03-03-2019, 01:35 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-03-2019, 01:38 AM by Jeff Taylor.)
The transfer of registration records from local authority control to Swansea was spread over a long period of time - around 10 years. Only cars that were currently taxed at the time of transfer had their records placed on the DVLC's computer database. In the late 1970's I owned a 1936 Morris 8 Tourer that I'd recently taken off the road and was therefore not taxed - its registration records were therefore not transferred to the Swansea database.
In the early 1980's the DVLC ran a publicity campaign in the various classic car magazines of the day (Practical Classics, Thoroughbred & Classic Cars etc) requesting owners of vintage and classic cars that had been off the road undergoing restoration for a number of years and had therefore not been placed on the database, to send their old buff / green log books to Swansea and in return receive a new V5. The implication of non compliance with this request was that the DVLC was at the time considering selling off all the registration numbers that hadn't been transferred onto the computer database as 'Cherished Plates' - this has never happened. I duly sent off my green log book for the Morris 8 Tourer and in return received both the old log book and a new V5 back from Swansea - the cars registration details were also placed on the the computer database where they remain to this day - I still own the car though sadly it hasn't as yet returned to the road - it's shown on the database as 'Not taxed for on road use' in a green box.
It's possible your car was exported to the States whilst its registration records were still under local authority control and those records were never transferred to Swansea as the car would by then not have been taxed.
If you let us know the two or three letters of the registration, I should be able to tell you if the record cards still exist in the relevant local authority archive department or if they're known to have been destroyed - for example all London records were destroyed.
In the early 1980's the DVLC ran a publicity campaign in the various classic car magazines of the day (Practical Classics, Thoroughbred & Classic Cars etc) requesting owners of vintage and classic cars that had been off the road undergoing restoration for a number of years and had therefore not been placed on the database, to send their old buff / green log books to Swansea and in return receive a new V5. The implication of non compliance with this request was that the DVLC was at the time considering selling off all the registration numbers that hadn't been transferred onto the computer database as 'Cherished Plates' - this has never happened. I duly sent off my green log book for the Morris 8 Tourer and in return received both the old log book and a new V5 back from Swansea - the cars registration details were also placed on the the computer database where they remain to this day - I still own the car though sadly it hasn't as yet returned to the road - it's shown on the database as 'Not taxed for on road use' in a green box.
It's possible your car was exported to the States whilst its registration records were still under local authority control and those records were never transferred to Swansea as the car would by then not have been taxed.
If you let us know the two or three letters of the registration, I should be able to tell you if the record cards still exist in the relevant local authority archive department or if they're known to have been destroyed - for example all London records were destroyed.