I got my new updated V5 back today, and apart from the shock of finding out my truck has had 15 previous owners since Jul 83, under the special notes section, it has:

Was registered as CIW 5158. Declared Manufacture 1978.

I get the last bit but what does the first part mean? Can't see anything in the booklet about it!

Most likely it was the cherished plate of a previous owner

CIW, Chassis in White?? (IE Rolling chassis sent to outside supplier for special bodywork).
Sorry, I have no real idea!!

Edit.
Ahh I see, you think CIW 5158 was the actual Registration Number? I had taken it to be a category (CIW) with a Serial Number (5158).
I wonder if a registration database can show where CIW was reserved for.

Edit 2
Treating it as a Registration Number and looking at http://www.wolfbane.com/vreg.htm
Your registration conforms to the format baa nnn, (with the special proviso 'Northern Ireland and Channel Island registrations contain more digits than in the pattern ..., so baa nnnn (CIW 5158) is valid).
b is a Serial Letter,
aa is the Regional Identifier
nnnn is the Number.

So CIW indicates Londonderry in Northern Ireland.

Does that match the place it was first registered by any chance?

The DVLA should be able to tell you if CIW 5158 is being used, or is on a Retention Certificate.

Have fun.

Nothing special about my chassis! (apart from the huge winch bodged onto it.)

Chassis Number on the V5 is 94123061c, which matches the VIN plate if that helps! Engine number is 94123555C, havent found that on the engine yet so cant check it!

Use this to see if CIW 5158 is insured Illegal Unless You Own The Vehicle, it also returns the make of the vehicle.

Not the best plan to display VIN and Chassis numbers in full on a public forum- A mod may blank them from the original post.

Could the original plate be a military one??

CIW 5158 would have been the plate it entered England with.

When first registered with the DVLA this plate would be removed and an English plate issued.

Therefore your L/R was first registered in Northern Ireland then, imported to England.

First off cheers for the heads up on the vin/chassis plate, thought it was a reference only thing.

Secondly, I have an irish export truck then! Any way I can chase more history about it?

Spot on,, Vehicle first used and registered in Northern Ireland Had a few like that,

Would guess it came to the UK in 83, as that isl the only owners, DVLA have on file since been registered here, so at least 16 previous owners, inc one in Ireland,, but no big deal

The chap I last spoke to at the DVLA told me that if the keeper records from NI aren't already on the DVLA database lists then the records have been lost/destroyed and are unlikely to ever be added to the DVLA's records.
Your DVLA V5 will only list the UK owners (since import).

Any members in Northern Ireland that can remember who dealt with car registartions back in the 70s?

and indeed would they provide me/anyone with a copy of the reg certificate? Would be nice to have a complete document trail. Put the new shiny V5 in a plastic wallet in the 'CAR' folder, unlike the old one that I had to peel off the dash!

On a related note, can one get hold of past MOT certificates? I've got the most recent one, and it's log from t'internet, but it would be nice to look through and find what's been failed or given an advisory, and work out which parts are newer than others.

the only mot's that you can access from the past now are the electronic ones, and they have only been around for a couple of years. the old written ones can only be traced by contacting the garage that did them, even then they are unlikely to have a copy by now.
as for the log books, you can apply to the dvla, and they can usually supply previous keeper information, but only back a certain amount of time IIRC.
the only way to track back to the original reg now would be to trace all previous keepers, quite a task given that it was imported 25 years ago now, most will have moved or passed away i would imagine.

I found the DVA site, which is the NI equivilant of the DVLA. I found a form to download to request vehicle information, but thought I'd fire off an email just to check how far back the information they hold goes, and if they can release it to an individual. The form I printed off (V888(NI) seems to be more orientated towards gaining information after accidents than just wanting information on a personal level.

Will keep you posted here and on my blog (www.mys3truck.blogspot.com)

Sam

Your form sounds a lot like the one I filled out for the UK DVLA records - there was a box at the end for 'just historic research'.

DVLNI gives the following,

"Previous keeper details

If you are the current keeper you can get information about any earlier keepers on application. You should write to Driver & Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland , Vehicle Enquiries Section, Castlerock Road, COLERAINE, Co Londonderry, BT51 3TA quoting the registration number of the vehicle and giving the reasons for your request. A fee of £5 is payable.

Release of another vehicle’s keeper details

You can obtain the name and address of the registered keeper of a vehicle if you can show reasonable cause for needing the information.
members of the public will need to complete form V888(NI)
companies can complete form V888(NI)/2 or V888(NI)/3

All forms are also available from DVLNI, Coleraine"

Well now there's a thing of interest.

PS DVLANI links now work.

I got an email at about 3pm from them saying:

Thank you for your email.

Please confirm the Northern Ireland registration number, GB registration number and VIN/chassis number for the vehicle. Please clarify the information you require and why this is required.

If you have any further queries, do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,
Claire,
Vehicle Licensing Enquiries

which seems promising. Fired all the details off, and a paragraph of who I am, and why I want the info (re-classification reasons and to find out when it was made really!) and awaiting a reply hopefully on Monday. I want to find out if they have records from that far back before handing over a fiver really!