Early Registration Madness???

[Pete-M]

Weird, it had headlamp washers when I had it...

[autofive]

Weird, it had headlamp washers when I had it...

a rare cortina add-on

 

more usual on the Granada

[Cavcraft]

 

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen a F-plated mk3 Fiesta.

My mate has an F reg Mk3 Fiesta Van, and not an XRV either, a Fiesta van with a load bay instead of back seats and panelled up rear windows. It was running until very recently.

Rean?

I was binning a Mk3 Fester and he had a few bits off it to put on his his, hence the black bonnet and tailgate iirc.

[r.welfare]

Here's the Professionals' Mk5:

 

 

2.0GL, IIRC it had a red interior, very American! Not listed on DVLA, and HPU doesn't appear to be a trad Ford UK reg prefix, so maybe a fake plate.

[Charlie Croker]

Ford press cars always carried essex plates. For example....PU HK WC NO OO. Some of the pro's cortinas do show up on the dvla site. They have not been taxed for donkeys years though. All long dead it seems. Back to the thread though. I remember years ago seeing a 75 on a N plate rover 3500 sd1 in practical classics. They put it up as a compatition prize. Wonder what happend to it?

[Jon]

I remember a white Opel Ascona hatchback (Cav Mk2 shape) on a W plate in York about 15 years ago. I remember telling my dad, who didn't beleive me. I saw it in the same driveway several times but it had disappeared by the time I next passed with my dad so I could never prove it. Up until now, there's been no-one else sad enough to share this information with - thanks Autoshite!

[wuvvum]

I saw an Opel Kadett years ago (Astra Mk1 shape) on a T plate. It only had one digit in the number though so could have been a private plate I suppose.

 

Spotted a Mk3 Granada on a B plate a couple of weekends ago - that's got to be one of the first, surely? I've seen Mk2s on a C.

[AnthonyG]

Judging by Autofives stats, a Cortina lasted almost exactly 10 years and a Granada about 12 to 13. Sounds about right!

 

Does the Sweeney Consul GT still exist? (the one in the credits, an M reg) - I've heard conflicting stories.

[MK5 Escort]

I thought Metro's started on 'W's. I know there used to be at least two of them about 50yds away from where I lived back in the 90’s. One was dark blue and the other was orange. I can't remember the full registration numbers though, so I couldn't tell you if they were ex-press office examples or not. Both have long gone... I've never seen a 'V' plate one in the flesh, but pictures of them alone are enough to make me drool!

 

Indeed, mk3 Fiestas were indeed launched on the 'F'. Very few seemed to have survived though as I've not seen one for a good couple of years. 'G' plate ones are now also getting very thin on the ground. Most of these early mk3’s almost regardless of model, often had grey cloth interiors with horizontal black stripes for some reason!

 

A few years back I did spot a 'A' plate mk2 Astra (on serck plates) . From memory that was a Luton registered jobbie. I did take a picture on my mobile phone to show my dad but that picture (and phone) have both now gone. Shortly after new year, I spotted a few old dears getting out of a 'B' plate mk2 Astra Merit in Gailey (Staffordshire) in that strange solid turquoise colour that I don't recall seeing many in. It was fairly locally registered. It was on a Shrewsbury plate - 'JUX' if I can recall. Sticking to Astra's, Top Gear did once show a mk5 on a 53 plate in that tractor episode. KE53 something...

 

As for those mk2 Escorts, bloody hell! Surely a mk1 with a mk2 re-body?

[AnthonyG]

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen a F-plated mk3 Fiesta.

Launch date was April or May 1989, so F is not that unlikely, particularly given the number of dealer demonstrators that would have been needed to be registered - there were about 400 Ford Dealers in the UK back then, all would have had at least one, and the larger ones several.

 

EDIT - pipped at the post by Mk5 Escort!

[AnthonyG]

 

As for those mk2 Escorts, bloody hell! Surely a mk1 with a mk2 re-body?

A shell swap, very common in the rally world. I saw a facelifted Avenger (1977 on) with a '71-72 K plate on a rally about 4 years ago.

 

Those Escorts are possibly legal - if all the Mk1 mechanicals and other bits are put into the Mk2 shell?

[AnthonyG]

Here's the Professionals' Mk5:

 

 

2.0GL, IIRC it had a red interior, very American! Not listed on DVLA, and HPU doesn't appear to be a trad Ford UK reg prefix, so maybe a fake plate.

Could be a Ford prototype or very early production model, I have seen a T reg Mk5 in a period Autocar test. If they came out in Sep 79, Ford would have been testing them out a few months prior.

[Vin]

Saw a Fiat Tipo on an E plate once. Looked strange as most started on an F.

[r.welfare]

Pretty sure early 1988 was when the Tipos were launched - I've seen them on the E (not recently).

 

Looking through an old Parker's it appears the Volvo 760 was launched in July 82, yet I've never seen one on an X plate.

[254575]

i have a 1980 registered maxi1

[gtd2000]

Coming back up North from Germany, (I was in the Army at the time) it would perhaps be in January 1988, we passed an unusual looking 4x4 on the motorway with a "B" registration plate...

 

Turned out to be the Land Rover Discovery....

[Lord Sterling]

...Does the Sweeney Consul GT still exist? (the one in the credits, an M reg) - I've heard conflicting stories...

Yes the Consul GT still exists. It had been bought by a Sweeney enthusiast in the 1990s and has been under restoration since.

 

See here; 'The Sweeney' Forum - Consul GT restoration thread

[Pete-M]

 

Indeed, mk3 Fiestas were indeed launched on the 'F'. Very few seemed to have survived though as I've not seen one for a good couple of years.

When I was 18 I worked for a car hire company that bought a load of new "F reg" Mk3 Fiestas. I remember being impressed, they handled a lot better than the Mk2s we had.

[warren t claim]

 

Spotted a Mk3 Granada on a B plate a couple of weekends ago - that's got to be one of the first, surely? I've seen Mk2s on a C.

I had a B reg Mk3 Ghia 2.8 rwd. I wish I could remember the reg number as I sold it as a runner back in 2000.

[brammy777]

Well seeing as MKIII Fiestas are currently being talked about, heres those F plate ones:

 

Quite similar plates.... Theres a tidy two tone one on a G plate still around, Ill have to photo that one now. Anyway DVLA says:

The enquiry is complete

The vehicle details for F157 TJF are:

 

Date of Liability 01 12 2010

Date of First Registration 16 06 1989

Year of Manufacture 1989

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1118CC

CO2 Emissions Not Available

Fuel Type Petrol

Export Marker Not Applicable

Vehicle Status Licence Not Due

Vehicle Colour GOLD

 

But sadly the blue one is dead. Oh well, preferred the gold one anyway.

 

Edit, heres an early (registered a month after sales started here) Bluebird. Perhaps the oldest T12 left?

[Richard]

My cousin had a Vauxhall Astra Estate on a V plate. Hateful thing it was.

[warren t claim]

Quite a while before they were launched I had a cracking game of cat and mouse with a V plate Jag X Type around North Wales. I was riding a CBR600 at the time and their testing bod could fucking DRIVE! It just goes to show it's not the car but the driver. A lad in an trick Subaru tried to join in but could only watch him go.

[Mash]

I've searched in vain for a C-reg Triumph 1300. They officially went on sale in January 1966 so the C-reg ones were all press cars. I'm convinced none exist now.

 

 

Here's another Triumph oddity, a J-reg Dolomite:

 

 

The Toledo and 1500 press cars were all H-reg but the oldest I've seen was one I had a few years ago that was chassis number 83, but it was J-reg:

 

[trigger]

I followed this E46 BMW last week coming out of town, I can't recall seeing a R plate before.

 

The vehicle details for R177 RRD are:

 

Date of Liability 01 08 2010

Date of First Registration 02 06 1998

Year of Manufacture 1998

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1895CC

CO2 Emissions Not Available

Fuel Type Petrol

Export Marker Not Applicable

Vehicle Status Licence Due to Expire

Vehicle Colour RED

 

[pogweasel]

Or robbed off a red E36.

GR8 4 BILKING PEZ.

[andrew e]

I wish I could find the pictures of the two unregistered mark 2 grandas, (with full charcol velour velour - very old bill) That Laidlaw were trying to sell at the 1986 Dunton (Ford's research centre) open day. I remember it was in the summer, but not sure if it was past august or not. Strictly for employees only, I remember my Dad lying through his teeth every time some one asked where he worked

 

(Well he couldn't say the ffing council )

[Burnside]

Saw a Fiat Tipo on an E plate once. Looked strange as most started on an F.

I used to see a red E reg Tipo DGT around Tamworth about 7 or 8 years ago, but that was the only one i ever did see.

 

That said Punto's we're available on a L registration, not many left of those early L reg's either as i only see one L reg one knocking about now.

[Charlie Croker]

That e46 is mental. I thought S plates were early. That is a 100 percent great spot.

[Futuramic]

I have no pictures - thus no proof - but I think I can trump all this by reporting several sightings of a J reg Vauxhall Corsa around Colchester.

 

I haven't seen it for a few years; but as I remember it was as tatty as hell and the plate was not one that looked like a personalised add on. I truly believe that this must have been an ex demo car or running prototype or something. I have never heard of such a thing before or since.

[warren t claim]

I wish I could find the pictures of the two unregistered mark 2 grandas, (with full charcol velour velour - very old bill) That Laidlaw were trying to sell at the 1986 Dunton (Ford's research centre) open day. I remember it was in the summer, but not sure if it was past august or not. Strictly for employees only, I remember my Dad lying through his teeth every time some one asked where he worked

 

(Well he couldn't say the ffing council )

The Old Bill around Caterham in Surrey were using D reg Mk2 Grannys until 1989 IIRC.