importing the car, the last owner went to NI, bought the car for his company which was used in NI for 18 months on trade plates then imported in 2006, giving me a 2006 reg (but on irish plates).
This is often the case with NI imports as they are quite alot cheaper and are imported by individuals rather than larger importers, it gave me £4000 off the list price for the car put it that way. I remember yuppies doing it in the 80's to obtain cheaper porsche's they had to wait for the cars to (clear) customs, up to 2 years or use them in NI for 18 months then re register and drive here with 1000's shaved off the list price and the current years reg plates! (DLA loopholes galore obviously). No help to you whatso ever i shouldent imagine but food for thought!!!!

[taffy1967]

There should also be date stamps on the doors, right behind the trim panels. At least my 1990 Mini has a different date stamped into both it's doors.

[Jammy]

Also, if you press the accelerator pedal 25 times, with the heater on, and then pull the handbrake on, while having the car in gear 3, the indicators will flash the date. First the day, then the month, then the year.

[taffy1967]

Now stop being silly Jammy, you know very well that only works on Twin-Points.