Owning old Cobras with little or no paperwork other than rego papers

[andyl]

Hi All,

Some time ago I had a drawn out discussion with the QLD Rego people about an early '80s Holden Ute I had at the time which had a 350 Chev motor installed on a Mod plate.

The car came with no documentation other than the Mod plate itself which had no details of the mods at all. My query was that as a buyer of this car was that how was I to know that the 350 was in fact the correct engine referred to by the mod plate? Indeed what was to stop me switching it to say a 427 and arguing that that's what the buyer told me it was approved for? I asked if it was possible to get a copy of the paperwork for the mod plate so I could ensure I am complying with the terms of it and was told that I could not (they did not comment on whether such things are kept or not).

So effectively I had no idea (and was unable to determine) whether i was legal or not.

It now occurs to me that I am in the same situation if buying a second hand Cobra which has been registered since back in the '80s.

If it does not have the complete details of the engineering, how do I know if it is as per the approval or not, so I thought I'd call the rego fellas today and ask about a simple engine swap like-for-like and what were the guide lines.

At the start of the call I did not mention the exact details, just generic guidance for an engine swap of a 302W in any old car. The fellow said, its no worries as long as I put an engine of the same spec and same age or newer.

Not content with the answer I said well in my case it is a kit car first registered in the '80s, that I had bought it as a registered car and that it came with no other paperwork other than rego papers, and that it needed a new block.

To this he became a bit shorter and sharper like he had an axe to grind with such cars. His answer was that in the cases like this "it would be a problem" and that when in any doubt CURRENT ADR RULES FOR POLLUTION WOULD HAVE TO BE MET! He followed with a comment that this would be virtually impossible for the car I described which I took as an implication that the car may never see the road again.

It occurs to me that without the engineering documentation for an old Cobra you wouldn't even know if the engine in it when you bought it was the approved one, the rego dept will allow you to change numbers at will it seems if a new motor is installed without any checks, and there is no way for an owner to seek any details (see previous experience) to confirm that his/her current motor is correct.

It would also occur to me that if ever it was disputed or the car pulled over and sent over the pits it seems they can just throw their hands up and say its old and they have doubts they cannot answer so you would have to comply with current pollution rules.

When one buys an old Cobra (from the '80s) is it unusual to not get the engineering papers ?

And does anyone have any experience with these sorts of difficulties with old cobras and how they turn out ? Any court precedences you know of etc ?

Surely the fair thing would be to comply with the pollution rules as per the first registration date, but it seems they are looking for opportunities to get cars like cobra copies off the road as soon as they need significant repair.

I know in many cases back then cars came in via or were first registered in WA. Does anyone know if that makes any difference ?

Thanks in advance for any advice, this has me pretty peeved.

P.S. Is anyone else sick to death of this country (or is it just QLD ?) having the worlds strictest laws on this sort of thing designed to take away creativity and liberty ? NZ, England, USA all seem to have quite fair rules on custom stuff, but not here.