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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Modifying cars

This has been doing the rounds on a couple of FB groups and raised some interesting posts. Hope the link works.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18BaR4HPpo/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Rob
MG Moneypit

The link gave me these Rob. 😂

Definitely some body modifications going on in one, and needed in the other. 🤣




anamnesis

I stopping listening when he said roll cages. I can't say that I've ever seen any new or old rally car with a full roll over protection system (R.O.P.S.) on a Q plate. My road car does not have a full ROPS (cage) but does have a roll bar. I also didn't find an obvious link on the DVLA web set that refers to ROPS.
Daniel

I think Mog is still upset by the electric conversion to a Mini that got scuppered when they drilled an extra hole in the battery box to pass a battery cable through and was told it was a chassis mod therefore needed an SVA check on it. I don't know who he has been talking to at the DVLA but whoever it is seems to be talking like an expert but knows nothing about the subject. Unfortunately, if you pay peanuts (which every gov department does) you get monkeys imparting their (lack of) knowledge which the DVLA are bound to back up so they don't loose face.
Rob
MG Moneypit

Blimey. I don't recall ever seeing a Frogeye Sprite without seatbelts. They never even had mounting points fitted at the factory, so they have all had the tub drilled, and mountings welded or bolted in. So should all these cars be on Q plates?
Les Rose

Les
Neither of my Frogeye Sprites have seat belts!
Alan
Alan Anstead

It's stll very confused. You can weld in a replacement panel (if done properly) and it doesn't affect the historic original qualification. So fit a new inner sill and it comes with a pre fitted seat belt mount.

There is also a clause which allows modification that improves safety and/ or economy. Both would seem to provide a loop hole despite the reference to zero alterations to the main body structure.
GuyW

It is nonsense as we all know. You're allowed a new bodyshell if it replicates the original but, as Guy alludes to, seat belt mounts are provided. But many renovated Spridgets will have new floor pans, inner and outer sills, A posts, B posts, inner wings, maybe outer wings etc. You're almost bound to have seat belt mounts.

If you don't have a current V5 for an off the road car, get one now even if the car is in bits.
Bill B

Well Alan I should have qualified that. I haven't seen a Frogeye without seatbelts in about the last 15 years. Both of mine didn't have them when I bought the cars, but I pretty quickly fitted them.

It seems that common sense is in short supply at DVLA. It's obvious to anyone with half a brain that drilling a hole is not a major modification.
Les Rose

So what happens about all the replacement panels that have been made using lesser thickness steel sheet to save on both cost and forming difficulty ?
MoT would need to include a thickness check and if less than original would be a fail either from replacement quality or simply metal loss due to corrosion !
Anyone have access to all the original manufacture specifications for comparison ?
Impossible to implement/monitor.
S G KEIL

Interestingly I discovered the Chassis number on my frog did not correspond with the number on the V5. An 8 was mistaken for a 5 when the details were computerised many years ago. The engine number was however correct. It only came to light when I ordered a heritage certificate using the existing V5. The one I received naturally was wrong. A letter from the AHC to DVLA with a copy of the correct heritage certificate and photos of the car and chassis plate resulted in a corrected V5 arriving just before Xmas.
Bob Beaumont

Not currently but an issue with DVLA over my 1971 car. During restoration I had resprayed it Teal Blue and notified DVLA of the colour change. They supplied a new V5c correctly stating 'Blue'.
However for several years after this every time I took it for MOT the examiner commented that it still came up as red on the MOT interface. Each year I wrote again to the DVLA including a photo of the car in blue and showing the number plate. Each time the letter was acknowledged but as the V5 was correct anyway I had no way of checking until the following years MOT. Nothing changed and it was about 5 years before it was eventually corrected!

I can only assume it was down to poor integration of their V5 and MOT databases.
GuyW

IIRC isn't there a 30 year 'rule' for modifications?
So anything done before then doesn't count (as a modification) and as all our cars are over 30 years old, then is it safe to say it was all done more than 30 years ago - as far as we are aware?
If you've owned the car for 30+ years then obviously the mods were done pre 1995 and if owned for less than 30 years, then maybe you've been led to believe that a PO did it some time in the last millennium?
I mean - a hole in a Mini battery box counts as a major modification and invalidates the original registration, really 🤔?
Jeremy MkIII

This thread was discussed between 06/01/2025 and 09/01/2025

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