Update from the United Kingdom.

[Bigtone289]

Hi Everyone,
It has been a long time since I was last here and I have now retired from work and have more time to myself. So i thought it was about time that I posted here to update what was KaiRod's car. I travelled some 1200 miles across the channel to Germany to pick the 33 up using what we call a beaverback. After a tiring two days we returned safely and for the first time I had myself a Hot Rod! Now nearly 4 years later we are finally on the road and fully legal here in the UK which is quite an achievment for me. It is as far as I know the only "legal" 33 here in the UK. It took me nearly three years to strip down and do a partial rebuild to make the 33 complaint with UK standards, if there is any interest I can detail more of what we actually did to achieve this. In the meantime here are some pictures as the car stands today. The eagled eyed amongst you will spot a lot of the mods from the attached pictures. I have also just finished fitting a new soft top which is a must due to our weather.

Keep safe regards Tony (bigtone289)

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[NAZ]

Congratulations, the car looks great and that is quite an accomplishment. You're going to love driving that very special car. These cars turn heads in the States, but you will surely have people doing a double-take when you rumble by in an American hot rod.

[j33ptj]

Awesome Tony!!

Would love to hear abt the specifics of getting it legal, did you have to do a SVA?

Some of the lights look like special for the UK, also interested in the windshield wipers and wash system...

Anyway congrats on the car! Kai is probably green with envy!!

[FLPBFoot]

Beautiful! Looks fantastic. In that last picture looks like your neighbor has a convertible 1965 or 1966 Mustang? Fellow car nut?
Enjoy!

[wallace18]

Very Nice!:cool:

[Bigtone289]

Hi Naz, yes indeed people do tend to stare and it is quite loud too!

[Bigtone289]

Awesome Tony!!

Would love to hear abt the specifics of getting it legal, did you have to do a SVA?

Some of the lights look like special for the UK, also interested in the windshield wipers and wash system...

Anyway congrats on the car! Kai is probably green with envy!!

Hi Yes I went through SVA (IVA now) here in the UK, it is a document nearly 400 pages in size with all the rules and regs for passing the test. There is a a very large failure rate first time taking the test, over 80%, where the vehicle is inspected, a process which takes around 4 hours to complete, from general construction to the wheel nuts used. (I had to take one off and show the inspector how long it was). I failed on 17 items the worst being vehicle emissions.
So to be specific, yes the lights are an issue, this has its own section in the manual outlining the position and colour, so height and distance to the outer edge of the vehicle. The standard lights are to far inboard on the rear so I had to remove the ones from the stock position and i fitted led lights onto the rear of the wheel arches. Your are also required to have a fog light and reversing light on the rear. This was a european light which in fact for the UK is no good without modification, the fog light has to be on the right side of centre, so I broke the lens off and turned it around so that the "top" marking was indeed on top, not that it makes any difference to perfomance , but the lights have to have the correct standards markings. The front headlights are UK standard fittings, again these replaced the european / american type, ie left hand. The indicators have to be orange and be seen from certain angles and distances, plus the repeaters fitted to the front mudguards. BTW the wheels have to be covered here in the UK.
The windshield wipers and washers are also mandatory in the UK as is a demist system. So while we had the body off the car we set about fitting a wiper motor and wipers. This turned into a bit of a major task as the motor is fitted to the chassis and the wipers to the body, so mating them up is hard work upside down under the dash. The washers were fairly sraightforward with the washer bottle in the trunk as there is no room in the engine bay. Needless to say that there is a lot of additional wiring to make all this work, so extra fuses and switches were needed. Even the switchgear is inspected during the test hence the flat switches as opposed to toggles as they are deemed dangerous unless protected.
I will post some pics when I can find them... I havent spoken to Kai for some time but when the car was tested I had to make up a name that is not a trade name as we are the "manufacturer" of the vehicle so we called it the Kaiton Mk1 this is a tribute to the three people responsible for the build, Kai, myself Tony and my best mate who helped me with all the work rebuilding, Mik.141999142000142001142002142003142004

[Bigtone289]

Beautiful! Looks fantastic. In that last picture looks like your neighbor has a convertible 1965 or 1966 Mustang? Fellow car nut?
Enjoy!

Thanks, actually that is one of three cars that I own, its a 66 GT convertible which I have owned since I was 19, I am now 61! I also have a 2017 GT Mustang with a few Roush goodies fitted.

[cob427sc]

Car looks great and with the color and fitaments it just looks --- British!

[j33ptj]

I suspect that the process to getting it legal in NL is along the same lines.... ( I hope to find out at some point!)

Great to see it on the road though!

Robert