Reminds me of a story an MOT station owner told me when I asked about whats required for an MOT. He had a friend who needed to transfer a reg from an old car, but of course it had to have an MOT, and them being honest folk where going to have to get it through a proper MOT. The car was structually sound but very tatty and the electrics had seen better days...

I cant rem what car it was, might have been a mini or something similar, but any ways,

they stripped the interior only leaving the drivers seat and belt
removed the windscreen so that the wipers and wash did not have to be tested
Removed the indicators and declared hand signals only
removed the lights and again declared day time running only
Got the brake lights working though
I think he said they had to re-pipe some of the brake lines but they got it to pass the MOT, transferred the plate then scrapped the car