Ford Mustang
4th gen 2-door Coupé (SN95), facelift, 1998–2004
'2004 Ford Mustang GT 40th Anniversary
My car, owned since 02.2009, now UK registered: T23 LBP
Photo Location:
Mojave Desert, California (USA)
02.2009
10,000 miles, 23 states, 3 months = 1 amazing road trip :) (02-05.2009)
Car History:
Manufactured and shipped to original dealer "Folsom Lake Ford, California": 06.01.2004
First registered: 14.11.2004
California plate: 5LBP023
I bought the car from "Galpin Ford, California" to use on a 3 month road trip across America.
I fell in love with the car and shipped it home :)
Exported from Brunswick (Georgia), Imported via Southampton (United Kingdom)
Registered in United Kingdom: 07.2009
Current registration number (United Kingdom): T23 LBP (closest to 5LBP023 I could get on UK system)
I am the 5th owner of the car overall.
I will be adding more photos of my cars to the site using #tomscars
#mycar #5LBP023 #Roadtrip
Other photos of this license plate:
Extra information
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Comments (18)
master_toledo_915 2017-10-26 20:13:05 | #2
How on Earth did you keep the letters LBP in the U.K. ?
+1
Exige_240R 2017-10-26 20:18:45 | #3
master_toledo_915 (2017-10-26 20:13:05)master_toledo_915
How on Earth did you keep the letters LBP in the U.K. ?
How on Earth did you keep the letters LBP in the U.K. ?
I finally got around to editing the photos I promised two years ago so I'll be uploading them over the next few days!
When the car arrived in the UK I bought the plate T23 LBP (the closest I could get to 5 LBP 023 in the UK system without paying a fortune for a "dateless" plate like "LBP 23"). This was a regular plate so no special price. I then just registered it to the car when I officially imported it. It should have had an "04" (AB04 CDE) plate as it's a 2004 car, but you can put the older plates on a newer car without any trouble
+3
master_toledo_915 2017-10-26 21:03:39 | #4
Nice ! I'll be on the lookout for the photos !!
Cool !! I didn't know you can do that in the U.K. !! How much did it cost ? How bad would the cost be for a dateless plate ? How much did you pay to import it ? That's nice, are you always given a choice of plate number when you register ? That's cool that you can put older plates on newer cars ! Much flexibility over there !!
Cool !! I didn't know you can do that in the U.K. !! How much did it cost ? How bad would the cost be for a dateless plate ? How much did you pay to import it ? That's nice, are you always given a choice of plate number when you register ? That's cool that you can put older plates on newer cars ! Much flexibility over there !!
+1
Exige_240R 2017-10-26 21:34:25 | #5
master_toledo_915 (2017-10-26 21:03:39)master_toledo_915
Cool !!
Cool !!
That's a lot of questions!
The plate cost about £200 (about $330 back in 2009 when the exchange rate was in my favour!), which is the cheapest you can buy from the DVLA.
A dateless plate is usually much higher but you can sometimes be lucky and find them for as low as £600 ($800). Most people just buy a Northern Ireland plate as they are cheap (also around £200 / $260) and also dateless. But dateless plates in the UK are usually priced around £1,200 to £3,000 ($1,800 to $4,000) for ordinary combinations. But plates easily sell for £10,000 to £100,000 ($13,000 - $130,000) if they are more desirable.
Import costs (taxes) are calculated on the market value of the car if they don't believe the invoice value (i.e. they know a dodgy sales invoice to avoid taxes when they see it!). then if the car type was not sold in Europe you must have an IVA test to make sure things like the indicators / turn signals are not red (unless it is pre-1966), and stuff like that. And if the car is over 3 years old, an MOT test as well.
Then you pay the first registration fee and your road tax (calculated on engine size for non-EU imports, and emissions for cars sold in the EU).
It sounds complicated like that but it's actually quite a simple process, so long as the car meets our basic requirements you can register pretty much anything here, unlike in some countries I know they have very specific import laws. I only had to change the rear lamps to Cobra lamps for the yellow turn signals, install small white side lights to replace the always-on yellow indicator and add a turn signal on my front wings (fenders) for side visibility. Everything else remained the same as I put my rear fog light instead of one of the reverse lights, so no lights stuck on the bottom of the bumper like most US and Japanese imports. (Reverse lights are not required in the UK anyway).
When you import the car, unless you provide your own plate (from another car or bought separately like I did), you are given an age-appropriate plate from the region you live in. You don't get to choose it. (That's only on brand new unregistered cars from dealerships).
The plate law allows you to put an older plate on a newer car (hence why you see a lot of cars with 1930's style "dateless" plates - especially on the top-end cars), or people transfer them within the family, so it is possible to see plates worth more than the cars they are registered to! But you can't put a newer plate on an older car. This is to prevent the car being made to appear newer than it is (possibly affecting the value etc).
For such boring plates, we actually have a really complex system to fully understand! And I don't know anyone who knows everything there is to know about the British registration system!
+7
master_toledo_915 2017-10-27 03:29:26 | #8
Exige_240R (2017-10-26 21:34:25)Exige_240R
master_toledo_915
Cool !!
That's a lot of questions!
The plate cost about £200 (about $330 back in 2009 when the exchange rate was in my favour!), which is the cheapest you can buy from the DVLA.
A dateless plate is usually much higher but you can sometimes be lucky and find them for as low as £600 ($800). Most people just buy a Northern Ireland plate as they are cheap (also around £200 / $260) and also dateless. But dateless plates in the UK are usually priced around £1,200 to £3,000 ($1,800 to $4,000) for ordinary combinations. But plates easily sell for £10,000 to £100,000 ($13,000 - $130,000) if they are more desirable.
Import costs (taxes) are calculated on the market value of the car if they don't believe the invoice value (i.e. they know a dodgy sales invoice to avoid taxes when they see it!). then if the car type was not sold in Europe you must have an IVA test to make sure things like the indicators / turn signals are not red (unless it is pre-1966), and stuff like that. And if the car is over 3 years old, an MOT test as well.
Then you pay the first registration fee and your road tax (calculated on engine size for non-EU imports, and emissions for cars sold in the EU).
It sounds complicated like that but it's actually quite a simple process, so long as the car meets our basic requirements you can register pretty much anything here, unlike in some countries I know they have very specific import laws. I only had to change the rear lamps to Cobra lamps for the yellow turn signals, install small white side lights to replace the always-on yellow indicator and add a turn signal on my front wings (fenders) for side visibility. Everything else remained the same as I put my rear fog light instead of one of the reverse lights, so no lights stuck on the bottom of the bumper like most US and Japanese imports. (Reverse lights are not required in the UK anyway).
When you import the car, unless you provide your own plate (from another car or bought separately like I did), you are given an age-appropriate plate from the region you live in. You don't get to choose it. (That's only on brand new unregistered cars from dealerships).
The plate law allows you to put an older plate on a newer car (hence why you see a lot of cars with 1930's style "dateless" plates - especially on the top-end cars), or people transfer them within the family, so it is possible to see plates worth more than the cars they are registered to! But you can't put a newer plate on an older car. This is to prevent the car being made to appear newer than it is (possibly affecting the value etc).
For such boring plates, we actually have a really complex system to fully understand! And I don't know anyone who knows everything there is to know about the British registration system!
master_toledo_915
Cool !!
That's a lot of questions!
The plate cost about £200 (about $330 back in 2009 when the exchange rate was in my favour!), which is the cheapest you can buy from the DVLA.
A dateless plate is usually much higher but you can sometimes be lucky and find them for as low as £600 ($800). Most people just buy a Northern Ireland plate as they are cheap (also around £200 / $260) and also dateless. But dateless plates in the UK are usually priced around £1,200 to £3,000 ($1,800 to $4,000) for ordinary combinations. But plates easily sell for £10,000 to £100,000 ($13,000 - $130,000) if they are more desirable.
Import costs (taxes) are calculated on the market value of the car if they don't believe the invoice value (i.e. they know a dodgy sales invoice to avoid taxes when they see it!). then if the car type was not sold in Europe you must have an IVA test to make sure things like the indicators / turn signals are not red (unless it is pre-1966), and stuff like that. And if the car is over 3 years old, an MOT test as well.
Then you pay the first registration fee and your road tax (calculated on engine size for non-EU imports, and emissions for cars sold in the EU).
It sounds complicated like that but it's actually quite a simple process, so long as the car meets our basic requirements you can register pretty much anything here, unlike in some countries I know they have very specific import laws. I only had to change the rear lamps to Cobra lamps for the yellow turn signals, install small white side lights to replace the always-on yellow indicator and add a turn signal on my front wings (fenders) for side visibility. Everything else remained the same as I put my rear fog light instead of one of the reverse lights, so no lights stuck on the bottom of the bumper like most US and Japanese imports. (Reverse lights are not required in the UK anyway).
When you import the car, unless you provide your own plate (from another car or bought separately like I did), you are given an age-appropriate plate from the region you live in. You don't get to choose it. (That's only on brand new unregistered cars from dealerships).
The plate law allows you to put an older plate on a newer car (hence why you see a lot of cars with 1930's style "dateless" plates - especially on the top-end cars), or people transfer them within the family, so it is possible to see plates worth more than the cars they are registered to! But you can't put a newer plate on an older car. This is to prevent the car being made to appear newer than it is (possibly affecting the value etc).
For such boring plates, we actually have a really complex system to fully understand! And I don't know anyone who knows everything there is to know about the British registration system!
Yes !! Sorry I enjoy knowing about the fees and requirements and such... Did you know that Wyoming plates cost more than Colorado plates ?
Owwwwww !!!! That's expensive !!! $800
WOW ! Why didn't you just get a Northern Ireland plate ??? Geez those Dateless plates get pricey !! 
Ok so imports are done by market value ! Cant put anything past the UK government huh ? Seems they make a lot of money on import fees !! Interesting news about the tests and marking colors and such ! What's an MOT test ? Interesting how the road tax is calculated differently based on whether its European or not ! I wonder which case would be less costly ? Very nice that you can register most anything over there !! America has one of the worst importation laws !! Its why we don't see many of the vehicles commonly seen in Europe over here at all !
0
master_toledo_915 2017-10-27 03:38:33 | #9
Exige_240R (2017-10-26 21:34:25)Very interesting the modifications that you were required to do ! I had no idea that reverse lights were not required in the U.K. !!! Amazing fact !! I wonder why no lights on the bottom of the bumper ? O ok thanks for the clarification, New Registrations get serial plates with no choice. Wow ! Plates worth more than the car its issued to !!! What a different world !! Wow you cant put a newer plate on an older car ? This happens all the time in America !!! So that the car doesn't appear newer... Hmmmm. That is a very very complex and interesting system for such plain looking plates !! You're right !! Thanks for the information !! 
Wow you cant put a newer plate on an older car ? This happens all the time in America !!! So that the car doesn't appear newer... Hmmmm. That is a very very complex and interesting system for such plain looking plates !! You're right !! Thanks for the information !!
0
Exige_240R 2017-11-02 04:11:23 | #11
master_toledo_915 (2017-10-27 03:29:26)master_toledo_915
Well I didn't want an Northern Irish plate on the car for several reasons, the first being I wanted a 6-digit plate to make use of the US-import law that allows motorcycle sized characters on the plate and if it was 6-digits it would fit on 1-line, but if it was a 7-digit plate it would be 2-lines which doesn't look very "American". So 6-digit NI plates typically cost the same as a dateless plate in the UK systems so it wasn't any help there. I also wanted a plate that had something to do with the car, which is why I chose the letter sequence, after requesting "M22 TNG" only to be told it was already sold (sometimes they are slow to remove them). Annoyingly I saw M22 TNG about 3 weeks later on the motorway!! (at least it was on a Mustang - a 2005-09 shape).
An MOT test (Ministry of Transport) is the annual inspection in the UK on cars once they are 3 years old (nothing for the first 3 years). It's a roadworthy test, but unfortunately the way the rules are written can leave a lot open to "interpretation" of the rules, what one MOT tester will fail, another would pass as they don't believe it to conflict with the pass rules, and doesn't make the car any more or less safe. Some vehicles, like those produced before 1960 and Tow Trucks don't require MOT testing, and it is down to the owner/operator to make sure they are of road legal standard.
Usually for larger engined cars, imports are cheaper to run by tax, but they get their money in other ways, like when we need parts we have to import them and get a 20% VAT slapped onto them and by using more fuel in a big engined car
On the smaller cars it can be debatable. On the old pre-2001 system it was engine size, <1.5 or >1.5 litres. So My mother's 1997 Ford Escort (a 1.6) is the same rate as my 4.6 Mustang. However, an equivalent Ford Focus from today would be the ecoboost engine and probably costs some £200 less to tax each year as the emissions are so low!
+2
Exige_240R 2017-11-02 04:21:48 | #12
master_toledo_915 (2017-10-27 03:38:33)master_toledo_915
So... No lights on the bottom of the bumper. For about 2 weeks the car was like this in the UK, you can see hopefully in the original reverse lamp holes are yellow turn signal bulbs, and under the bumper are the fog light and reverse light (reverse lamp fitted for import IVA test for ease/less questions, but not required as mentioned previously). So this setup was used just while I was searching for the Cobra rear lamp units, even though here the car is still on California plates so in theory could use the red turn signals still, but this was during the process of registering the car in the UK so I had to already have all the inspections done on the car to speed up the process. The last photo I will upload on California plates (when I get around to it) will be in the UK at the paint shop to fix some bodywork damage received in Colorado, with the Cobra lamps fitted and these lights removed, just a couple of days before the UK plates were ready to be fitted legally to the car.
Much like in California I believe, in the UK the plate stays with the car unless changed by the owner, whereas if the plates belonged to the owner, then yes, we would also be putting new plates on the cars!
+2
master_toledo_915 2017-11-07 10:59:55 | #14
Ok I see why you didn't go with Northern Ireland ! Wow that must've been annoying to see your rejected request a few days later !!
Wow that MOT test sounds very unfair, inconsistent, and just a plain great way to make money for the U.K. !
That is very interesting how the fees based on emissions and engine sizes vs import or not play into the big picture of fees ! Great information !! Thanks !!
Wow that MOT test sounds very unfair, inconsistent, and just a plain great way to make money for the U.K. !
That is very interesting how the fees based on emissions and engine sizes vs import or not play into the big picture of fees ! Great information !! Thanks !!
0
master_toledo_915 2017-11-07 11:06:36 | #15
Interesting lights on the bottom below the bumper !! The European Standard huh ? Yes I see the yellow turn signal bulbs !! Also very different !! I look forward to seeing the finished product !! How did you receive damage in Colorado ? Very interesting that in California and the U.K. the plate stays with the vehicle and not the owner... This was the case in Kentucky but I think they may have changed the law. In Texas and Illinois, the plates stay with the owner. In Arizona I think it stays with the owner as well !
0
Aemilianvs 2018-07-05 22:46:11 | #16
Wow this car have been through a lot of things! Congrats for it and the amazing road trip too! 
+2
Exige_240R 2020-09-09 11:54:07 | #18
CarDriver3838 (2020-09-09 06:58:29)Thanks I still own the car and I still have lots more photos to post of it both on California plates and British plates! I drove past your home town in 2009 with this car too
I still own the car and I still have lots more photos to post of it both on California plates and British plates! I drove past your home town in 2009 with this car too
0
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