[ROVERNET - UK] Registration dates (still...)

[Glen Wilson]

Brooks wrote:
> "completely irrelevant"
>
> Not to me...

I second what Dennis said, in fact, I resemble that remark.

Date of first registration is clearly irrelevant in terms of identifying 
specific parts, as Scott says, but it definitely matters from a legal 
standpoint. It's part of the paper trail of the vehicle, and you'll end 
up in a bureaucratic mess in the USA if deviate from that when you 
transfer ownership. That's stating the obvious.

As far as Rudiger's database goes, the VIN is the most important number. 
I would think that the Rover factory records correlating VINs with build 
dates are a pretty reliable way of ascertaining the build date of a 
vehicle. In absolute terms, however, I'm willing to bet that even the 
Rover factory documents are not infallible. And what is the build date 
of a Complete Knock Down car sent to Calcutta?

Does anyone know for certain when the specific VIN got assigned to some 
random vehicle? Was it only as the car rolled off the end of assembly 
line? When the production order was placed and a chassis or base unit 
was pulled out of temporary storage? One would think that each car had 
to have a number of some sort assigned to it when assembly commenced and 
resources (engines, leather seats, etc) started going into the product.

Glen