No, that will be because the fiberglass body will have certification of some kind, so splinter tests / fire tests. It helps that its also a recognized fiberglass manufacturer in its own right, will have a production shield and stuff. My RAT doesnt have any of that, just some circumstantial evidence in the James Hale book.

So they accept the Manx body but the base could have non TUV approved parts under it, there was little build paper work with it apart from a few old receipts for parts including German TUV approved brake drums to fit Porsche wheels and the new list of jobs I did recommissioning it.
I doubt if they would even accept a UK IVA test pass certificate for a swb but we are lucky in the UK.
Once back in the UK the buggy would sell easier.

Yea, the way it works here is first you need to get a datasheet.
Now, i could have gotten a datasheet for just the chassis and motor, but as the motor is not OG  for a 1969 1300 chassis, it would be then up to the TüV inspector to determine if thats ok. As id put disc brakes on the front, that would have been ok. But essentially any modifiaction should be noted on datasheet.

Plenty cars here that dont note everything, but they are really cracking down on this mow and from Germans ive talked to there seems to be a drive to get old cars off the road where possible. German car industry is under huge pressure here now with EV market and competition from China n stuff, whether you agree with it or not.


For instance, drop spindles do not have a TüV Gutachten (approval) but if the TüV inspector doesnt notice them on your car youd be fine, but if they do (and inspections here are performed by 2 people who have to agree) then youd have to swap them out for standard spindles. This is also the case for me and i was looking to swap the front axle for an adjustable one (which you can buy with TüV Gutachten) and put OG spindles back on. But that was not an issue in the bigger scheme of things.

Now, it could still be possible to get the fiber glass body without certificatiin through the TüV if say you are friends with your local TüV center and they trust that you wont get into an accident. If you did, and the body was approved despite it not having TüV Gutachten then the inspector would be in huge trouble.

Funnily enough, there is anither RAT body in the road here in Germany with TüV approval and with historical status. Sadly, that has no bearing on my car whatsoever. Unless i could find the owner and if they could provide me the certificates they have. But, thats a huge ask to find the person who owns it, etc.


The thing is, if the car is already registered in the country then this is all not so much of an issue. But getting approval to import a car, well thats when the inspection is the most difficult.

Yea, sending it back to the uk and selling is the best option for this car now.

Still, if anyone is interested prior to that happening, feel free to drop me a line. I need to get rid asap now really, so price is negotiable and flexible.

I also got some sh.. news about my health yesterday, so its even more pressing i shift the car asap now.

No, they wont accept any UK certification anymore since Brexit. But, that was also the case to some extent when UK was still in the EU. There was some unspken agreement that each country would respect the MOT equivalent inspection of another country and generally on most standard production cars theres not much to really do. They dont like custom autos here really.
Shortening a vw chassis is of course accepted, but they could make it difficult. I know on historic vehicles they inspect everything here, and i mean everything. The car has to be in as original condition as possible. However, if you can prove that the modifciations were possible and were carried out in the first 10 years after the car left production line, they would accept that. In Germany of course, all this would be on the datasheet.

Germans always laugh at the datasheets (v5) from UK because of the lack of data on them 😂. And in actuality, this lack od info makes it even more difficult for a non standard historic vehicle to get imported here. Of course, if you have deep pockets you can pay for all the tests and get any car you want on the road here theoretically.

Land of the car it is not 😂.

Sorry to read bad health news and we never know what is coming so hope everything works out.
EU countries are harder on car modifications I noticed in Hungary everything is factory standard and Poland would not accept a chopped Harley when the owner moved there, the race for EV's and going green is bad news and old classic does not need recycling every few years so is greener than new cars.

Thanks, youve no idea how encouraging those words are

eVs are being forced upon us without any real forsight as to how it would work in reality. Where i live now, these houses were built in the 1920s when maybe one or two families on the estate had a car. The houses are now under denkmalschutz, essentially listed buildings, and you cant modify them and make them more energy efficient / install solar panels, etc. How they expect everyone on the entire estate to charge their EVs ive no idea. Youre not allowed to build a garage even, despite us having massive gardens and with some households having more than 2 cars. Its so dumb. But thats the world we live in i guess. I agree with you, running old cars is far greener now than producing new ones, at least until a more viable energy source is developed.

A bit depressing to read that its not just the UK that is up a creek without a paddle when it comes to doing anything tangible to save the planet.

As for health issues it may be little consolation but at 64 I've long realised we are all walking in a mine field and the older one gets the worse the odds get. However, despite the politicians screwing so much up through incompetence the slightly better news is scientists are increasingly finding cures and alleviations to previous dire diagnosis. And a drive in a buggy lifts the soul...

Cheers. Ill take whatever consolation i can get. Im only 52 n gotta a real fight on my hands now, but hopefully science may at least be able to ease whatever pains coming my way.

Yup, its just as much of a mess here as anywhere else now i reckon. They need to streamline alot of stuff here n remove so much red tape. Economy is struggling.

Anyway, a drive in any beetle based car ill take, and id now rather be able to do that sooner than later 

No interest in this? Damn.

Any good tothe locals to build it into an off road or competition buggy