Manufactured in 1971, Registered in 1979...

[Chix]

This is what it says on my documentation. I've never known a manufacture and registry date to be so far apart. Can anyone think of a reason for this? Or do you think it's a typo??

Thanks

[taroz]

Hello,

If it was exported immediately after manufacture and then reimported back to the UK at a later date.

This was the case with mine, which we took to the continent directly after picking up from the factory in 1974, then brought it back to the UK some years later.

Tariq

[Chix]

Thank you, that’s really helpful. I wish I knew the story of mine!

[taroz]

Glad to help. If yours is LHD and not federal then I suspect it probably had a similar journey to the continent. If RHD and non federal I guess it could have been a trip down under but that seems less likely. Sounds like some mystery solving to be added to your Stag list of things to do!

[MandM]

Get in touch with Peter the registrar , he may have some info for you , details in the front of the mag , all within the data reg's

[Rigid]

Probably a military attaché for a distant diplomatic mission. All hush-hush.

[stagx790]

Have you got a heritage certificate that will tell you where it was delivered to and maybe some useful info.

[Registrar]

There are a number of reasons for cars to be declared manufactured on one date and first registered at a later date. They all involve DVLA not having a continuous record of the car and picking it up as at the first known point.

As Taroz says, the most obvious is for an exported car to be reimported. This applies to cars not recorded with DVLA so that would include Northern Ireland and the Channel Isles as well as more foreign parts of teh World.

You have to bear in mind that before 1978/79 DVLA didn't exist and therefore we all had those nice green log books on which all the changes were made and these were administered on a County basis not a National basis. DVLA transcribed all the current information from County records during the late seventies so if a car was not registered at the time of the transfer for that county, it would have been missed by DVLA and only 'first registered' as at the date someone put the car back on the road. This would apply whether the car was 'off the road' at the time or out of the country for a year and therefore not taxed to any particular county.

I have a car which I know was built and first registered in 1969 but the reg doc. says that it was first registered in April 1983. To make matters worse, the reg doc also shows that it was declared manufactured in 1968 - which is not true. DVLA is a much flawed organisation I am afraid and it has got a lot worse in the last few years with dates of first registration being changed for no explicable reason - normally by a few days or weeks but sometimes by months or even years. Beware of dates which show as the 1st of January as this is sometimes a 'fall back' date when they have lost or been challenged on the actual date.

Peter