The current concensus of opinion from the K & R folk, and there are only a few, is that existing Q plated vehicles will not be applicable for historic vehicle recognition. However DVLA still has a miss match of what individuals come up with in their interpretation of the "rules" so who knows. It` s quite some years now since the proposed DVLA / VOSA overhaul of all kit/home built/modified vehicle registration first arose and I am wondering if it ever will be rolled out. They continue to build up the physical infrastructure but who knows when they will believe it`s in place in sufficient quantity. I am sure they don`t    (Some of you will already be  aware that DVSA are physically checkin, at random, vehicles parked at meets etc this is obviously a precursor).

The term vw sports / sports convertible are just two of the classifications you find allocated on occasion. For the moment don`t overthink DVLA / DVSA just go out and enjoy building / driving your buggies / sand rails etc....  I have not once been stopped by the police when out in my buggy although on occasion I have been followed for some miles. Guessing ANPR camera usage has ruled out the need to stop for checks.

The beauty of ANR is it only pings for attention if you have no tax, mot or their is a criminal marker against the number or registered keeper so an incorrectly registered buggy does not show up.

I had an online chat with DVLA recently and was told that Q reg will never become liable for Historic tax class. Hopefully the minion and the supervisor that I spoke to were wrong though.

From my understanding admittedly from a year or two back when we were fighting DVLA was that nobody there had even considered that a self built home made kit car would actually survive long enough to meet the age criteria and that most would have been taken off the roads from falling to bits or scrappage schemes.

Not sure anyone has formerly challenged it to my knowledge - Might be worth putting it to the  FBHVC  and get their thoughts on it as most of the committee higher ranks have some serious clout as far as I can tell, as like myself, they are also on the external list of DVLA experts and could could ask that question as a collective rather than a single Marque.

The beauty of ANR is it only pings for attention if you have no tax, mot or their is a criminal marker against the number or registered keeper so an incorrectly registered buggy does not show up.

....unless you were driving an untaxed and an unMOTed  car for a pre-booked MOT appointment which would be a completely legal thing to do...

The term vw sports / sports convertible are just two of the classifications you find allocated on occasion. For the moment don`t overthink DVLA / DVSA just go out and enjoy building / driving your buggies / sand rails etc....  I have not once been stopped by the police when out in my buggy although on occasion I have been followed for some miles. Guessing ANPR camera usage has ruled out the need to stop for checks.

im not over thinking it im quite happy with a Q plate it means somewhere in history its been inspected and deemed legal enough to have a Q reg issued, ive just filled the v5 out to send off and i was wrong its doesent say VW sports
it says VW Sportster  i dont know if that relates to a specific model of buggy or if its a generic term for a beach buggy style

There was no buggy called a Sportster. It's been a generic term dreamed up by some specky civil servant. It's fine for a buggy though.

Is it on Historic tax class? If not there's a slim chance it could be flagged for inspection if you come to change it and if it's been off the road for a while. You'd need to cross that bridge when you came to it though.

The only down side of a Q plate with a 1500cc plus motor is the £325 road tax but they are bullet proof as it cover undetermined age and model.

  A but they are bullet proof...   Agreed.....    That`s another xmas over..... All the very best for the New Year   

The only down side of a Q plate with a 1500cc plus motor is the £325 road tax but they are bullet proof as it cover undetermined age and model.

1500cc engine is in the lower tax band of £200 a year. A 1500 engine rebuilt with 1641 b&p's (who's going to check?) and twin 34ict's would be loads of fun in a buggy.

i can live with paying for the ved, i expect it will only be taxed for 6 months of the year, cant imagine it would be much fun  in a buggy in dec,jan,feb  etc
v5 says its a 1300cc but as it dident come with an engine it will be getting a water cooled engine and box 
will wait for the v5 to come back before deciding which route to take  looks like i can buy just about every panel to rebuild the chassis spine as new 

i found myself perusing ebay looking for instruments, i would like a really clean dashboard just fiberglass in body colour with no holes or instruments in it, clearly i need some form of instrumentation and these came to my attention,
new shape mini pod with a rev counter and indicator lights, its appeal is that it would mount onto the column behind the wheel and its got a back on it already easy to mount nice and simples,  would have to convert the rev counter to a speedo  and re wire a few of the lights   but would be minimalistic and leave the dash free of switches/gauges,
light switches wipers etc are all on the column,  and you can get one for less that a tenner








and if you want more info on the status of your engine then there is this version also




then i remembered there is a rover 75 dash on the shelf in the shed which i saved because l liked the period style of the clocks but i would have to hack a hole in the centre of the dash for this, but i do like it

so after a lot of thinking and pondering ive decided that i dont fancy welding the beetle spine back up as it needs just about every part replacing, i will do just not now more of a summer job when its warm out there, so when the v5 comes back it can go on sorn  and sit patiently waiting for me to do something with it,
in the mean time i have ordered a new predator shell off FF buggies extremely helpful chap there, cant remember his name was it Gordon ?
anyway im going with a suzuki vitara chassis and will send the V5 to be amended  accordingly
i want it to look just like a normal predator  apart from not having an engine hanging out the back, so the first thing i need to decide is which vitara chassis should i use,  the mk 2 or grand vitara has a power steering rack and the back axle locted by a 4 link set up, this would be my preferred choice  ...... but it has a quite a bit of chassis protrusion forward of the front wheels and i cant just lop it off if i want the keep the reg with no iva,

i really dont want to extend the front of the body or wings so i started looking at the vitara mk 1 chassis and thats got much less protrusion maybe 3"  that looks like it will work,





only downside i see is the mk1 uses a steering box instead of a rack but i guess i can live with that

i will throw the second hand body i have on both chassis and see how it all fits  the tight spot is going to be the top of the front suspension towers but from measurements it looks like it will work
once my new body arrives i will start a biuld thread

An alternative build not seen a swb shell on a 4x4 base vehicle they are lwb bodies so far until somebody proves me wrong with something I have not seen.

well the suzuki vitara has a pretty short wheelbase as they come and its  more of a soft roader the chassis has a very low centre section a bit like a beetle, it  sort of lends itself well to a buggy body,  well we see if thats true soon lol
further more not all vitaras were 4 wheel drive they could be bought as 2wd  same chassis just a 2wd gearbox if it was manual and a 4wd gearbox with no front output if it was an auto,  if i use the 2wd version that i have then you have no front diff and driveshafts that force the engine to be mounted up high  to give clearance to the sump, which means the engine can go way down low so i dont have to put a scoop in the bonnet

you can see the low chassis centre section in this pic of one of my old projects,  you can get a V8 engine and all of its induction equipment  below the level of the suspension towers
this buggy will probably be powered by a suzuki V6 with autobox and rwd only



you can even get a lexus quad cam installed below the the suspension towers in a suzuki
as can be seen here

the suspension towers i see as the limiting factor as to wether this will work or not
i think the beetle wheelbase is 94" or there abouts and most swb versions seem to be around 14" shorter
vitara is about 86" for the swb  so there is only a 6" discrepancy
i have a load of suzuki stuff up for sale and when it sells i will be ordering another body of FF this time a Jazz as its a longer swb at around 83" so somehow or other im sure i can make it all work 

I`m liking this - Nice to see something different