Lotus year made info?

[barefoot]

I am looking at a Lotus that was registered in September 74 am I right in thinking it might have been built in 73 and if I can find this out be tax exempt? If so who/where would I get such info from?

Kev

[ken ob]

The car would need to have been built PRIOR TO 1973 to be tax exempt.

Ken

[Esprit2]

It was common for less than straight-up dealers to register early Lotus cars as whatever year in which they were first sold, regardless of how long they were in inventory. That often spawns debate over just what year a specific car is.

However, for tax purposes, I believe you will have to go by the build date.

What is the VIN number (Vehicle Identification Number)? Early Lotus cars used a very abreviated VIN, like 36/6400, where 36 is the model number and 6400 is the chassis number.

But starting in January, 1970, the format was expanded to include the build date and production batch numbers. Your tax man will probably be more interested in those numbers.

7001.010001A ... Chassis and body numbers being the same.
7001 ................ Year and month of manufacture (1970, Jan).
...... 01 ............ Production batch number.
.......... 0001 ..... Unit (chassis) serial number.
................ A .... Model / Market alpha suffix.

If you're looking at a 1973-74 Elan, it's VIN should follow this format and clearly give you the build date. If, as Ken notes, you need a car built prior to 1973 to qualify as tax exempt, then the VIN number will have to start with 7212.xxxxxxA (1972, Dec) or a lower number.

Good luck,
Tim Engel

[nebogipfel]

As Ken says the build date has to be before the beginning of 1973. There are a few '73 registered cars eligible for historic status but only when the build (not registration) date has been proved to be before 31st December 1972.

[types26/36]

From the DVLA website

[bcmc33]

The last Sprint was produced before the Christmas shutdown of 1972. During the shutdown the Sprint line was changed-over to produce the in-demand Europa.

I believe Club Lotus will verify this for tax purposes.

[elansprint71]

The last Sprint was produced before the Christmas shutdown of 1972. During the shutdown the Sprint line was changed-over to produce the in-demand Europa.

I believe Club Lotus will verify this for tax purposes.

So I could have bought that "M" registered Sprint and not had to pay the paltry amount of "road tax"? Doh...