Chancer wrote:The poor old girl is still waiting for me to restore her, the intervening years have not been kind to her, she will still restart which I do every few years, the tank and my brazed repairs have rotted out and I use a lawnmower tank laying on the carbs, the brakes are now seized solid and all the hydraulics are probably seized, the clutch slave cylinder burst its seal the last time I started it and the brakes would probably do the same.
The chassis is certainly no less rotten than it was and the doughnuts must be in an advanced state of decomposition.
But very soon I will be able to drive it legally for the first time since 35 years
I am sure you were speaking hypothetically but... No you won't be legal! You would be in breach of so many construction and use offences as well as having void insurance. Someone doing so would face a myriad of convictions, driving ban, vehicle impounded and if this was found as a result of a serious accident a possible custodial sentence.
The danger is that there are those out there (not you Chancer) who will do so, hopefully they will not be part of the Lotus community but this is a dangerous move in wider terms.
When MOT laws were relaxed for pre 60 cars we saw a lot of quotes for Moggy Minors flood in, the owners were not classic car enthusiasts, did not belong to any club, cars not garaged and used every day for work, not your typical classic car risk. The reality is that certain people were looking to buy old bangers with no mot, have cheap insurance and be tax exempt just so they could drive around virtually for free and hang the consequences. This ruling means that those people now have a wider car pool to chose from.
Proper classics well cared for are not the risk here, it's idiots with that mentality that are.
Kim
Routen Chaplin Insurance.