I Have a Mini Comtess with V5c all duly registered et al but currently on SORN. It doesn't have a Q plate (KAUxxxx).
On front of V5 states " 1. was registered and/or used. Declared manufactured 1975."
On second page states
Date of first registration 08 04 1975.
Date of first registration in the UK 09 02 2005.
Make... Acoma.
Body Type.... Tricycle.
Taxation Class.... Tricycle.
Revenue weight.... 135.0 Kg Unladen.
Cylinder capacity.... 47cc, Petrol.
Wheelplan.... 3-wheel.
Type approval number.... 98/69/EC
etc etc etc. No further info on it after colour.
This was Stutart's old MC. 
Ian.
That there is indeed my old Mini Comtesse which went to Ian last year. Note it states "Date of first registration 8/4/75" & "Date of first registration in UK 9/2/05". All
MINI Comtesse's have the date of the French equivalent of their original type approval stamped on the chassis plate, which is that 8/4/75 date in this case. It is a recognised date upon the recognised chassis plate therefore certainly back when mine was registered here in 2005, that stamped date was evidence enough of its year of manufacturer, therefore ANY Mini Comtesse presented at that time would have been declared by the DVLA as being April 1975 despite the Mini Comtesse actually having been in production from 1972 to 1979-80ish. I don't know if ALL Funny French Fhings have the "Type Approval" date stamped on all their chassis plates, but that's the way it worked back in 2005 for my Mini Comtesse.
I didn't register mine. I bought it fully taxed. mot'ed & registered from Tony Yorston of Lesctershire in September 2006. I don't have his contact details to hand, but Jean may well. I never renewed the MoT on it due to every tester in Oxfordshire at the time refusing point-blank to test it due to its size "not fitting their equipment". This being before I studied the MOT testers rulebook which says smallness of size isn't an excuse not to test, they just have to do it the hard way rolling around on the floor. By the time I found that out I'd lost intrest & gone onto other things.
Of the Crayford cars which have been flagged up occasionaly in this topic, basically forget all about them for the duration of this particular subject, ie, registering a Pans Permis car in 2012. The Crayfords were a batch of William/Lawil's brought in by Crayford the convertable car maker in the late
1960s and were all registered as brand-new cars at that time under the Crayford name. They were not registered as Williams or Lawil's, but as an already-recognised OTHER type of vehicle. (Crayford). Plus in the 1960s it was just fill out the details in the ledger & theres your number to slap on it. Therefore the Crayfords will serve absolute NO use at all to getting a recent-import non-UK registered Comtesse/William/Lawil/Mini Cat/Splatwagon etc etc a registration in 2012. In fact anyone with a Willam or Lawil would be far better off in my opinion in flogging it & putting the money towards getting hold of a Crayford!
On a more general note, I had to smile when Alan showed me this thread this morning. I remember when I got my Mini Comtesse. Half of you on here sat there & laughed at me. Now you all want a French Thing.....
