Interesting history of registration numbers

[quicksilver]

In a petrol station recently, I saw a modern RR with B19 TOP - presumably someone with a connection to the circus.

 

My money's on that belonging to Gerry Cottle.

[brickwall]

When I was wee I always remember my dad cursing when he saw an Edinburgh reg.

 

"Hey Dad! What's a wanker?"

[Lord Sterling]

I love the old Birmingham plates, especially when you see them in BL promo stuff, FOX, OOG etc

Not exactly BL promo stuff but my D-reg Mk1 820E is D280OOH:

 

Which is very similar to the first Mk1 Rover 800 off the production line, D170OOJ:

[Pillock]

Pre-2001 garages had registrations block-issued. I remember both my mum and my grandparents being handed a book full of registrations, with the taken ones crossed out or a name next to them. For my grandparents, it was the F---HCH series from New Crown Vauxhall in Bulwell, Nottingham. 123 had gone, 132 was available and nearly chosen but 148 was the eventual choice for their launch day Cavalier 1.6L. I remember seeing 132 not long after on a grey Mk3 I think. I would put money on your Mk1 being originally registered by the same place that did the first one off the line - was it a press car?

 

When I was younger and (even) geekier, I could often tell you what make a local car was if you told me the letters on the plate.  C-NAL was VWs from Newbolds. F-HRB was a local SEAT dealer.

 

From what I can tell now, they're computer-issued so dealers don't get blocks. I've seen nearly consecutive plates from dealers miles apart. I suspect if a number of cars are registered quickly enough they get similar plates - all our old fleet cars were YH09 but they run from D-- to R-- and I've seen non-related cars in between. My own car is EX09 and a check of some random ones always gives Fords, my first keeper was FMC themselves so again might have been block-registered.

[Ghosty]

Do UK plates overlap Jersey ones? Because I often see a car registered J6173, and it shows up on the DVLA, whereas Jersey cars don't.

[mercrocker]

AFAIK only Jersey issue J12344 type numbers, possibly the car has come to live in the UK and not yet been re-registered.   It was normal for Jersey licencing authority to retain the numbers of scrapped/exported cars and re-issue them later, explaining why they never seem to run out of what appears to be a fairly limited series.   I had a schoolteacher who came from Jersey and his Husky wore the J plate for the period of grace (12 months I believe) before being re-registered.  I presume that was also registered with the local authorities as being domiciled in the UK on its Jersey plate until this period elapsed....

[DodgyBastard]

Interesting... Currently I have a Polo from Portsmouth, a Polo from Dundee, a volvo from Peterborough and a Renault from Edinburgh. The rustiest ones are the Scottish ones...

[Ghosty]

AFAIK only Jersey issue J12344 type numbers

A quick Google Images search has thrown up some 3 and 4 digit ones.

[Alusilber]

Pre-2001 garages had registrations block-issued. I remember both my mum and my grandparents being handed a book full of registrations, with the taken ones crossed out or a name next to them. 

 

Funny you should say that, that's pretty much what happened when I bought my current conveyance (new) from a main dealer in 2009.

[Alusilber]

By the way, am I suffering from false memory syndrome, or were Q suffixes in use before 1983 to indicate indeterminate year of first registration? The CVPG document doesn't seem to think so...

[Albert Ross]

No, they weren't. I had UTN 496Y, a 1970 Mercedes 200..... obv. registered 1982/3.

[warren t claim]

_{I understand that PEN 1S was issued by Bury Council. but quickly withdrawn. Similarly with PEN 15, which was advertsised in N.W. Auto Trader in the late 80`s. Probably all apocryphal.......}

PEN15 belongs to former bike and truck racer Steve Parrish

[Ghosty]

By the way, am I suffering from false memory syndrome, or were Q suffixes in use before 1983 to indicate indeterminate year of first registration? The CVPG document doesn't seem to think so...

No, indetermiate age/imports were registered in the current year. It's probably most common on imported Yank stuff showing up on W/X/Y instead of about K.

[Justin Case]

I know that Q regs are used for kit cars where the components come from a number of different cars, but they also appear on a lot of, but not all, ex-military stuff. Any explanations?

[STUNO]

I remember seeing PEN15 on a Rolls Cloud/Bentley in the mid 70's.

[Pillock]

I know that Q regs are used for kit cars where the components come from a number of different cars, but they also appear on a lot of, but not all, ex-military stuff. Any explanations?

Imports get an age related plate... Although previously it was the year of import not manufacture.

 

Anything where this can't be conclusively proven, you get a Q. For kit cars this is because there's potentially a range of parts so the engine might be older than the chassis, with new suspension components etc.

 

For Army stuff I'd imagine either they are special orders so the VIN pattern doesn't match and can't be decoded, or they've been substantially rebuilt from other vehicles as they become end of life. Depends also what records the army keep and release on their vehicles.

[Twiggy]

PEN15 belongs to former bike and truck racer Steve Parrish

 

 

Thank you for that Warren - I`ve often wondered what did happen to it.