registering a french car in the UK with no carte grise???

You don't need it. My Trabant had no papers and it was possible to register. There will be a DVLA representative in certain classic car groups who are certified to inspect and approve your vehicle, to verify its legitimacy. Get the NOVA applied for too and send it off with the correct registration document with the fee and a year's tax, and it'll be fine.

As for who can help, try asking on the largest classic Ford group you can find.

You don’t need the Carte gris but it’s much easier with it, as you just send it off with a v55 and they give you a v5, as it serves as dating evidence and evidence of country of origin

First step is get it on the nova system. Hmrc are usually pretty good with this and will do it without much hassle, I’ve never had them ask for proof of anything, especially as it’s from a country that Won’t earn them any import duty anyway.

Then get it dated/verified by a club from the dvla list.

Then fill in a v55 as per normal.

They’ll probably send SGS to inspect but it’s just a formality to check the car exists/isn’t a ringer.

Shouldn’t be any more complicated than that. I’ve done far worse.

Cheers dez that'she encouraging to here, I do have the proof of sale form if that is useful?

Depends where it’s from, if it’s from a third party (eg eBay) it’s handy to show hmrc to show it’s originated from the EU and you don’t need to pay any duty. They probably won’t even ask though.

To avoid an inspection I'd do the following things:

1) Get it an MOT : Of course, if it is miles away from getting one, leave it. But the MOT was serve as the vehicle existing/a VIN validation
2) Get a document proving what the car is. Ford may do this, but an owner's club documentation will be better
3) Submit photos of the car, assuming it is complete and built up, complete with a shot of the VIN no.

I dod the above on the W108 and I had a logbook within two weeks. A few guys I know sent the logbook in/some documentaton from the club and an exemption form, and it took over a month after the car was registered ; one had to wait 4 weeks for a weekend inspection slot, the other 2 weeks, as his car was based at his workplace.

The MOT advice has come from a few known restorers who have seen people fall foul of the inspection.

While that is the case, there are also a vast number a similarities between a normal MOT and an Inspection, including the big one ; the VIN no. tying the car to the no. itself. Cars also tend to be complete.

As said, that's coming from a restorer who has helped a number of people import a vehicle into the country in addtion to the DVLA, who basically said "anything with an examption plea, is likely to be inspected".

The photo idea I cannot claim. That one comes from disasterbus, where the logic does seem sound.

When I looked into getting a new Carte Gris for my van, the general consensus in the Internet was that you needed to be the registered keeper in order to apply for it. This is why lots of cars are left to rot in France as if the keeper dies and the Carte Gris cannot be found, the car cannot be used. I don’t know how true this is. It is the Internet after all.