When I picked up the kit, due to the distance involved, I decided to get the chassis number welded on & the VIN plate prepared - all well & good, except since May 2012 the IVA rules changed on VIN plates and got very specific about the information presented and the order it appears.
GBS have been working on a new design for some months, but its not quite going to be ready for my IVA. I had a chat with the testing centre at Gillingham and confirmed my original plate would not meet the current regulation & although possible to change it/mask out some information it wasn't going to ever look very good.
New IVA rules state Manufacturer, Chassis Number and weights to appear in a separate box and in the order: Manufacturer, Chassis Number, Gross Weights, Axle weights. If any further information is included it it must be outside a box containing the mandatory stuff - so even blanking out the boxes would leave me with a fail on the GBS logo & tag line.
This is my original plate - love the styling but its not compliant anymore: (also anyway its 2013 now)
VOSA advised making a new plate simply with the manufacturer name and chassis number. The weights are optional anyway so touch wood this design should be ok; Spent an hour or so this evening making a plate from an off-cut of aluminium. After this picture was taken I also added 'dots' either side of the GBS manufacturer name to meet the regulation that letters could not be added/removed:
Funny thing - it took me one practice run to get a good impression from the stamps; using the vice underneath worked much better than the wooden bench, then another 2 goes containing mistakes - kept missing letters out, doh!
Cut out with the dremel then file off the edges, dremel wire brush and polished the front face.
Its obviously not laser cut & silk screen printed etc, but I think it has its own home made charm !
(VIN Numbers blacked out for privacy)
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