Late registration madness

[Knotty Ash Towers]

14 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

Spotted this on the 'net recently:

I raise you this :-

Manufactured in the first week of March 1990, this UK-spec Series III is finished in metallic Diamond Blue with Saville Grey leather upholstery. It was originally commissioned by Methods and Techniques as a reference car for technical publications, however most of the study work was done in static conditions and the car only covered 800 miles during that period. It was then passed to Whitley Engineering and covered a further 900 miles before being registered for the road and sold by H A Fox of Cheltenham (the original vehicle order form is on file). Costing £26,000, the car was specified with rubber mats, a car cover and Waxoyled (certificate on file). This was the very last Series III model registered by Jaguar Cars Ltd and by September 2001, the MOT records show a mileage of just 4,308.

[Peter C]

74 reg?

I thought they stopped making these back in the 80s.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Still very popular in Australia, despite the archaic design and astronomical pricing.

[EyesWeldedShut]

SA import likely - have a look at the bargain* prices to be had here

[aotb]

Its slightly more than the usual pickups,  but way less than a Defender or Grenadier. 

[Noah Davies]

I Suddenly Found A 15 REG Plate Zafira

Is This The Only One 15 REG Plate Zafira?

[Knotty Ash Towers]

Y-reg Citroen Traction Avant.

[MJK 24]

Hanging around for 3+ years to be registered…

 

[Knotty Ash Towers]

T-Reg Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider.

[quicksilver]

Something odd here.

It's a 220 Turbo Coupe, production of which finished in 1996, but was registered in June 1999 after the Coupe had been discontinued entirely. At first I thought it might be one of those brought back from Japan but AFAIK those were all registered in the N-FDH series.

[EyesWeldedShut]

17 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

Something odd here.

Looks like it was on eBay at some point and the listing was scraped by this site
There's a date of 24-8-2015 on the ad itself - asking price was £1550 (!)

[JeeExEll]

Early registration madness or re-shelled Mk1?

ELF is a March - June 1965 reg. The Mk2 Cortina wasn't available until around Sept 1966. It's a late 60s pic.

[FakeConcern]

When I was a kid I had the Hippo Book of British Cars and the pic of a Lotus Cortina showed an airflow version with the reg 784BOO which I couldn't understand.

A quick Google now finds the story

https://www.lotuscortinainfo.com/?page_id=420

[sheffcortinacentre]

7 hours ago, JeeExEll said:

Early registration madness or re-shelled Mk1?

ELF is a March - June 1965 reg. The Mk2 Cortina wasn't available until around Sept 1966. It's a late 60s pic.

Probably a reshell as only ever seen D reg. Seen Pre production C reg MK4 Z cars   & the infamous T reg Mk5 cortinas that are regd June 79 ( rhd production started August 79)

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Probably a reshell as only ever seen D reg. Seen Pre production C reg MK4 Z cars   & the infamous T reg Mk5 cortinas that are regd June 79 ( rhd production started August 79)

I had a Mk 1 estate LUU 139D. Driver's door hilariously* opened at roundabouts and left turns. Scratched an itch though, as I loved my Corgi blue one with wood" panelling, and Dad had one in, of course, Silver Fox metallic.

[quicksilver]

Y-reg TR7 is a bit late, especially for a coupe. Interesting how many late reg BL cars were registered in Oxford, possibly because Hartwells were the dealer responsible for supplying cars through the employee scheme to the workers at Cowley and got all the old stock at a big discount.

 

[Knotty Ash Towers]

5 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Y-reg TR7 is a bit late, especially for a coupe. Interesting how many late reg BL cars were registered in Oxford, possibly because Hartwells were the dealer responsible for supplying cars through the employee scheme to the workers at Cowley and got all the old stock at a big discount.

 

There's a Green L-reg one knocking about somewhere. I can't remember the registration number unfortunately...

[Knotty Ash Towers]

Y-reg Opel 1900GT.

[caffeine]

12 plate Alfa 159, Anyone?*

Spotted recently ‘in the wild’ - struck me as unusual.

These were dropped from sale in the UK in mid-2011, with production ending completely later that year, used to see the very occasional 61 plate but I don’t recall ever seeing any later than that.

These used to be a relatively common sight, but numbers really seemed to have ‘fallen off’ quite sharply over the last few years, expect the dreaded subframe corrosion killed many off, with even this late model threatening to succumb, going by its MOT history. Although it is approaching its 14th birthday, and given reports of the aforementioned subframe corrosion on 159s were emerging when they were only a few years old, it is perhaps unsurprising that these aren’t really making ‘old bones’ and maybe this one has done well to get as far as it has.

Next MOT upcoming, Godspeed…

(Apologies for the poor photograph, it was dark, with only an antiquated iPhone to hand, so the best I could do under the circumstances. It is at least sufficient for the registration plate to be legible)


**

[forbeslongden]

On 18/06/2025 at 20:07, Noah Davies said:

I Have A Few Late Registered Vehicles I Would Like To Show Some Are Super Late Some Are Rarely Late
 

Take A Look At This:

Could That Be The Latest 107 I Ever Saw?? Or Is It More Likely A Bumper Replaced??

They made these into early 2014, so a 64 plate or 15 would be late registration. 

[MiniMort]

Likely sat somewhere unregistered for at least four years...

[goosey]

On 31/10/2025 at 15:08, quicksilver said:

Something odd here.

It's a 220 Turbo Coupe, production of which finished in 1996, but was registered in June 1999 after the Coupe had been discontinued entirely. At first I thought it might be one of those brought back from Japan but AFAIK those were all registered in the N-FDH series.

I’m sure my Father in Laws Coupe was a T reg that was a vvc though

[caffeine]

OK, ‘cheating’ a bit with this one, but…

Is it just me or does the latest generation of Honda Civic (mk 11) look curiously dated, especially from behind?

Only launched in 2022, but to my eyes it looks like something that may be have sold around 2010, arguably even the Civic you could have bought 20 years ago looks more contemporary, but then each new model since has probably been a downgrade in styling, perhaps the mk8 was just too far ahead of its time...

None of which is to say it looks ‘bad’ as such, but seeing one wearing a 2025 - 26 registration plate just seems to look wrong…

 

[Agila]

2 hours ago, caffeine said:

dated

Yes. First thought was a Mondeo from nearly 20 years ago.

[caffeine]

Definitely seeing bits of late ‘00s - era Audi also… 

[AltheJazzman]

On 7/29/2025 at 9:38 PM, Knotty Ash Towers said:

Y-reg Citroen Traction Avant.

So the 1950's Traction Avant was registered 11 years later than the 1970's SM next to it?

[AltheJazzman]

I know this is all about cars and not bikes, but my recently purchased Suzuki GSX400T was only made for the UK market in this spec, and only for the model year of 1981, yet curiously mine is on an A plate, first registered in 1984. It made finding parts very confusing at first until I entered 1981 model year instead.

Official product page: https://www.globalsuzuki.com/motorcycle/smgs/digital-archive/2_bike/ss4_049.php

Picture of my actual bike:

[chaseracer]

9 minutes ago, AltheJazzman said:

So the 1950's Traction Avant was registered 11 years later than the 1970's SM next to it?

UK registration, yes. Until around 1983, imported vehicles got the suffix current to the year they arrived.

[Tartan58]

This was my grandfather's 2002tii passed down to my dad and becoming our family transport in the mid 80s replacing Dads Renault 14 when my grandfather gave up driving.

The tii Ceased production in 75 as far as I can work out but this was on an 77/78 S reg. Right hand drive so not sure if it was an import registered at date of entry or just old stock that hung about after the E21 was launched.

It's long gone  now unfortunately and no record on DVLA. Unfortunately dad got rid after a coupke of years as it was becoming expensive to maintain. Replaced with a B reg 320i

Honourable mention for the neighbours Cavalier SRI in the background which I was always slightly jealous of, the BM being regarded as a bit of an old banger at the time.

[High Jetter]

56 minutes ago, Tartan58 said:

This was my grandfather's 2002tii passed down to my dad and becoming our family transport in the mid 80s replacing Dads Renault 14 when my grandfather gave up driving.

The tii Ceased production in 75 as far as I can work out but this was on an 77/78 S reg. Right hand drive so not sure if it was an import registered at date of entry or just old stock that hung about after the E21 was launched.

It's long gone  now unfortunately and no record on DVLA. Unfortunately dad got rid after a coupke of years as it was becoming expensive to maintain. Replaced with a B reg 320i

Honourable mention for the neighbours Cavalier SRI in the background which I was always slightly jealous of, the BM being regarded as a bit of an old banger at the time.

Wife's cousin has one, and there's another down the road from me. Peak BMW, after the 635CSI