03-08-2021, 05:46 AM
Big sympathy Simon.
I haven't done what you are attempting to do, but a couple of things occur to me. The designation "special" implies that the vehicle has been modified from the form that it left Longbridge in. If your chassis was originally under a sports model (and who's to say that it wasn't) then you have only recreated the original bodywork - there has been no modification and so no certification is needed.
One of our children bought a car which, it turned out, had lapsed registration. (In NZ, if the registration fee isn't paid for two years, and the registration hasn't been put on hold, the car's registration is dropped from the system and the last registered owner gets a bill for two year's registration). We went through the process of re-registering it which was reasonably straightforward, though quite expensive. I forget what happened about the previous owner signing the paperwork. Perhaps he was overseas, or had changed his name, but it didn't seem to be a huge obstacle, we could have made a statutory declaration if we hadn't managed to get his signature.
So my suggestion is that you present the car as an un-modified original sports with re-built bodywork to one of the designated testing stations. They will tell you what you need in the way of documentation.
Completely off topic, but I re-registered an old trailer which I had bought years before from a neighbour who wasn't, it turned out, the registered owner. The trailer was registered to another, long gone, neighbour. The authorities weren't worried and gave me new plates for my "rebuilt" trailer for a modest fee. I didn't need any paperwork at all, except identification, and no-one at all saw the trailer.
It is no wonder so many trailers are stolen.
I haven't done what you are attempting to do, but a couple of things occur to me. The designation "special" implies that the vehicle has been modified from the form that it left Longbridge in. If your chassis was originally under a sports model (and who's to say that it wasn't) then you have only recreated the original bodywork - there has been no modification and so no certification is needed.
One of our children bought a car which, it turned out, had lapsed registration. (In NZ, if the registration fee isn't paid for two years, and the registration hasn't been put on hold, the car's registration is dropped from the system and the last registered owner gets a bill for two year's registration). We went through the process of re-registering it which was reasonably straightforward, though quite expensive. I forget what happened about the previous owner signing the paperwork. Perhaps he was overseas, or had changed his name, but it didn't seem to be a huge obstacle, we could have made a statutory declaration if we hadn't managed to get his signature.
So my suggestion is that you present the car as an un-modified original sports with re-built bodywork to one of the designated testing stations. They will tell you what you need in the way of documentation.
Completely off topic, but I re-registered an old trailer which I had bought years before from a neighbour who wasn't, it turned out, the registered owner. The trailer was registered to another, long gone, neighbour. The authorities weren't worried and gave me new plates for my "rebuilt" trailer for a modest fee. I didn't need any paperwork at all, except identification, and no-one at all saw the trailer.
It is no wonder so many trailers are stolen.