Club 80-90 Forums

Update from my application, received a letter from DVLA today. Explains things.

My bus was built August 83. Wait a bit longer then.

Thats a pain, looks as if I am in the same boat as you, having read their response in your post I still do not think it right, its as if they are one year behind. E D I T after reading the dvla response a few more times I think it has sunk in. Will have to wait until after April to put the amended V5C and other paperwork thru.

Received my new log book with historic vehicle.. Was very easy and straightforward

Has anyone had any success emailing vw at the following address recently?

type.approval@vwg.co.uk 

I messaged them 3 weeks ago but i haven't had anything back. I've had to buy 6 months of vehicle tax in the meantime!

The DVLA told me to get a certificate of heritage from the Britsh Motor Museum but they only do British cars (obvs).

Thanks.

That still looks to be the correct address on the VW website here:

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/en/owners- ... rmity.html

They've just replied via email to say they will post letter shortly. 

So expect a 4 or 5 week response time.

We've just had ours successfuly re classified as Historical- very simple trip to the post office with only the V5 doc.  it had on there the build date already.  12months free tax happened immediately as he scanned it, then it took 4 weeks for the new v5 to arrive with the new tax class

Thats with declaring a new engine at the same time (subaru ej20, just pen filled in all the relevant change fields on v5)- engine number now changed and capacity up (gone from 1900 to 2000), which might interest some engine swap phobics/fans  (this forum has so many engine swap naysayers which gets a bit boring sometimes).

according to this page about MOTs-
https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles

What you have to doYou must apply for a vehicle tax exemption to stop paying vehicle tax. This is sometimes called putting a vehicle into the ‘historic tax class’.
 
You do not have to apply to stop getting an MOT for your vehicle each year. However, you must still keep it in a roadworthy condition.

So no other forms needed for the MOT exemption i guess? ill ask at the MOT centre anyway.
 

Definitely a good idea to check, as your engine swap may mean that your van counts as 'substantially changed' and you'll still be required to get an MOT. According to the notes on the V112 form 'Declaration of exemption from MOT' the following engine changes are not considered substantial:

Engine - alternative cubic capacities of the same basic engine and alternative original equipment engines (if the number of cylinders in an engine is different from the original it is unlikely to be alternative original equipment)

I'm about to send off my syncro V5 to go from the DG 1905cc to the Oettinger 3164cc...still a year away from historic but I do have a copy of the TüV paperwork for the engine to prove its authenticity.

TBH I'm not worried about no road tax and would rather have an annual MOT to help keep on top of things.

silverbullet wrote: ↑13 May 2025, 11:06 I'm about to send off my syncro V5 to go from the DG 1905cc to the Oettinger 3164cc...still a year away from historic but I do have a copy of the TüV paperwork for the engine to prove its authenticity.

TBH I'm not worried about no road tax and would rather have an annual MOT to help keep on top of things.

You've got a lot more faith in the DVLA than I have. The risk/reward balance in telling them about an engine swap for an engine you've built and fitted yourself tips the scales sharply in the wrong direction IMO. Not a lot to be gained - 12 digits changed on their system and an satisfying "3164cc" result when people look up the reg number, but there's a real potential that when they ask for the usual proof of change paperwork (an invoice for the purchase of the engine, and an invoice from a garage for the fitment of the engine) that whoever's desk it ends up on isn't switched on enough to make the correct judgement and you end up with a big headache, potentially setting off a chain of events where you're trying to argue that your van makes up 8 points on their "radically altered score" despite the fact that they themselves can't give a reasonable answer what actual parts on a post-1960s vehicle they mean by:

• Suspension (front and back) - original
  
• Axles (both) - original
  
• Steering assembly - original
  
• Transmission - original
  

and probably more importantly whether "original" means the actual ones it came out of the factory with, Identical ones to what it was supplied with, or whether a set of aftermarket dampers and springs, modified rear hubs to fit disk brakes, a steering wheel out of a different van and a gearbox rebuilt into another casing would lose you the points for all of them!

I've never heard of any negative repercussions due to the DVLA not having the correct engine CC and number on a V5, but I do know of quite a few situations where people have ended up in a pickle with a vehicle that they've told the DVLA has had an engine swap and have ended up being forced to either lie (I've taken it back out and put the original back in) or commit light fraud (Oh, I've found the invoices now! They're from a long time ago and for a garage that conveniently doesn't exist anymore) in order to not end up with an unregisterable vehicle.

Interesting points raised there, I'll admit that my line of thinking was to simply be honest and that makes insurance easier later on because all the numbers match when the vehicle reg is checked.
Its been on SORN for so long now I don't want to fudge it up at the last hurdle to being back on the road.

Rusty84 wrote: ↑17 May 2024, 14:21 Has anyone had any success emailing vw at the following address recently?

type.approval@vwg.co.uk 

I messaged them 3 weeks ago but i haven't had anything back. I've had to buy 6 months of vehicle tax in the meantime!

The DVLA told me to get a certificate of heritage from the Britsh Motor Museum but they only do British cars (obvs).

Thanks.

I think this is the address to use

cocrequests@vwg.co.uk