Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all, First post on the forum, Ive just bought a 1960 minor 1000 to restore. Current legislation says all cars before 1960 do not require an MOT, Would this apply to mine being a 1960 model or does it still need the yearly MOT?
Many Thanks
Luke

The MOT exemption applies to cars built before the 1st of January 1960. So a 1960 vehicle would need a MOT.

Okay Cheers

Depends! If you can prove (from Heritage records) that it was built in 1959 - it will be MOT exempt, It may have stood in a showroom for a few months before it was sold and registered - in 1960.

I have the old style logbook on its way, Ill have a look in there for dates.
Cheers

The old logbook won't help much - unless the car was first registered on 1 Jan 1960 - when it must obviously have been built in 1959...... Heritage is your best hope.

I thought cars were MOT exempt if they were registered up to 7th or 8th January 1960.I might be wrong.

You can't just put an MoT exempt vehicle back on the road after it has stood for x years in a barn or has been under restoration.

To obtain MoT exemption if the vehicle does not have a current MoT i. e. as above, you must first have the vehicle MoT'd. Then when that MoT expires you then qualify for MoT exemption.

Whether it needed an mot or not i would still have it checked before it was put on the road. Just tried to save some money after that you see.
Cheers.
Luke

'customjob' - that too is my understanding - but when I suggested it I was 'corrected'....

customjob wrote:You can't just put an MoT exempt vehicle back on the road after it has stood for x years in a barn or has been under restoration.

To obtain MoT exemption if the vehicle does not have a current MoT i. e. as above, you must first have the vehicle MoT'd. Then when that MoT expires you then qualify for MoT exemption.

where have you picked up this info from,the Gov site just indicates any vehicle made or registered before 1960,can't see any reference to the obove.

I know someone who imported a MGA from America and it needed a little work to get road worthy and he sent of paper work to get it Engish registered and when the paper work came back there was a years road tax in the envelope even when it was not even insured.

customjob wrote:You can't just put an MoT exempt vehicle back on the road after it has stood for x years in a barn or has been under restoration.

To obtain MoT exemption if the vehicle does not have a current MoT i. e. as above, you must first have the vehicle MoT'd. Then when that MoT expires you then qualify for MoT exemption.

Agree with Mr.C.

Surely,NO proof the vehicle even exists if no MoT - otherwise the fast buck merchants would be onto it, and buying up all post 1980 taxed vehicles with "cherished registrations"!

Cannot transfer a regn without an MoT.

"customjob wrote: You can't just put an MoT exempt vehicle back on the road after it has stood for x years in a barn or has been under restoration.
To obtain MoT exemption if the vehicle does not have a current MoT i. e. as above, you must first have the vehicle MoT'd. Then when that MoT expires you then qualify for MoT exemption."

Sadly, you can indeed do just that. I've got an A30 that hasn't been on the road since the early 80s and needs quite a lot of work on the sills and spring hangers. When the MOT exemption came in I was curious to see how it worked and as it was listed on my ins policy I just went and taxed it, no problems
So I could technically drive it home, although I could get pulled and done for a flaky sill. I've certainly no intentions of going anywhere near a public road with it, but proved a point, whatever that may be...
If I wanted to transfer the registration however, I would need to have it MOT tested as its a simple was of proving there is actually a vehicle now there are no local DVLA offices to inspect the vehicles.

So any barn find or dubious rebuild can be used legally with no inspection. Madness....

regardless of the morality of this situation,I have been through the regs and there is no indication of the car needing an mot before becoming exempt,its simply based on the age regardless of the condition.However at least someone in the dvla realised that to prevent a flood of reg tgransfers,from a heap of rust laid in a field,all they had to do was leave,the old legislation in place regarding transfers,ie taxed within the last 6 months and current mot. Mind could be that they were just lucky and didn't think about this..............................yes probably lucky,they are not that good.

The legislation change was probably designed to help people who have money to spend on personalised registrations and care nothing for classic cars