Bobbybubble - I bought this mystery 3-wheeler thinking it had a Messerschmitt engine. (Reason being the owner approached a friend of mine who was selling his spare schmitt engine at Beaulieu autojumble and the guy said it was the same as the one in his workshop, and we never questioned it). I just found out last night by email from Richard Parsons, a scooter expert, that with the fan housing on the left and no dynastart it means that it is an IWL engine. So now the identity of the mystery trike is solved at last! - it is an IWL Lastenroller.
I obviously didn't mention the Messerschmitt engine to deceive anyone (the original post has been up on this website since last year mentioning schmitt engine). Neither did I buy the thing to make money. I paid £250 for it and had to drive 100 miles to collect it, which was quite a hassle. I bought it to save it.
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Regarding the usual anti-dealer diatribes, just because someone has the initiative to try somehow to combine their hobby (read obsession) for vintage vehicles with business, they are always fair game to be slagged off. Obviously it is not the case here, but there's a terrible British habit that anyone deemed 'successful' or high profile who reminds a slagger-off of their own perceived failings must be shouted down. With the vintage vehicle hobby, it's often someone jealous because they are an accountant with a lifelong unfulfilled wish to be involved in the vehicle trade and no guts to go for it themselves.
HOWEVER, the removal of its original plate does take away an important part of a vintage vehicle's history, ie its registration with the authorities. Luckily, its actual history is still there, and can be seen in its old documents. Nevertheless what we like most about old vehicles is 100% authenticity and obviously the reg is an important factor.
The point is that the number plate of a vehicle is displayed very prominently.
Whether age-relateds are because of lost docs or plate transfers, they do look daft all in a row at a show. What really gets my goat is seeing an age-related on an old car in a movie; you'd think they could get a period plate made if they've gone to the trouble of getting a period car.
BUT - if you deal in old vehicles the trade off is that you have to take number plates into account. There is no choice. You either sell the plate separately or factor its value into the resale price. What is a 'decent' dealer, Dan? One who'll ignore the actual value of a vehicle and sell it for 50% less? That does not exist. I've sold more than my fair share of plates over the years, and i can not deny that it contradicts my lifelong interest in and research of vintage vehicles. These days it's rather irrelevant as most plates have already been sold off or are age-related (the majority of my vehicles are unregistered or imported).
I blame people with modern cars. I must admit I bought my first modern car 6 months ago after a lifetime of only driving old ones, because of our new baby. (It's modern to me - 1993 - but my friends laugh when I call it modern).
Nevertheless, all you bastards with modern cars are to blame for the rape of old vehicles for their number plates. I tar you all with the same brush. As with the drug problem, if there were no drug users there would not be drug mafias and entire countries dedicated to their manufacture.
If we only drove old cars, there would be no modern porsche owners buying cherished plates to remove the tell-tale modern one that identifies its year of manufacture. Demand creates supply. Modern car owners are just speed-crazy show-offs.
Aren't forums wonderful? If something annoys you, it is a great place to make your voice heard. And your words are there, carved into cyberspace, forever. In time, 20 years on, 50 years on, folks can look back and read the forum thread and say things like "were people really worried in 2008 by things such as the number plates on cars and motorbikes when there were so many other important issues to deal with in society?"
