BraziBay Register

I've been thinking about this for a while ....

The number of Brazilian made VW Kombis here in the UK (and Europe to a degree) is small compared to a mainstream model.  Also, it is now finite.  On that basis, with a view to logging the history of each of these charismatic vehicles, would people be interested in a formal register? Ie. one that logs chassis number, registration plate (and any subsequent change,) colour and changes in ownership.  I'm not suggesting this with a view to creating a mailing list or knowing individuals personal details!  It's all about the Kombis, could it be a benefit to document further each BraziBay's history?

Discuss.

Interesting. It would certainly be useful to know something of each vehicle's history - particularly for people buying a used vehicle but I'm not sure what the Data Protection people might say!

Nice idea but could be open for abuse.

AbsintheKombi wrote:

Interesting. It would certainly be useful to know something of each vehicle's history - particularly for people buying a used vehicle but I'm not sure what the Data Protection people might say!

Data Protection will only be relevant if the register stores any personally identifiable information, but in any case registration only costs £35pa I think.

I can't see any immediate problems if it is set up with certain protections.

Other marques have their own registers, which I believe you can only access as a member, or are in possession of a registration document, so that Joe Public doesn't have access to sensitive information, and these work OK.

Apart from the trace-ability of its history, one upside I believe is that advertising agencies, film makers etc use these registers to contact members (via the registrars) around the country who may be interested in letting their vehicles be used, which can only bring the Brazilian Kombi to the attention of people even more.

dizzylizard wrote:

Other marques have their own registers,

Typically, what info do those marques have on their Registers, DL? And what use do they have for the info?

Sounds as though it could be useful but I haven't quite worked out how.

Does this not give anyone wanting to legitimise a stolen vehicle all the info to clone vans?

Is the BraziBay ever to become as popular and iconic as other classics, probably not. Saying that though I thought the same when I got rid of all my Star Wars figures all those years ago

Matt wrote:

Does this not give anyone wanting to legitimise a stolen vehicle all the info to clone vans?

Only if there is public access to the information, I don't think that's what is being proposed.

Tallulah wrote:

Matt wrote:

Does this not give anyone wanting to legitimise a stolen vehicle all the info to clone vans?

Only if there is public access to the information, I don't think that's what is being proposed.

Agreed. It's not.

I have some experience designing databases for online projects so my advice would be to decide what data you would like to capture and identify which fields are public, sensitive or secure. Assuming for the moment that it is an online database, the different types of data (public, sensitive, secure) would be stored in different database tables so that access can be managed appropriately.

Ok, here's a starter for 10 for the fields we might consider including:

Reg no.
Original Reg no.
Engine (air/water/replaced)
Colour (top)
Colour code (top)
Colour (bottom)
Colour code (bottom)
Conversion by (defined list incl Danbury, VWK, VWDU, Owner)
Pop top (y/n)
Pop top type (defined list, Danbury proto, Danbury, Westy, Spaceroofs etc)
Dub Tub (y/n)
Rear wheel carrier (y/n)
location (closest large Town)
Number of previous owners

thoughts?

I'm guessing that if at some stage an owner decides to change colour that the original and new colours would be shown an dates any re spray done?