looking at buying a vw convert and the owner does not have a copy of engineer's report though report number on the rego papers - done about 5 years
ago - is it possible to get a copy from the rta?
i know best to call rta - but its the weekend and i wonder if someone may know.
they won't get u a copy
u need to find the engineer who wrote the report and ask him
the first letters on the report number are usually the persons initials :
Well i bought a vw vert 3 years ago, seller said they had all the papers. Went and picked it up, and didnt have the engineers certificate. She said
she would look around for it, we werent in any rush cause the car wasnt in driving condition and we were planning on restoring it anyways. I think a
couple of months past and we had heard nothing from the seller, so we contacted her again, she said "Oh, yea i cant find it..." so we asked if she
could go to the RTA, really close to where she lived, but she couldnt be bothered even after we hasseled her a number of times to go and get it. In
the end i dont think she could get a copy, it was 8 years since it was last registered, (was registered as a convertible btw)
basically we ended up having to get another engineers when we finished the restore and went to register it, then the bloke claimed it wasnt worthy of
a certificate so we had to weld plates in behind the rear quater panels for sum "Safety or crumple reason" i dont kno why, and bars up inside the
roll bar and weld them down the piller for "Structural reasons" because the roll bar didnt go right down to the chassis. Plus it had to be covered
with foam, which we later took off after the rego. And one other thing he said was that apparently the extra structural bars welded underneath the
chassis arent needed, i believe they are because the car can quite easily bend in the middle without them 
or without a bar welded between the roll bar and the windscreen. It is evident in mine cause you can see
that the gap between the doors get bigger towards the top, we think they didnt put the structural support in before they chopped the roof.
Dont kno if that helps, just letting you kno of my experience, but it is worth looking at trying to get the certificate from the RTA although i dont
think they keep a copy.
To the best of my knowledge the RAT stopped storing the engineers certificates and it would probably take a court order and a lot of luck to get anything out of them.I would ask for a fresh certificate if it came to me for inspection.
thanks people - i thought if u had to present your car for inspection with a report the rta kept a copy for thier records.
the car i'm interested in has a report number on the rego papers but shows the body type as sed(an) rather than conv.
its registered so guess just keep it registered.
If the rego papers have the report number is should be something like ABC1234MP
First 3 letter are engineers initials
4 numbers are report number
MP means modified production
heres a link http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/downloads/vsi/vsi_15_engineering_signa...
to engineering signitories in australia if you know the first three letters on the report and the state its registered in you should be able to track
down engineer and ask for a copy of the report they may want to charge you a fee but at least you will have a copy .
If the vehicle requires a blue slip you will need to have a copy of the engineers report which is consistent with any modification done to the vehicle
if you have done more modifiactions its probably best to get another report done
At least then you will know the vehicle is safe to be carrying your family etc around in
Good luck with it .
getting a convertable re-reg now is a real pain in the arse
most of them were built in the 80s when the laws werent as tough and werent built well
I've seen heaps that just have a single roll bar attached to where the B pillars were cut off and thats it
these are the nightmare ones to get re-reg'd cos to pass an engineer cert now all converted bugs have to have a roll bar that runs down the B-pillars
connecting to the chassis bracing, down to the rear wheel arches and forward to the windscreen.
that Blue Lbug of mine didnt have a windscreen brace, all the ones like that the whole windscreen flexes
no good to have sed on old papers.
with out a copy of the report who knows what was engineered, for all you know it could be for different bucket seats and wide wheels fitted.
and nothing to do with cutting the roof off
Here is a thread on the Manxclub on this which may help.
http://www.manxclub.org/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=964
no workee
yeah LOTS of luck with the RTA there usless