Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

If your car, like mine was registered in early 1973 you may be able to reregister it with the DVLA as a historic vehicle and be eligible for free road tax.

The DVLA rules seem to be that if your car was BUILT before the end of 1972 you can register it as a historic vehicle (and be eligible for free road tax). My car was registered in Feb 1973 but I had a letter from the factory telling me the car was actually built in September 1972. All it needed was a trip to my local DVLA office with the letter, insurance certificate, MOT and existing logbook and they issued me with a free tax disk and sent my log book off to reregister the car as a historic vehicle.

The DVLA web site does not seem to say much about this so I thought this might be of interest to some Lotus owners. The factory used to keep good records and may still do, so if your Elan was registered early in 1973 and you still pay road tax it may be worth looking into this.

<!--QuoteBegin-pereirac+Oct 20 2004, 10:32 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (pereirac @ Oct 20 2004, 10:32 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> If your car, like mine was registered in early 1973 you may be able to reregister it with the DVLA as a historic vehicle and be eligible for free road tax.

The DVLA rules seem to be that if your car was BUILT before the end of 1972 you can register it as a historic vehicle (and be eligible for free road tax). My car was registered in Feb 1973 but I had a letter from the factory telling me the car was actually built in September 1972. All it needed was a trip to my local DVLA office with the letter, insurance certificate, MOT and existing logbook and they issued me with a free tax disk and sent my log book off to reregister the car as a historic vehicle.

The DVLA web site does not seem to say much about this so I thought this might be of interest to some Lotus owners. The factory used to keep good records and may still do, so if your Elan was registered early in 1973 and you still pay road tax it may be worth looking into this. [/quote]
:huh: Hi, my car (Sprint) was built and registered Jan 1973 according to factory, my question is do you have a contact at factory who might be able to help as I find it hard to believe it was built and registered in the same month.

Many thanks in advance
Martin

Martin,
Do a search on this forum for "factory history" as there was a discussion about who to contact at the factory for info last year.

Quoting one of the subscribers..
"You should email mr [email protected] it take some days then you get som info about Your car."

I gather the person I orginally contacted is no longer with Lotus. I seem to remember I just telephoned the factory, they were very helpful.

I assume your chassis number starts with 72?

Carl

Just a quick note to say DVLA say that the cut of date is actually 9 JAN 1973 I found this out when a car I have got was reg 11 JAN 73 but had a letter from ford to say built NOV 72.So if your car reg JAN 1-9th 1973 it it qualifies without any hasle.The guy at the local DVLA office was at a loss as to why this is the date but did double check it.It may be worthwhile asking the question if car built during these few days also qualify.
Pete

My Plus 2 was built in Dec 1972, but registered 19th Jan 1973.
I have historic tax on the car. All I had to do was obtain a letter from Lotus confirming that the car was built in December 1972, which they did with no problems.
With reference to the chassis, you can easily tell when your car was made.
The first two digits are the year i.e. 72, the next two digits the month ie 12. then four more digits and then ( in my case) L for the plus 2.
If yours is 7212xxxxL then you're laughing.
Hope this helps.
Jeff 72 +2