by "Jack Does Cars" (jackdoescars)
Published 02/26/2017 at 11:24
by "Jack Does Cars" (jackdoescars)
Published 02/26/2017 at 11:24
Tags: Plates
STARS: 1
So a friend of mine is visting Charleston, SC and she sent me this photo of a 1st-gen Volvo V70. Notice anything strange about it?
Yes, the UK plates. They look valid, but when I went to the DVLA website and typed in many different variations of the plate, nothing came up.
I just want to know if it’s legit, and if it is I want to know how it got to the US and how it hasn’t been crushed. My friend didn’t say if it was left-hand-drive or right-hand-drive.
"Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell." (oppisitelock)
02/26/2017 at 11:32, STARS: 0
Theyd have to be personalised plates if they were legit, A plates denote a much older car ( the first letter of older British plates are code for a certain year of first registration.)
"Leon711" (leon711)
02/26/2017 at 11:35, STARS: 1
Doesn’t come up as anything on the British Government website for checking cars. Literally a fake british plate.
"Leon711" (leon711)
02/26/2017 at 11:36, STARS: 0
Not legit plates. Doesn’t show up in MOT checker. Even cars I’ve scrapped still show up as existing on there even though they are tin cans now.
"Alfalfa" (alfalfa-romeo)
02/26/2017 at 11:38, STARS: 0
Fake euro plates. People do it all the time, but most of them are smart enough to either just put them on the front, or put them under their US plate and show off at a meet.
"My X-type is too a real Jaguar" (TomSlick)
02/26/2017 at 11:41, STARS: 2
If you look closely it has a US-Spec license plate holder, I’ll bet it is a US Spec car with UK plates to be cool. I see this often or the Owner took European delivery in the UK I think Volvo did that when they were owned by Ford.
"PS9" (PS9)
02/26/2017 at 11:44, STARS: 3
.
Get money to buy wagon, but you can’t because the US hates wagons
Get mad
Get more money, move to britain
Stay long enough to get citizenship, leave immediately
Bring a wagon with you
Pay no registration taxes on your wagon as a foreigner
Visit england for a week every year to get around the year-long visitors requirement
Profit? Nope, peruse craigslist and find out V70s are legal here, kick yourself forever
"Leon711" (leon711)
02/26/2017 at 11:54, STARS: 0
I know a guy who imported a Ford Puma to the US to drive whilst he was out there and like you say, he can only have it there for a year. He hasn’t worked out what to do with it when the time is up.
Crazy that it was cheaper to buy a car in the UK and import it to the US than to buy out there.
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
02/26/2017 at 11:56, STARS: 0
Maybe a temporary plate for Euro delivery?
"PS9" (PS9)
02/26/2017 at 11:57, STARS: 0
He could have craigslisted a Corolla here. Though I can see why you don’t want to buy things from a place with the name ‘Craig’ in it.
"twochevrons" (twochevrons)
02/26/2017 at 12:01, STARS: 2
Highly unlikely that’s legit – you can see the US-spec license plate bracket underneath it!
Related: I get irrationally annoyed about the use of white-oval stickers in the US (like the ‘FB’ sticker on that car). Their purpose in the UK and Europe is to indicate which country your car is from – if it isn’t shown on your license plate, you have to display such a sticker if you take your car abroad. My Triumph still has one from European jaunts while it was in the UK. I can kind of understand having a ‘real’ one as a souvenir from a trip (I see a lot of ‘S’ stickers from Volvo’s factory-pickup program), or as a way of showing your heritage, but the made-up ones here are a bit silly, especially those that don’t even represent a place. You come from ‘26.2’? What?
Yes:
No:
"Leon711" (leon711)
02/26/2017 at 12:01, STARS: 2
I dunno he bought the Puma for less than $200 and imported it for $800, it was also a conversation starter seeing as it wasn’t available in the US and isn’t old enough to import permanently, plus it was RHD. He made loads of friends with it.
"Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell." (oppisitelock)
02/26/2017 at 12:06, STARS: 0
Yeah maybe they had euro plates made up with the same reg no as their US plates.
"twochevrons" (twochevrons)
02/26/2017 at 12:15, STARS: 0
I don’t believe so. That plate is a standard-issue one, but corresponding to a far older vehicle (‘A’ prefix = first registered in ‘83 or ‘84). It is possible to reassign older plates to a newer car (the closest thing the UK has to vanity plates), but it’s unlikely somebody would go to that effort for export.
From what I understand, regular UK export plates would start with a Q or an X (depending on when they were issued).
"Leon711" (leon711)
02/26/2017 at 12:20, STARS: 0
Maybe or they are just getting away with using fake plates, there’s a US plate holder behind it.
"twochevrons" (twochevrons)
02/26/2017 at 12:24, STARS: 0
I spotted an MGF here in Minnesota a while ago, and was wondering how they got that through. That would explain it. It’s definitely on the list of cars I’d like to bring over once it hits the 25 year mark.
Depending on where the Puma guy is in the US, it might be worth trying to sell it to someone in Canada; I think that they’re OK with anything older than 15 years.
"Leon711" (leon711)
02/26/2017 at 12:27, STARS: 1
That was his plan, the car is being looked after by someone else at the moment whilst he is back in the UK.
"victor" (victor)
02/26/2017 at 12:30, STARS: 1
The S is required for European delivery since the plates issued are Swedish zoll-type plates and not EU multi country compliant. They slap it on before you drive away.
"Amoore100" (amoore100)
02/26/2017 at 12:31, STARS: 1
What the actual hell is 26.2 even meant to represent!? Google tells me it’s the length of a marathon but that in no way relates to Euro places of origin stickers...
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
02/26/2017 at 12:34, STARS: 0
Awesome! I love the Puma! A friend had an NA-spec Ford/Mercury Cougar and it was a cool car. It got totaled after it’s wheels made friends with some ice many years ago, but we’ve always liked the Puma as the Cougar’s little brother! :)
"twochevrons" (twochevrons)
02/26/2017 at 12:34, STARS: 0
That makes sense. Plus, it ends up being free advertising for the programme over here.
"Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies" (jordanwphillips)
02/26/2017 at 12:37, STARS: 2
The FB here is for Folly Beach, a beach outside of Charleston.
"facw" (facw)
02/26/2017 at 12:40, STARS: 3
It tells people that you ran a marathon (or at least claim to), which yes is dumb. Same with 13.1 (half-marathon) and 0.0 (lazy bastard and proud of it). Stay away from numbers higher than 26.2, those ultra-marathoners and triathlon people are at least a little nuts.
"twochevrons" (twochevrons)
02/26/2017 at 12:44, STARS: 2
Thanks!
One of my beefs about the stickers in the US is that they are meant to largely intuitive identifies for well-known entities (S = Sverige/Sweden, D = Deutchland/Germany, E = España/Spain, GB = Great Britain, etc.), whereas here, they seem to function more as cryptic ways for those ‘in the know’ to identify each other. Even in my local area, I see plenty that I have no idea what they mean.
"Leon711" (leon711)
02/26/2017 at 12:48, STARS: 1
He’s documented the experience at http://usapuma.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1 he imported it into Georgia and has been up to Canada in it and went to San Francisco to recreate the original commercial that was shot in SF.
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
02/26/2017 at 12:56, STARS: 0
Very very cool! :D
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
02/26/2017 at 13:21, STARS: 1
Maybe they had that plate on an Austin Maxi or something back in the day, and just keep it as a good luck charm on every car they’ve owned since? That’s probably why the plate bracket is over top of the UK plate.
"twochevrons" (twochevrons)
02/26/2017 at 13:28, STARS: 0
I like this theory!
My Triumph is old enough that it’s not required to display a front plate here in MN, and for a while, I kept its NZ plate on there instead. However, I got a telling-off from a cop about it (apparently it’s not cool to show different plates front and rear, which I guess I can understand), so now it’s solely garage ornamentation.
"If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent" (essextee)
02/26/2017 at 17:39, STARS: 0
UK used car prices are cheap because the insurance is so insane
"Leon711" (leon711)
02/26/2017 at 17:43, STARS: 0
it’s only really bad in anecdotal cases like being a new driver or living in a high crime area, mine is around £450/$550 for the year, which isn’t bad in the grand scheme of things.
"If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent" (essextee)
02/26/2017 at 18:20, STARS: 0
I’m a “new driver” and I pay the same as that for a premium car. I looked it up and it’s in your insurance group 34. Once I’m 25 my rates will drop by up to 33% for the same coverage.
"Leon711" (leon711)
02/27/2017 at 02:24, STARS: 0
It’s still hardly insane.