Uk based F40 just arrived at a recovery depot. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
If I can find out the UK reg number then I have a way of finding out the VIN. Story is only just coming out. If its an insurance claim then it will be Cat B and would not be able to go back on the road in the UK, has to be stripped and chassis crushed even if someone had the means to rebuild it. If taken to another country then that is a whole different story.
Yikes! F40s are notorious for catching fire, which is why I have a full fire supression system and carry 2 handheld extinguishers in mine. In a euro car could have been the rubber fuel bladders but a lot of times its because one of the ignition coils failed.
As I mentioned above, not if its a UK based Insurance claim, as the car will be graded as either Cat A or B salvage and then go to an approved salvage yard and not then released for resale, it has to be destroyed at the insistence of the insurance company under current UK regulations.
I did some research on it. Cat B CAN be put back on the road (2016 topic) in some cases (presumably cars like F40's), as long as the car passes MOT. In any case, even if DVLA refuses to put it back on the road, the VIN will be sold abroad and someone has the chance to get a brand new F40 build. It was done a few years back, also a burned down F40...the car received a brand new chassis etc. Going back through my photos I *think* it was this one: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Rules have recently changed on Cat B, the loophole of re registering them in the UK closed a few months ago with new legislation. I know the system well. It all pivots on whether this goes through an Insurance claim, once they actually own it then the path to destruction is 100% fixed legally, their approved end of line dismantler can remove any salvage parts but the VIN then has to be removed and the chassis cut up. Cars don't escape this process anymore, but used to in the past with dodgy salvage yards, and owners used to be able to buy back the wreck from the Insurance and sell it on legally but not anymore on Cat A and B. In that case even if the VIN is known it could never be recycled into another car, the paperwork is completely closed out. This is to prevent ringing. A rebuilder would be starting with nothing either other than a number on a piece of paper, never going to happen unless the donor car was for free, as in stolen. Furthermore any ringer would have no supporting documentation for the VIN, no service history, all the key essential things for such cars to have any value at all, so it would only be worth the sum of its parts, the ringer would simply be better offer just selling the components instead, far easier for them and less traceable. However if there is no insurance claim for whatever reason, then that car could legally end up back on the road in the UK with a totally clean title! again where the parts donor comes from is another matter! Plus the intense fire has clearly twisted that flimsy chassis. Having said all that I am trying to track it down via my source to buy it or parts from it! plenty of useful bits in that molten mess if you dig deep enough, such as engine and gearbox internals, rear silencer, wheel components, brake calipers etc etc I recently bought this for a supply of core spare parts, once the melted plastics and ali etc were removed the engine itself was perfect. Image Unavailable, Please Login