anybody know how to get an (official) kind of "Heritage Certificate" from Peerless/Warwick factory production archives, regarding Peerless/Warwick cars?
I mean, the usual certificate with chassis/engine numbers, color scheme, options, as the cars left the factory?
I am negotiating the purchase of a car and, for my peace of mind, I prefer to have an official proof the car left the factory with THAT engine and in THAT color scheme.
Hi Spartacus. Would this be anything to do with Warwick 16? I see both you and the car are in France. Unless any car you are looking at comes with the original log book (which would detail the colour, chassis and engine numbers) you'll be hard pressed to find any definitive information. To the best of my knowledge, there are no factory records of the type you are looking for. You certainly won't get any form of 'Heritage Certificate'. If you are, indeed, looking at a particular car, identifying it on this forum might elicit some information on it's past history provided it is known to members.
I'm sorry if my first reply was a bit flippant, but ten minutes browsing this site would have told you that there are no factory records. Peerless and Warwicks are a bit like Unicorns, they don't have birth certificates. That's part of the charm.
If you are researching a particular car then https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla can give you some information. Beware that the DVLA destroyed most old records when the computerised system was introduced, so this search can only tell you if the car has documents (V5) and sometimes some of the previous owners. If I was buying, I would insist that any UK car had a V5 keeper document, and was being sold by the name and address on the V5.
The Peerless and Warwick register is an Owners Club. Nigel (the Registrar) keeps records, but these can be considered as personal data supplied by some current, and previous owners. They are not "factory official" in any sense, they will not be a complete record of all cars, and there are strict rules about keeping and sharing personal information. https://www.gov.uk/data-protection/the-data-protection-act
However your first action here should be to interrogate the seller. If he says that something is "original" then how does he know, and does he have any documentation to back this up? Most owners keep files of old documents associated with the car, and many of these will not exist anywhere else.
Finally I would avoid anything without a serial number, Peerless serial numbers above about #280 and Warwicks above #30, because these might be post production cars made from spares after the factory closed.
