DVLA registration USA import

[autorepairer]

Been a while since I posted on this forum, bit of an update on my E Type restoration.

The car is a series 2 2+2 1970

I bought it from a UK dealer in 2018 who imported from the USA, I was assured when purchased it came with all relevant US title documents, when the vehicle was delivered these were supplied to me but upon inspection were for a different E Type and it was subsequently discovered there were no title documents available for my vehicle.

I attempted to register with DVLA immediately, supplying a heritage certificate along with a letter from JEC confirming the identity of the vehicle, this was rejected and DVLA informed me that the vehicle required an inspection.

At this stage the vehicle was completely stripped down so had to put all this on hold.

It’s been a long road to get the vehicle to a state that would allow an inspection, but in Oct last year I started the ball rolling again to obtain a V5, I contacted JEC a second time who provided me with an updated letter confirming the identity of the vehicle (having provided them with relevant information and photos of the car)

I filled in all the relevant documents, and posted them to DVLA, this included the NOVA certificate, JEC letter, Heritage certificate, I received a reply back from DVLA that they required the vehicle to be inspected.

I had to contact a company called Davies Engineering ( Banwells) an engineer came out on the appointed date, I had the car parked on my drive, he did a thorough inspection of the car taking numerous photos, even pictures from under the car, checked all relevant car numbers, VIN number, car number and engine number.

One issue I had is the car had an engine change, the engineer said he could not find an engine number, I had supplied the changed engine number to DVLA, but he could not find it on the engine.

He then submitted his report to DVLA and within around two weeks I received the V5 with an age related plate and the engine number I had supplied, this is correct for the engine fitted.

I still have a small number of things to do to complete the car, he did ask if it ran, I informed him it did but he did not ask me to start it.

I have kept the car LHD as it was supplied, all major components on the car are original, steering suspension etc.


I did not have to insure the car or MOT it for the inspection. ( I know it’s MOT exempt)

Next step is come spring to carry out the remaining work and complete the car and give it its first road test in a lot of years.

In summary it was a lot easier than I was expecting, I would say the engineer did a very thorough inspection.

Pete

[Gfhug]

Pete, that’s good news that you’ve got through the DVLA registration. If you can keep your documents in such a way that with a bit of redacting they could be used by others to follow then that would be of great help.
Helping others is one of, if not the, prime mover in this friendly forum.

Keep us up to date on the rest of the work and photos of when it is on the road. Good luck with it.

Geoff

[Philk]

It is six years since I went through the same process with DVLA so good to hear an up to date story. Back then, you had to get the car MOT'd prior to starting the V5 first registration process so there was no choice other than to have it fully roadworthy at that point in time. I too had an inspection on mine.