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MG MGB Technical - Heritage Dealer and Buyer History

Hi all,
I wondered if the UK fraternity might know of how I can unearth some history on my Home Market MGB GT. I recently received a British Motor Heritage Certificate for my car, and it tells me that it was delivered from Abingdon 0n the 24th August 1973,to Patrick Motors Ltd Birmingham.

Researching Patrick Motors tells me that there is no longer a dealership, however a trust exists so I have written to them for some information on the car and who they may have sold it to. I am not expecting an answer or indeed a result as it is almost 50 years ago, and I wondered if our UK members know of how or where I might discover the 1st buyer, or whoever owned it while it was in the UK.
I can track it back to the earliest known owner in Perth,who purchased it from a dealer in the early 1980's but I would love to know who first owned it in the UK and who exported/imported it into Australia. Am I able to get the 1st owner information from the British/English Motor Registering Authority, or is this too big an ask?

Maurie
R M Prior

Yes and no. They will give out current owner information under certain circumstances i.e. accidents, fraud and the like, and I have read in the past that some people have been able to get past owners via a similar route, https://www.gov.uk/request-information-from-dvla

paulh4

As Paul says you could try the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority) but with modern data protection laws they might not be able to help. I wonder if they actually have vehicle ownership records from 50 years ago. Records would all have been paper based back then and might not have been digitalised.
Mike Howlett

Maurice,
they used to have records, whether they still have is a different matter, I suspect they would but as has been said Data Protection is different now.

The records were kept locally before going to Swansea but I got all mine when I applied years ago, by the look of them hand photocopies, nothing sophisticated.

If you can wait until after this weekend I will be seeing people in our club that used to deal with the Patrick Collection, indeed this started the activity the club is putting on this weekend with support from the Patrick Collection but this was nearly 30 years ago IIRC.

Friday on is the start of the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show which despite it's title is a mainly about very shiny static cars, much like most classic and marque vehicle meets. But our club has the cars running, you can see, hear, feel and smell them as we take passengers out on a 10 mile run of the Queen's Highways for charitable donations. Some of our cars are very shiny too, not my Spridget though but I do get a few rides and even a few passengers who who went out in it at previous shows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhm_zizFisE
Nigel Atkins

Paul, Mike and Nigel, Thank you for your great help, believe me, it is very much appreciated.

Since posting, I had a reply back from a Mr Julian Pritchard, CEO of Patrick Management Trust, who unfortunately advised that records no longer exist, however, he pointed me to a chap called "Michael E Ware" a published author of some note who wrote of finding old cars, and other classic car and narrow boat titles etc.

Now, trying to connect with Mr Ware is another issue as my hasty searches does not disclose an address/email etc for him. Do we know of this gentleman and how I might contact him?

Maurie
R M Prior

Michael E. Ware - he was curator and later Director of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, but has now retired and he still retains a very strong interest in canals.

If he's still alive your best contact might be through his canal interest.
Nigel Atkins

RM. a few years ago I searched the history of my MGC and had success through the DVLA-UK -To get the info from them you have to complete a form V888 that you can download from their DVLA website
If I remember there was a small fee but nothing really--It took a while to get a reply though, a couple of weeks I think but be aware it'll only be a registration record, if your car was new and moved from dealership to dealership unregistered they probably won't have a record of that--
Cheers
willy
William Revit

In that link given yesterday.
paulh4

Maurie,
below is a post from Chris 4 years ago which should show you won't get the info you want (no names or addresses given) and below that a photo of a reply letter from DVLA to another poster at around the same time.

C MADGE, Bristol, United Kingdom (Posted 29 April 2018 at 14:08:58 UK time)

"I have just received back info from my V888.

There’s no mot history, that’s a separate department -DVSA

The first page is a general summary which is just what’s on the v5c
Make, model, colour, capacity, taxable weight, seating capacity, VIN, engine number.
Special note saying there are no recorded changes to the vehicle.

Subsequent pages list for each keeper
Keeper number
Date of acquisition
Date of disposal

The final page is the licence history
Start date
Date of expiry
Licence period
Licence doc number

And finally dates of SORN periods.

If anyone is interested I can provide photos of the pages.

I think the enquiry took about 6 weeks to process."


Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 16/03/2022 and 17/03/2022

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