1985 Honda Acty Show Truck

Cheers Grizz. I need to try and read the blazer thread - I got as far as you purchasing it but it’s running away faster than I can catch up at the moment!

As for the registrations it depends on what car you’re looking for.

Prefix registrations and newer for cars from 1983 (think that’s A?) onwards are available to search for online - what’s available at least. DVLA put premiums on some plates that they consider more valuable but majority are £250 or £399 for the rights to the registration.

Out of the registrations I’ve bought over the years...

L10KLE £250
K17 MOO £250
T7RSE £250
N11NTT £250
P12 MOO £250
C11BEO £399
E6RND £399
FR65HER £399

Unless your insurance charges admin fees for all changes it shouldn’t cost you from that front - I’ve never been charged for a reg change.

Then you’ve got the physical plates, if you go for normal size plastic plates you’re looking at £15 for the pair. These were a bit more because my rear plate is slightly shorter to look more minimal.

If you go for a registration that has fewer characters or containing 1s then you can get shorter plates still.

Or you’ve got pressed metal plates etc.

Hope this helps. If you do find one you fancy then I’d recommend not searching again if you don’t buy it straight away. I always get suspicious that DVLA track searches and if they think it’s in demand they’ll hike the price. Based on the work I do (data analytics) it’s something I would do!

Aside from all the above I’d you’re looking for a reg for your blazer or anything earlier than 1983 then you’re in the realms of auctions - you have to let dvla know there’s a certain number you want and if it’s available they will put it to auction and inform you when it’s for sale and down to you to bid - this obviously brings potential competitor buyers into the process.

I’ll get onto your pm next but the sale sites don’t necessarily “own” them, depending on the company they usually work in one of following ways...

1. List plates owned by an individual and get a cut of any sales - I.e I could tell them I want to sell my FR65HER plate and they’ll say it’s worth £X and I’ll get £Y from a sale and they’ll get £Z . They’ll put it in their adverts until it sells - could be months or years but you can use it until then.

2. Buy plates themselves from dvla then sell them on for an (attempted) profit. This is fair enough and a business if you can find good plates to hike the prices enough to profit. I’ve tried a few but never made anything off them.

3. Then there are sneaky people who list plates on their site that are still available direct from dvla with their cut added on top. For them it’s no risk because they’re not buying “stock” in advance to sell on they’re just catching people who find their website before dvla. You buy from them and then they buy from dvla and sell straight to you.
Sometimes they get away with it because they list prices lower than dvla site but dvla site is all inclusive but they’ll add VAT and registration fees on top of their price which is in effect their profit.

So before you buy always check here first...

dvlaregistrations.direct.gov.uk

... the official dvla site where ultimately all registrations start out, obviously once it’s been sold once then you have to revert to company types 1 and 2 but at least you bypass company types 3.

I remember when these new style plates came in they said it would make it would stop people having personalised plates. Poppycock. It doesnt stop anything, it just means more are possible. Like FRESHER. Brilliant.

Those BMW trims look fantastic on that, but the BMW logos are giving me a twitch.

Before I did any more car jobs my next target was to get the Acty in the garage.

This is how it started on Sunday mid day...



I shuffled things around lots and found space for things on shelves, threw a few things out.

By 3:15pm I came across an old off-cut of worktop that i had planned to use as a sink base but instead I fixed five castor wheels (left over from an old model railway board which I’ve now wall mounted) on the bottom ...



3:20pm: Flipped it over and with all my (tiny amount) strength I picked up the engine and box and put it on the now engine trolley...





I could then wheel that out of the way into the back corner ready for another day.

By 4:38pm there was just enough space (I need to work on the stuff at the far end a bit more) ...



4:54pm and she’s tucked away for a while...

A quick mock-up on the dining table...



I’ll spray the fog light in the centre black too and all three will be mounted on a black panel to give it a one piece look.

Are these just for show, or do they actually let enough light out that you can leave them on? I'm assuming the former, given how dark they are.

To help clean up the sides I’m relocating the fuel cap to the bed itself so I’ve purchased this sexy little number from car builder solutions...



It has a 51mm spigot so i can cut a hole in the bed to put that through before bolting it to the bed. Then I’ll connect a hose up from the tank to the spigot.

This means I can build side panels without a hole for the petrol cap. I’ll follow a similar process for the oil cap too.

Next up was to spray a spare badge and set of grill inserts black to match the grill...

Sanding sponge and paper to scuff up the new parts, toilet wipes to clean and kitchen roll to dry, before painting with Montana Matt black hardcore grafitti paint...


Wet...






——

Lots of anger and frustration removing the old grill inserts whilst the paint was drying

——-

Dry...


Badge fitted...


Inserts fitted...


Front end complete...


Before and after comparisons...

Even with it’s angry frown?!