Early Registration Madness???

[sheffcortinacentre]

Used to see a C reg mk4 escort in Rotherham.

[AlabamaShrimp]

^^they were quite common in Huddersfield. Remember having a mk3 and a mk4 both for sale at the same time, both on a C. This was around 1997.

[Hendry]

Ooh I can play this game!

 

Here's my last Sierra;

 

 

It was a 1.8, and I used to struggle to get parts as everywhere insisted it should be a Pinto, but it was a CVH - registered 9 days shy of being an F-reg.

 

It's gone on to live a new life as a tarmac rally slag in Ireland now.

 

Am I missing the point here, because I didnt think E was early for a Sierra, let alone one 9 days off being an F, they were both quite common, no? even the D plates werent that unusual.

 

is a K reg on a Corsa B early? 

[Felly Magic]

The point he is making is it has the 1.8 CVH lump, not the 1.8 Pinto, that didn't come in really until F plates

[richardthestag]

They arent mega early and not particularly interesting to be worthy of pictures here but working for a Fiat and Citroen dealer, Ive seen a 56 plate Citroen C4 Picasso, although you could freely get them on 56 plates due to being launched late 2006, they were rare owing to the fact they had just launched and needed to be ordered thus a waiting time so a 56 was rare. 

 

Same with the Fiat 500, they were available on 57 and certainly our showroom demo was a 57, but seldom were they seen in anything earlier than 08 plate. 

 

Ive seen a M reg Vectra before as well, dark green (rio verde?) hatch in GLS trim, pretty sure ive also seen a facelift Omega on a V reg, dont know if that was early or just normal because I now the prefacelift could be had on the V as well. 

 

X reg mk3 Mondeo, is that early or not?

 

 

Mrs thestag has a 56 plate c4 Grand Picasso

 

registered 23 January 2007

 

is that early?

 

[Ghosty]

is a K reg on a Corsa B early?

I'd say so, they don't come on a J.

[Hendry]

Mrs thestag has a 56 plate c4 Grand Picasso

 

registered 23 January 2007

 

is that early?

 

Id say so, our dealer demo was a January reg im sure and that was one of the very first. 

 

Your wifes isnt a grey Exclusive spec with a reg beginning SC56 is it? Im sure we had another 56 plate in a purpley hue as well, VTR+ spec I think. Not common on a 56 at all, but then you get to 07 and they were everywhere at the time on 07s.

 

Seen a lot of mk5 Astras on 04 plates, dont know if that was early but saw loads and loads of 54 and 05 plate mk4s, so either 04 was early or there was a big batch of unsold mk4s when they launched. A few times I nearly bought 04 and 54 mk5s just to end up walking away because I just found it so weird that loads and loads of people would be driving round in the older model but on a newer plate. 

[richardthestag]

nope Jewish racing gold, boggo spec 1.6hdi with 5 speed manual

 

pretty much a dent on every panel now, bumpers would appear to be down to Mrs Thestags lack of spacial awareness*. the rest of it is down to hit and run cunts in supermarket carparks

 

engine light is on most days with spurious messages about anti pollution filters etc. nothing I have done seems to make it go away. We just ignore it and it runs fine

 

 

Here it is on it's one and only FTP, the accessory belt frayed and yanked the crank sensor plug off. nobody fancied laying under it on the hard should of the m40/m25 interchange

 

The truck also ftp'd which is why the chap is looking somewhat perplexed

 

*when she reverses out of the drive in an arc she somehow manages to clout our garden wall on moving forwards again. given up moaning at her about it. it is a whitegood

[Austin-Rover]

Three 'possibles' here;

 

1991 'J' Rover 820. The Mk2 800 was launched at the back end of 1991. There's plenty of surviving Mk1s on a 'J' but very few Mk2s. This one seems especially rare being a 1991 'J' and not a 1992 'J'. registered November 1991.

 

1998 'F' Rover 820. Plenty of detail differences for the anoraks on this early Fastback. Some press car Fastbacks were on an 'E' - none of which seem to survive. There's a few left on 'F', but of those, precious few with the 6 dial instrument pack and no rear head restraints.

 

1997 'R' Vectra Estate. (try not to doze off...) This was registered in August 1997, and might be a particularly early example of the Estate. It's got no cup holders and no TrafficMaster (which every brochure I can find says were standard) and has the Isuzu style central locking keyfob, rather than one built in to the key - which I am told is a bit rare.

 

 

[Lord Sterling]

For the Mk2 800, 1991 'J' was the crossover period so not really early registration madness as such, there were a couple of Mk2 tester cars running about on a H-plate, not many Mk1s made it to 1991 'J' unless you wanted a massive bargain, most people wanted the new shape so there were loads of surviving J-reg Mk2 800s up until a few years ago.

 

The Mk1 Fastback started on a early 1988 E-plate as you correctly stated, I knew of an E-reg Black 827 Fastback, not sure what happened to it since.

 

Here is my early 1987 820e, not the earliest surviving but early enough;

 

[Hendry]

nope Jewish racing gold, boggo spec 1.6hdi with 5 speed manual

 

pretty much a dent on every panel now, bumpers would appear to be down to Mrs Thestags lack of spacial awareness*. the rest of it is down to hit and run cunts in supermarket carparks

 

engine light is on most days with spurious messages about anti pollution filters etc. nothing I have done seems to make it go away. We just ignore it and it runs fine

 

20170416_115640.jpg

 

Here it is on it's one and only FTP, the accessory belt frayed and yanked the crank sensor plug off. nobody fancied laying under it on the hard should of the m40/m25 interchange

 

The truck also ftp'd which is why the chap is looking somewhat perplexed

 

*when she reverses out of the drive in an arc she somehow manages to clout our garden wall on moving forwards again. given up moaning at her about it. it is a whitegood

 

Ah, anodized gold, didnt sell many of them at my branch, even had one pre reg that sat for a full year before being sold. 

 

When you say boggo spec, is it an SX, or do you actually mean proper poverty LX spec that didnt even have a standard stereo despite being a £15K list price car when new?

 

Three 'possibles' here;

 

1991 'J' Rover 820. The Mk2 800 was launched at the back end of 1991. There's plenty of surviving Mk1s on a 'J' but very few Mk2s. This one seems especially rare being a 1991 'J' and not a 1992 'J'. registered November 1991.

 

1998 'F' Rover 820. Plenty of detail differences for the anoraks on this early Fastback. Some press car Fastbacks were on an 'E' - none of which seem to survive. There's a few left on 'F', but of those, precious few with the 6 dial instrument pack and no rear head restraints.

 

1997 'R' Vectra Estate. (try not to doze off...) This was registered in August 1997, and might be a particularly early example of the Estate. It's got no cup holders and no TrafficMaster (which every brochure I can find says were standard) and has the Isuzu style central locking keyfob, rather than one built in to the key - which I am told is a bit rare.

 

Ive seen P plate Vectra B estates, dont know about the cup holders and trafficmaster, but the separate key and remote central locking fob were common on Vectras on an R, it might even have been the 1999 T facelift where the integrated remote fob and key became uniform across the range. Because Im sure prefacelift Omegas shared the same key and separate fob arrangement until quite late on, certainly seen R and S reg ones of them with it too. Im sure another Vectra B anorak will be along to correct me shortly. 

 

Just thought of another, 53 plate mk5 Golf? is that early? we sold one in late 06 when I worked for Arnie, think it may have been originally a VW UK car explaining how early it was, it was OU/OV/OW/OY53 or something. 

[oldford]

Vectra estates were out on a P reg, we had a.transporter load of brand new ones in, all P--- SNK, they were GLS models and had a separate locking remote - I've got a set of keys for one of them still.

[Bianconeri]

My aunt had one on an "X" back in the day.

 

Weren't the press cars "W"s?

My very first company car was a 1.3S miniMetro on a 'W'. I was 21, this was a very good thing. I changed companies and got a 1.3GL Astra on an 'X' in 1983. This was an exceedingly good thing.

[Pillock]

Just thought of another, 53 plate mk5 Golf? is that early? we sold one in late 06 when I worked for Arnie, think it may have been originally a VW UK car explaining how early it was, it was OU/OV/OW/OY53 or something. 

 

Just like every Essex reg'ed Ford being "a Ford owned press car" etc, there's a theme on some forums that the vast majority of the late O-prefix (OU,OY etc) are "press cars" and therefore special specifications, rare, upgraded etc. Actually they're usually cars registered by VW/Audi as cars leased to employees or their families, they used to get all get put through the same DVLA office. It's entirely possible someone knew the Mk5 was coming out and waited for one of the first, but so could any member of the public. I guess the only difference is an employee might have been able to get specs/prices before the showrooms had a demonstrator in or could place orders.

 

I had an Essex registered Ford Focus - EX09 - that even had the name of the first owner as "Ford Motor Company, Dagenham, Essex" but in all honesty it was probably a pool car, or was registered to a transport office or something. Never seen it in any magazine shots or brochures, although it was quite a nice spec.

[Hendry]

Just like every Essex reg'ed Ford being "a Ford owned press car" etc, there's a theme on some forums that the vast majority of the late O-prefix (OU,OY etc) are "press cars" and therefore special specifications, rare, upgraded etc. Actually they're usually cars registered by VW/Audi as cars leased to employees or their families, they used to get all get put through the same DVLA office. It's entirely possible someone knew the Mk5 was coming out and waited for one of the first, but so could any member of the public. I guess the only difference is an employee might have been able to get specs/prices before the showrooms had a demonstrator in or could place orders.

 

I had an Essex registered Ford Focus - EX09 - that even had the name of the first owner as "Ford Motor Company, Dagenham, Essex" but in all honesty it was probably a pool car, or was registered to a transport office or something. Never seen it in any magazine shots or brochures, although it was quite a nice spec.

 

I wasnt for a second suggesting it was a VW press car, or rare, upgraded, or oddball specification, all I meant was the registration suggested itd been registered, as you say by VW themselves originally as a staff car scheme car or leased to someone who worked at VW or something and that that might possibly explain why it was an early one because working for VW they managed to order one of the first ones to be registered. 

 

I dont for a second buy into all that press car, test car, etc. shite. Ive worked in enough car dealerships and seen enough cars to know that when they are registered in the same area as the manufacturers head office it usually means they were fleet or lease cars, or even car registered to daily rental companies (Kias and Volvos on rental fleets even now all come with Kia Motors Uk and Volvo Cars UK branded number plates) plus it can sometimes also mean bugger all, the prime example for me being a mk1 facelift Focus we had in for sale, EU03URS, anyone else wouldve been thinking Ford UK car going by the reg, nope, sold new by Allen Ford whose dealership it came from new just happened to be in the area which used Exyz area code plates. 

 

What is a bit confusing though is my cars reg is AG09, which is a Northampton reg (i think) and theres loads of AG reg VWs about, mines ended up for sale in Scotland at just under 11 months old, I can say with all certainty its been a daily rental, however the PDI stamp in the service book is a proper VW dealer one, the same as the VW dealer service stamps later on for when its been serviced inside the VW dealer network, BUT despite the PDI stamp being an official VW dealer one with the id code and little VW logo on the stamp, it wasnt done by a VW dealer, it was done by a mob called Paragon Automotive in Ruislip, who from what I can gather are effectively a massive PDI centre for all the new cars being shipped straight from dockside to begin life as rental cars and never actually pass through an official VW dealer, so this Paragon are not and never were an official VW dealer but yet somehow theyve been allowed to use a proper VW dealer service stamp. Maybe its not odd but i find it a bit odd, if it was just a plain stamp fine nothing to find bizarre. 

 

There were other oddities when I worked in the hire game too, Renaults which would come in with "Renault CAT UK" plates, which im led to believe is where theyve been PDId by a company called CAT at Teesport, fair enough, but we could pull the computerised purchase invoices for these cars and they would come up that we bought the car from Bristol Street Motors or Evans Halshaw, but yet other similar Renaults on the fleet did have Evans Halshaw plates etc. and not all were the HK/HV/HY etc played, some were NV10 and WD10. Seems car fleet rental and leasing is a very complex process which never works the same way twice. 

[Brodders]

Got a double whammy on the same street whilst cycling yesterday evening.

 

R-reg Clio Mk2

 

 

And an 02-reg Vectra C

 

[Hendry]

Got a double whammy on the same street whilst cycling yesterday evening.

 

R-reg Clio Mk2

 

WP_20170717_002.jpg

 

And an 02-reg Vectra C

 

WP_20170717_003.jpg

 

Rare sights for sure, but not "early" as in registered before they shouldve been, Clio mk2s did start on an R officially and Vectra Cs officially started on an 02. 

 

My Mrs claims to have had one of the first MG ZR105s in yellow on a Y reg, did they officially do them this early? she says she bought it brand new from the Rover dealer Shields in Glasgow, so not like it had been an ex Rover car or anything before she bought it, and I thought the earliest were 51 platers. 

[RoadworkUK]

Re E-Plate 820e Fastbacks:

 

 

I had one. E193GHJ, My grandfather gave it to me for University transport duty.

 

The image above shows my 820e in the background, parked next to his, which is now mine.

 

RIP Poppa.

 

[sierraman]

Bearing in mind a lot of the Essex plated Fords were simply big fleet orders or pre reg stuff.

[Mr Laurence]

Rare sights for sure, but not "early" as in registered before they shouldve been, Clio mk2s did start on an R officially and Vectra Cs officially started on an 02. 

 

My Mrs claims to have had one of the first MG ZR105s in yellow on a Y reg, did they officially do them this early? she says she bought it brand new from the Rover dealer Shields in Glasgow, so not like it had been an ex Rover car or anything before she bought it, and I thought the earliest were 51 platers.

 

The oldest ZRs I've ever seen have been 51 Reg as well, but I've looked into it, and Y platers do seem to exist, although there aren't a lot of them at all, and any that I could find in my quick search seem to be blue ones. Annoyingly, I can't find a date for the launch of ZR more accurate than 'Summer 2001', which does suggest that you could get one on a Y, but I'd imagine most people waited the extra month or so to get the new style plates instead.

[quicksilver]

This one threw me a bit and at first I thought it was either a cherished plate or had been 'borrowed' from something else but it checks out. It's a 1985 car imported this year and it looks like the Doovla buffons accidentally issued a B-suffix instead of a B-prefix. Did we ever get two-door Jettas in the UK as I don't recall seeing one?

[sierraman]

No it's an import.

[quicksilver]

No it's an import.

I did say that - first registered this year. It's still very much the wrong age of plate for the car without being a cherished transfer though so I think it qualifies.

[Rod/b]

Why cant it have had a reserved / retained rego assigned to it at first registration?

[quicksilver]

Why cant it have had a reserved / retained rego assigned to it at first registration?

I guess it could but that isn't what happened here. The rest of the GNH-B series were all issued earlier this year to imported vehicles made in 1964 so this does seem to be a DVLA error rather than a deliberate use of this particular reg.

[Hendry]

What happens with cars that have had a private plate on from new and have never had a reg issued, would DVLA have still reserved one for it or kept one for it or even have had a reg they planned to give it which they then didnt need to because it had a private plate.

 

Just wondering while we are on this discussion because my mrs has a private plate she got in 2012, put it on the car she had at the time, then got rid of that in September 2013 for a brand new Cmax and the plate got transferred off her old car onto the Cmax from the day it was first registered but is getting chopped in soon and the plate coming off so the Cmax will need to get a normal reg, I know normally when a car has a private plate fitted after its been registered the old plate comes off and the private one goes on and then when the private one comes back off it usually gets its original reg back, sometimes they dont for whatever reason and get an entirely different plate but have no experience of cars which have never had any plate ever on them that the private one.

 

Its a September 2013 registered in Glasgow so should theoretically have had a plate beginning SA-SJ63 from new but not sure how itll work.

 

Why is it also that when cars get a private plate put on and then taken back off and get their original reg back, the V5 comes back with in the special notes "non transferable registration mark"?

 

I had an Astra which was new as DV05EKY, when it was about 9 months old it got N9TJF, previous owners plate, when he then traded the Astra in and put his plate on his new car, the Astra got the DV05 one back but when I bought it it had that note in the special comments bit on the V5, and I dont quite understand why its original plate now cant be transferred, and if that also means putting another private plate on it wouldnt be allowed either. 

[Ghosty]

There's a C-reg Volvo 740GL saloon owned by an old Chinese bloke on floating around central Manchester. 

Can you get UK 740s on a B?

[Eddie Honda]

Can you get UK 740s on a B?

 

Aye, but I can't current look-up this reg 

 

NOVEMBER 1984 VOLVO 2315cc 740 GL SALOON B863GVL by JOHN, on Flickr

[Tam]

This is my early P6. Ordered by a Doctor in Aberdeen a soon as launched in 1963 and delivered to Stonehaven in June 1964. Reason it wasn't delivered to Aberdeen was there was a typhoid outbreak in Aberdeen and no one was willing to risk it!  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Aberdeen_typhoid_outbreak

 

No real claim to fame but its the 13th oldest P6 still known to exist.

 

 

[quicksilver]

What happens with cars that have had a private plate on from new and have never had a reg issued, would DVLA have still reserved one for it or kept one for it or even have had a reg they planned to give it which they then didnt need to because it had a private plate.

 

Just wondering while we are on this discussion because my mrs has a private plate she got in 2012, put it on the car she had at the time, then got rid of that in September 2013 for a brand new Cmax and the plate got transferred off her old car onto the Cmax from the day it was first registered but is getting chopped in soon and the plate coming off so the Cmax will need to get a normal reg, I know normally when a car has a private plate fitted after its been registered the old plate comes off and the private one goes on and then when the private one comes back off it usually gets its original reg back, sometimes they dont for whatever reason and get an entirely different plate but have no experience of cars which have never had any plate ever on them that the private one.

 

Its a September 2013 registered in Glasgow so should theoretically have had a plate beginning SA-SJ63 from new but not sure how itll work.

 

Why is it also that when cars get a private plate put on and then taken back off and get their original reg back, the V5 comes back with in the special notes "non transferable registration mark"?

 

I had an Astra which was new as DV05EKY, when it was about 9 months old it got N9TJF, previous owners plate, when he then traded the Astra in and put his plate on his new car, the Astra got the DV05 one back but when I bought it it had that note in the special comments bit on the V5, and I dont quite understand why its original plate now cant be transferred, and if that also means putting another private plate on it wouldnt be allowed either. 

I think vehicles that have had a private plate from new are treated the same as imports, i.e. given an age-related plate from unissued stocks as they won't have had another number allocated when new. Now the local offices have closed these seem to be issued at random - there's a bus operator fairly near me in Northants who have a load of ex-Ireland double-deckers. They're all X-reg but with letter codes from all over the place - CC from Wales, SH from Scotland, RL from Cornwall and AW from Shropshire, but none local.