Practically Classics Forum

Not that I am biased in any way at all but you should get the traveller. They are SOOOOOOO much fun and everybody looks at them and wants to talk to you. If my one hadn't been so rotten (the wood was good, just a shame there wasn't much metal around it) I would still be bombing about in it.

http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/429069216.htm?ca=18_s


looks like a lot of work for the money & i still have to re register it..

rich. wrote:just had a response from the mot people for the car, needs to have €2000 test so i can register it over here.. bugger.

€2000!! bloody'ell,that's extreme. I suspect it is the VOSA equivallent in France. I'm just thinking (I have a couple of brain cells),the Type Approval is Europe widely recognised. If you can get this TA Certificate,then it won't cost you the €2000,correct? I know that in Germany it's called the Allgemeine Betriebserlaubnis (ABE),hopefully a I can ask around. Although,don't you have fellow MR2 enthisiasts in France that can assist?

sierra3dr wrote:

rich. wrote:just had a response from the mot people for the car, needs to have €2000 test so i can register it over here.. bugger.

€2000!! bloody'ell,that's extreme. I suspect it is the VOSA equivallent in France. I'm just thinking (I have a couple of brain cells),the Type Approval is Europe widely recognised. If you can get this TA Certificate,then it won't cost you the €2000,correct? I know that in Germany it's called the Allgemeine Betriebserlaubnis (ABE),hopefully a I can ask around. Although,don't you have fellow MR2 enthisiasts in France that can assist?

That's exactly why I suggested Hungary or Poland.

I thought the problem was that it's a grey import and hasn't got type approval in Europe. I don't see how registering it somewhere else is going to help. It's already been registered in the UK.

suffolkpete wrote:I thought the problem was that it's a grey import and hasn't got type approval in Europe. I don't see how registering it somewhere else is going to help. It's already been registered in the UK.

yep...

Rich, that's not what I meant. Your MR2 was registered in the UK yes, but not having been type approved. This process is very expensive in some locations as your quote from the French authority has shewn but European type approval can be granted cheaply in Hungary or Poland (possibly other countries, I only know of these two), which in turn would make the car acceptable to the French authorities. This is how many of the low volume makers do it and a couple of students have successfully exported their cars as a result of this option. One was Polish, the other Hungarian, hence my citing that two.

thanks for the suggestion john, i will see what i can come up with.. although it should have been approved for the uk already. its toyota europe who are being the pain in the bum.

JPB wrote: but European type approval can be granted cheaply in Hungary or Poland (possibly other countries, I only know of these two), which in turn would make the car acceptable to the French authorities.

oh,I didn't know that. Just shows how flawed the EU bureaucracy is

For the car to have been registered in the UK it must have had type approval, a certificate of conformity or have gone through an IVA. In the UK we have a system called the Mutual Recognition Scheme whereby a vehicle approval for use in another EU member state will be accepted in the UK provided that you make changes such as changing the headlamps to dip to the left, move the rear fog lamp to the right and calibrate the speedo in mph. My Matra would have been imported under these rules. The word "Mutual" implies that the converse ought to be true if you export a vehicle, rather than put it through the French equivalent of an IVA. I know someone who exported a French-built, type approved Matra to France and they still demanded a certificate of conformity, so I suspect the Polish or Hungarian approval wouldn't be accepted. Les Francais prendent le Michel, n'est-ce pas?