If you have a right-hand drive car what are the headlight options if you're having to register it in Europe to prepare for life post-Brexit? You could:
use headlight convertors – since 2018 a UK car can pass the Contrôle Technique (MOT) with standard convertors.
if you have a modern car with 'switchable' lights just change the setting - although there’s not usually much ‘just’ about it!
fit new headlights – not something to be entered into lightly.
The headlights on our Porsche are 35 years old and are well past being due a refurb. Driving at night is really not wise (unless a man with a red flag is walking in front), and a tiny rust spot in the silver inner has needed attention for a while. So option 3 it was!
The challenge with any old car is finding the parts, especially at a reasonable price for a Porsche (and similar marques). Buy new, buy secondhand, or get refinished. After much research we decided to get new reflectors, having tried (and failed) to buff them up, and deciding the re-chroming would take too much time and be just as costly as new ones. We sourced the left-hand-drive glass (original Bosch marking for those of you who are a stickler for authenticity) and gaskets from Design 911; and the reflectors from fine-carparts ebay store – Germany based company stocking hard-to-find Porsche parts for classics. Highly recommended!
Then began the task of:
Dismantling the unit – interesting retaining clip arrangement
Re-painting the inner shell in heat resistant silver paint
Sanding and repainting the black bezels
Taking some time to work out how to fit the rubber gaskets (hot water and a lot of manipulating)
Rebuilding the unit
Can you tell from the photos which units are the before and the after parts?! Just look at those super shiny reflectors and that beautiful clear glass! We're going to have to go out at night just to use the lights now.
Click on the photos to enlarge.
So that's just one step in the Porsche's change in nationality. As for the rest, the 'Quitus Fiscale' (tax declaration) has already been completed – literally a three-hour turnaround by email from the superb team from the Service des impôts des entreprises at Ribérac. Now all we have to do is:
submit photos, documents, V5 etc to the Fédération Française des Véhicules d'Epoque (FFVE) to obtain an attestation for the registration of a « vehicule collection ».
move the fog light to the other side.
get the car booked in for its Contrôle Technique – classic cars only need an MOT every five years in France.
submit the application for the Carte Grise (registration).
oh … and sort out the insurance.
Maybe the headlights were the easy bit!