Vincent Black Shadow: MOT pass rate by registration year

Which Black Shadow years pass first time, and which fall short of the model's 94.0% average, from 822 DVSA tests.

1951

highest-passing year · 95.3%

1953

lowest-passing year · 89.7%

5.6pp

spread across 6 years

Pass rate by registration year

first-time pass rate · cohorts with 50 or more tests · registration year from first use date

Highest pass rate: 1951 (95.3% of 190 tests). Lowest: 1953 (89.7% of 78). Years more than two points below the model average: 1953, 1955.

Registered	Tests	First-time pass	vs model (94.0%)
1950	110	94.5%	+0.5 pp
1951	190	95.3%	+1.3 pp
1952	162	93.8%	-0.2 pp
1953	78	89.7%	-4.3 pp
1954	65	93.8%	-0.2 pp
1955	83	91.6%	-2.4 pp

Older cohorts are survivors: the worst examples have already left the road, which tends to lift the earliest years. A first-time MOT pass is a roadworthiness check, not a full mechanical inspection.

Pass rate over time

first-time pass rate by test year · 2006–2012

Questions

Which Black Shadow years have the lowest MOT pass rate?: 1953, 1955 registered examples pass first time less often than the Vincent Black Shadow overall (94.0%); the 1953 cohort is lowest at 89.7% from 78 tests.
Which Black Shadow year has the highest MOT pass rate?: 1951, at 95.3% of 190 first tests (2005–2025).
How much does the Black Shadow pass rate vary by year?: 5.6 percentage points between the highest (1951, 95.3%) and lowest (1953, 89.7%) cohorts with at least 50 tests. Older cohorts are survivors: the worst examples have already left the road, which tends to lift the earliest years.

Full report: Vincent Black Shadow reliability, failures and mileage · ranked #172 of 5428 models· other Vincent models: Comet, Rapide, HRD, 1000