My Cert Part 2

A FEW years passed until I was ready for final certification examination again, and this time, I went to a third certifier under the direct guidance and direction from LVVTA senior management. They identified a bright star already in the certifier ranks who wanted to try the 1D scratch-built category.

Again, did my bit to support LVVTA I put my hand up for these new faces to examine my scratch-built hot rod coupe. I was genuinely confident, but still, a bit worried as I turned the coupe over to the certifier and LVVTA Training Officer but thought that was ok as I didn’t have anything to hide.

What took place was paradoxical. On the one hand, I was genuinely thrilled to be part of the checking process and spent about four hours under the car while it was up on the hoist checking and discussing aspects of design and construction. What a fantastic system! The next day (or shortly after that) the car was taken away to other premises for a second and far more detailed examination with an expert from LVVTA Wellington and the new 1D certifier present. There it was laid naked on the slab for a full autopsy, the parts were given microscopic examination and the resulting paperwork submitted and reviewed by audited by the Technical Working Group within

LVVTA. LVVTA response

Paul’s statement above “The next day (or shortly after that) the car was taken away to other premises for a second and far more detailed examination with an expert from LVVTA Wellington” sounds very dramatic! What happened was, in order to help Paul, LVVTA arranged for the LVV Certifier (who’d recently stepped up to doing scratch-built certifications) to inspect the vehicle with Paul, to familiarise himself with the car and learn about it directly from the owner, and then the second inspection was simply using Paul’s car for LVVTA’s Training Officer to get together with the LVV Certifier and go over it together as a training opportunity. The Training Officer had offered this process to Paul as a way for fast-tracking the certification process, to which Paul happily agreed. Win-win. There were some minor rectifications, and some clarification required, as you always get with a build of this detail, but it was a very well-built car.

A couple of weeks later, I received a list of 27 items which were considered a fail and needed either rectification or clarification.

I was gobsmacked: Only two of