UK Owners - MoT news

[EuropaTC]

Hi folks,

This is only going to be of interest to UK owners I'm afraid (but you can read if you want to    )

I've just picked up some more details about the rules for the MoT Exemption for our cars on Lotuselan.net.  Here's the link to the article;

https://www.autoclassics.com/posts/news/uk-government-releases-historic-mot-rules-and-it-s-good-news-1

Without wanting to get into the "it's a good/bad idea" thing, some of the clarifications are quite sensible. I had read speculation that the car must be exactly as original to qualify, no mods whatsoever, but these guidelines don't say that.

You can make changes which improve safety or environmental performance without penalty, so for example you can fit electronic ignition in place of CB points and still qualify as a Vehicle of Historic Interest (VHI). More importantly from a personal viewpoint, upgraded brakes and my inertia reel belts come into the "safety" category so my car also stays within the VHI class.

Rather surprisingly it would seem they're allowing engine tuning without applying the speculated "under 15% increase" option, provided such modifications were available within 10yrs of the last production date.  So anyone with a tuned engine is also included, but I'd assume modern engine conversions are going to be out of it.

Brian

[cwtech]

Couldn't EFI, computers, or an engine change also be considered "improving environmental performance?"

[buzzer]

Interesting too that it is up to the owner to classify the vehicle. The use of implementing an EFI system is interesting especially if you use the type that coverts carbs. My guess is that it will become clearer over time. But what is definitely out is a resto-mod like on all the US muscle car rebuild TV programmes which by the way are getting rather same old....same old now.   

[EuropaTC]

Couldn't EFI, computers, or an engine change also be considered "improving environmental performance?"

From what I've seen so far, and bearing in mind it's fresh news, I would expect an engine change to be considered as an unacceptable modification. EFI is potentially a grey area because we did have fuel injected Elans back in the day, although of course they weren't with the sophistication that modern systems have.

The fact that it's all self-assessment makes my think that the government doesn't see it as a big deal either way and they are relying on the classic car enthusiasts to police themselves. No doubt we will have the Morris 1000's with Rover 3.5 V8s fitted but I suspect that in the main most VHI's will look outwardly the same as their original designs.