1960S UK Registration Plate Font

[carlo]

Hi all.

Do any font experts know what font this is, shown on a 1968 Peugeot 204 Coupe press demo.  Is obviously not the current one, or the pre-2001 font which I've shown as examples.  Perhaps it was a special one Peugeot used?

 

[LightBulbFun]

19 minutes ago, carlo said:

Hi all.

Do any font experts know what font this is, shown on a 1968 Peugeot 204 Coupe press demo.  Is obviously not the current one, or the pre-2001 font which I've shown as examples.  Perhaps it was a special one Peugeot used?

 

I want to say those are Hills number plates, note the serifs which are typical of Hills number plates

 

what do you say @MorrisItalSLX?  

[carlo]

That looks spot on, yes.  Is Hills a font or a manufacturer?

[LightBulbFun]

10 minutes ago, carlo said:

That looks spot on, yes.  Is Hills a font or a manufacturer?

Both  

back in the old days, pretty much every plate manufacturer had its own font and style  

its quite fun noting all the different types and styles, and some people like @MorrisItalSLX and my good friend Stuart Cyphus collect and document all the different types and styles 

I dont collect number plates myself, but I do pay attention to the different styles and types and find it all quite interesting  (and also means I get very tetchy when I see the wrong period of font or type of plate on a car, because its one of those things once you know whats right and wrong you cant un-notice it LOL)

[carlo]

I will have to compare the letters and number and try and find an appropriate font, I want to make up decals for my Otto Peugeot 204 1/18 model!

[MorrisItalSLX]

Definitely a Hills, the shape of the L & 4 are a dead giveaway and the slight raised section of the border under the 4 will be the Hills logo.

[Rusty Pelican]

100% Hills , got the original digits on my Singer , remade the backing plate though , The 9 is also pretty unique as its not curled round like most , A few years ago a woman came up to my Singer . " Nice to see a HILLS plate still in use " , turns out her dad designed the font - never thought to ask what it was called .

 

[AnthonyG]

On 1/16/2022 at 12:12 PM, LightBulbFun said:

Both  

back in the old days, pretty much every plate manufacturer had its own font and style  

its quite fun noting all the different types and styles, and some people like @MorrisItalSLX and my good friend Stuart Cyphus collect and document all the different types and styles 

That must be why that 1980s squarish font is known as ‘Serck’? To me Serck is/was a car parts factor, and it always confused me. 

Are Hills still going, or at least someone else now own the brand/intellectual property and can remake them? Sure I’ve seen an advert for Hills plates recently.

[Ghosty]

The Minis in The Italian Job wear plates in the same font... 

[Ghosty]

[LightBulbFun]

14 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

That must be why that 1980s squarish font is known as ‘Serck’? To me Serck is/was a car parts factor, and it always confused me. 

Are Hills still going, or at least someone else now own the brand/intellectual property and can remake them? Sure I’ve seen an advert for Hills plates recently.

indeed thats exactly why its called that  known as the Serck computer font in full (which can sort of trace its roots back to 1927! as the Company bought out the Homo number plate company in 1958)

On 28/11/2020 at 20:41, LightBulbFun said:

EDIT: also worth noting that I think those plates in your picture are a pair of Homo-Hygrade plates, notable by the distinctive way they did the digit 8  (and technically a predecessor of the serck plate as the company was bought out by them IIRC!)

and before anyone gets funny with me about the name!

 

[Ghosty]

re: Hills, are the plates on the Peugeot in question not pressed metal rather than raised digit? They really don't look like raised digits to me. 
 

the Italian Job Minis had metal plates for sure. 

[LightBulbFun]

38 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

re: Hills, are the plates on the Peugeot in question not pressed metal rather than raised digit? They really don't look like raised digits to me. 
 

the Italian Job Minis had metal plates for sure. 

indeed I would say its a pressed metal plate, but I think the question at hand here was more what the font was  

Hills used the same font for both Pressed and raised digit plates, although in 1970 they did change style a bit note the different style of 4   (but that the P and 1 still has its serif)

(im not sure if this change applied to raised digit plates as well or if it was a just a change made to pressed plates however)

 

it is also worth noting that Hills and other companies often had multiple font styles running at the same time, for example here is a Hills number plate with no serifs  

(I love all the screws in an attempt to hold the plate together after years of farm abuse )  

[barrett]

Just get a set of these

[Dick Cheeseburger]

3 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

indeed I would say its a pressed metal plate, but I think the question at hand here was more what the font was  

Hills used the same font for both Pressed and raised digit plates, although in 1970 they did change style a bit note the different style of 4   (but that the P and 1 still has its serif)

(im not sure if this change applied to raised digit plates as well or if it was a just a change made to pressed plates however)

 

it is also worth noting that Hills and other companies often had multiple font styles running at the same time, for example here is a Hills number plate with no serifs  

(I love all the screws in an attempt to hold the plate together after years of farm abuse )  

I'm guessing mine's a Hills too?

 

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

Hills used the same font for both Pressed and raised digit plates, although in 1970 they did change style a bit note the different style of 4   (but that the P and 1 still has its serif)

whoops! my bad this is an Ace plate not a Hills plate! so ignore it as an example! (bit embrassed I got that mixed up! as i have known they where Ace plates in the past! im blaming the pesky serif!) 

 

but with regards to the Hills plate in the first picture, from Stuart   

Quote

Yep, that's a classic post 1963 Hills pressed plate. Between 1963 & 1970ish all hills plates, both pressed & digit used this same font, designed for them by Jock Kinnear (spelling) the man who designed the font on motorway & post-warboy road signs. The font being a slight redesign of the 1947-1963 Hills "Popular". Still yet to properly establish if Kinnear designed the popular fount itself back in '47, or if it was the 1963 restyle that was Kinnear, if that makes sence.

and on the Homo plates

Quote

& they might like to know, Homo in this sence actully stands for the Hologramated Metal Company, cus they did stampings, as in their work was "all in one peice, -Homologramated" 

course, everyone just see's homo & dissolves into giggles, hence why they changed the name to Car Plates ltd in about 1958 & dropped the public facing homo brand mame over the next few years

  

15 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

I'm guessing mine's a Hills too?

 

from the man himself! 

Quote

VML 734G, looks like a Chas Wright from here but I need to see it closer & more square on cus it could be one or two other types depending on angles at end of digits etc, literally the plates I'm digging into now 🙂

 

PS dont expect this regularly from Stuart! he just figured he would provide a bit of info after @barrett posted the Juicy Works van shot )

but if anyone else has any such Juicy number plate shots that might tease him out LOL

[Dick Cheeseburger]

4 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

whoops! my bad this is an Ace plate not a Hills plate! so ignore it as an example! (bit embrassed I got that mixed up! as i have known they where Ace plates in the past! im blaming the pesky serif!) 

 

but with regards to the Hills plate in the first picture, from Stuart   

and on the Homo plates

  

from the man himself! 

 

PS dont expect this regularly from Stuart! he just figured he would provide a bit of info after @barrett posted the Juicy Works van shot )

but if anyone else has any such Juicy number plate shots that might tease him out LOL

Here you go. All that now remains of the old girl 😕