OLK 178L - does my old Spitfire still exist?

[Martin Rhodes]

As an ex TSSC member back in the early 1980's I'd love to know if my old 1972 Spitfire OLK 178L still exists? It was my first car which I bought in late 1983 and sold in 1985 (my then girlfriend didn't like it  ). When I bought it I was the third owner and it came with original hardtop and had never had a soft top fitted. In the relatively short time I had it I fitted a soft top and also an overdrive gearbox. I'm 53 now and have owned everything from MGBs  to early Landrovers and a prewar Austin Seven but I still have very fond memories of my little spittie and would love to hear that it's still on the road. If so I can reunite the owner with the original dealer plates which I swapped for silver on black plates in 1984 and still have in my garage! I've also got some old pictures of it when I owned it.

Edited September 10, 2017 by Martin Rhodes
typo

[DanMi]

It.s on SORN last MOT 2014 so it still exists

[AndyCrews]

According to the DVLA website it was last MOt'ed in 2013, expired 24 May 2014. Its currently SORN'ed, so must be sitting in someone garage or shed somewhere.

 

Andy

[Martin Rhodes]

Thanks very much both - glad to hear it's still around. I don't suppose there's any way of tracing current owner though?

[Steve P]

I know you can request details from the DVLA of past owners,current if you have a good enough reason i believe.I got my cars old owners this way.

Worth calling DVLA in Swansea.

I managed to find the first owner of my Vitesse who bought it in 1970,i spoke to him on the phone and he was delighted it was still on the road.

Steve

[KevinR]

You can only get details of past owners if you are the current owner, or have a really good reason to get the details if you are not the current owner.

Unfortunately simply wanting to know where the car is now is not a really good reason.  If you had been involved in an accident with it then that would be a good reason.

The closest you are going to get legally is to trace the mot station that did the last recorded mot.  The details of the station number are online and there are resources to convert that into an address and garage name.

[Guest]

You will need to submit a V888 (download from the Web) it costs approx. £5 for the records to be released.

The only problem you are going to have Martin is that you are not the current owner and as such your case may be weakened. Additionally I doubt you will be able to secure the current keeper / owner details as that is asking DVLA to disclose "live" information and to do that you need to request such via a Data Protection Act, which I think you will find does not allow such release of information under the grounds you have specified.

Worth a go though and good luck.

Richard.

 

 

[Martin Rhodes]

Thanks again to everyone for replying to my post. I might try the DVLA though it sounds unlikely they'll release details. Maybe my best bet is to hope that the current owner puts car back on the road and then joins TSSC!

[KevinR]

This is an extract from the latest FBHVC newsletter written by Ian Edmunds -

 

“Several people have drawn my attention to an unfortunate revision to the DVLA service to supply information about a vehicle in  response to a V888 request.  Up until September it was possible for a vehicle keeper to obtain all the registration history that DVLA held for that vehicle on payment of a small fee.  DVLA considered that researching the vehicles history was ‘reasonable cause’ for needing the information.

 

However, since September DVLA have revised the requirements for ‘reasonable cause’ and researching the vehicle history is no longer acceptable.  The V888 form itself has been revised to reflect these changes.  Further guidance on ‘reasonable cause’ can be found at www.gov.uk/request-information-from-dvla   We will discuss this further with DVLA but we believe that the General Data Protection Regulation does unfortunately leave them with no choice.  Thus, we have all lost a valuable service.”